We use cookies to make our site work better for you, remember your preferences, and understand how people use
our site. By clicking "Accept", you help us improve your experience.
Illinois School of Professional Psychology Faculty
Whether our students’ professional emphases are assessment, intervention, or other professional activities, one of the keys to their growth lies in the expert support and guidance of ISPP’s accomplished faculty.
Through these relationships, students apply their theoretical knowledge, implement clinical techniques, and integrate research findings to enhance their abilities as clinicians. These close mentoring relationships extend beyond the classroom to collaborations on professional presentations and publications.
As a result, ISPP students are poised to gain experiences that will better prepare them to acquire professional licensure, maintain ethical relationships with patients and colleagues, and develop a professional network.
Leah Horvath, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and the Program Director of the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at National Louis University. She received her undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and her MS and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kentucky with a focus on cognitive-behavioral treatments and clinical administration.
Dr. Horvath is a licensed clinical psychologist in Illinois with a small private practice and many years working in Psy.D. education and training. She has specialized clinical training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), including completing her pre-doctoral fellowship in the DBT program at the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Horvath completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the University Counseling Service at New York University, where she specialized in the treatment of individuals with eating disorders. Her clinical areas of interest involve Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), treatment of individuals with eating disorders, exposure-based interventions for anxiety disorders, cognitive processing therapy for clients with trauma-related disorders, and mindfulness and acceptance-based cognitive-behavioral therapies.
Dr. Horvath is active in professional organizations, having served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the National Council of Schools and Programs in Professional Psychology, as a member of the Illinois Psychological Association’s Legislative Committee, and as a member of the 15th cohort of APA’s Leadership Institute for Women in Psychology.
Dr. Anissa Rivers (she/her) is the Director of Clinical Training at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at National Louis University. She graduated from Purdue University Northwest with an MS in Counseling and completed her PsyD at Adler University. She is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with 20 years of experience in community mental health and hospital settings.
Her career began as a substance abuse counselor and evolved into roles as a clinical psychologist, with additional experience teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels at several local universities. For over a decade, she was a supervising psychologist before assuming the role of Director of Training for an APA-accredited internship program.
Her clinical experience focused on individuals with mental health, physical health, forensic concerns, co-occurring disorders, and a history of complex trauma in underserved treatment areas. Her research interests center on characteristics of empathy and absorption in individuals who engage in role-playing games in addition to clinical, training, and educational applications of role-playing and collaborative storytelling.
Christina Biedermann, PsyD, ABAP, is an Associate Professor at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at National Louis University as well as a practicing clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst. She is also Clinical Associate Faculty at the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis and board certified in assessment psychology.
Dr. Biedermann attended Davidson College (Davidson, NC) as an undergraduate before pursuing doctoral training at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology (now Williams James College, in Boston, MA), interning at the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and completing an APA-approved predoctoral internship at the Northampton Veterans Affairs Medical Center. She then went on to complete a 4-year advanced postdoctoral training program in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center (Stockbridge, MA).
She is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and serves as a reviewer for Psychoanalytic Psychology and the Journal of Feminist Family Therapy. She has published and presented at national conferences on working with complex trauma, suicidality, treatment resistance, psychological assessment, and feminist advocacy, as well as lectured at the Yale Child Study Center, the Yale-Riggs Family and Infant Mental Health training program, and the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (Divisions 35 and 39), the Illinois Psychological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the International Psychoanalytic Association, the Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis, the Chicago Psychoanalytic Society, the Society for Personality Assessment, and the International Society for Rorschach and Projective Methods.
Her current research interests include: Reproductive Psychology and Justice, Motherhood and Maternal Subjectivity, Gender, Women’s Mental Health Complex Trauma, Severe Psychopathology, Personality Disorders, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, and Psychoanalysis. She and her students are currently engaged in several qualitative projects studying various aspect of maternal subjectivity.
Dr. Imuentiyan Igbinosun earned her Doctor of Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.) with a concentration in Military Psychology from Adler University in Chicago, IL, and her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Chicago, IL. She currently practices in private practice, where she works with individuals presenting with depression, anxiety, trauma-related concerns, personality disorders, interpersonal challenges, identity exploration, and LGBTQIA+ related issues. She is extensively trained in psychoanalytic interventions and is certified in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Igbinosun brings significant teaching experience as an adjunct faculty member at Albizu University in Miami, FL, Daley College within the City Colleges of Chicago system, and the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at National Louis University. In these roles, she has taught courses in psychology and clinical practice, demonstrating a strong commitment to mentorship, academic excellence, and professional development.
Dr. Igbinosun’s research interests center on resilience and its role in reducing the negative psychological impacts of trauma. She is particularly focused on how resilience-based approaches can foster long-term healing and empower individuals to navigate adversity with strength, adaptability, and a deeper sense of self.
Areas of Expertise: Psychoanalysis, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Exposure-Based Interventions for Anxiety Disorders, and Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies, Trauma-Informed Therapies, Assessments
Kanae Kura, Psy.D., is an Assistant Professor and the coordinator of the Child and Adolescent Track of the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at the National Louis University. She received her undergraduate degree in Modern Language at Franklin University in Switzerland, her MS in Child Development and Family Studies at Purdue University Northwest in Indiana, her MA in Clinical Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, and her PsyD in Clinical Psychology at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Kura has her clinical and research expertise on children, families, and couples; specifically, her publications are focused on mixed-heritage children’s racial socialization, transnational families, and interracial/transnational couples’ acculturation and parenting practices. Her clinical areas of expertise include rural population with intergenerational trauma, treating adults and children with severe mental illnesses with complex family trauma backgrounds. With her undergraduate degree in languages, Dr. Kura worked as an interpreter in Italian-Japanese for about 15 years. This background and experience as a linguist built a strong foundation for Dr. Kura to serve clinical populations with different cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Dr. Lucia Lopez graduated with her Psy.D. in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She completed her undergraduate career at Roosevelt University where she obtained a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice and concentration in Child and Family Studies. She currently serves as the Associate Director of Training at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at NLU.
Prior to joining NLU, Dr. Lopez was a clinical therapist and supervisor at Advocate Masonic Medical Center, Behavioral Health. She provided clinical services to patients of all ages struggling with a wide range of psychiatric diagnoses including depression, anxiety, personality disorders, and complex trauma. She provided supervision for students in training in both individual and group modalities. Dr. Lopez also facilitated groups for domestic violence survivors, monolingual speaking Latinas, people with substance abuse problems, and new moms struggling with peripartum/postpartum depression.
Dr. Lopez’s areas of specialty include women’s health, domestic violence treatment approaches, group therapy, and trauma work. She has experience working with patients across the lifespan, predominantly within community mental health and hospital settings. As a bilingual bicultural clinician, she has focused on working with underserved populations. Dr. Lopez completed a year with the Michael Reese Care Program where she focused on health psychology and working with HIV+ patients. She had the opportunity to obtain specialized training in the psychological treatment of LGBTQIA+ members. When it comes to education and training, Dr. Lopez embraces the importance of diversity, inclusion, and mentorship.
Dr. Misty Mann completed her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from the Illinois School of Professional Psychology. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in Illinois and has obtained the Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology from PSYPACT. Dr. Mann maintains a small private practice providing individual therapy to diverse adults utilizing psychodynamic and feminist approaches. For the past decade, she has developed her expertise in training, teaching, and administration by serving as training faculty in various Psy.D. programs throughout the Chicagoland area. Currently, she is serving as an Associate Professor in the Clinical Psychology Psy.D. program at NLU ISPP.
Dr. Mann's experience working with diverse individuals in a variety of settings, including college counseling, VA medical center, private practice, and integrated primary care family medicine clinic, has informed her clinical, scholarship, and teaching interests. She has taught courses on supervision and consultation, practicum seminars, clinical interviewing, professional development, ethics, psychology of women, group, integrated care, and dissertation seminars. Her primary clinical and scholarly interests include reproductive health, feminist psychology, veterinarian mental health, primary care psychology, and eating and body image issues.
She has co-authored book chapters on mental health and obesity and screening tools in primary care and has presented at state conferences on maternal mental health. Furthermore, she is a volunteer with Not One More Vet, an organization working to decrease the suicide rate among Veterinarians. As a volunteer and Co-Chair of Outreach, she participates in outreach events and the student group and designs and creates ideas for outreach programs that promote greater mental health and awareness of resources.
Erica Pinney, PhD completed their M.Ed. in Community Counseling and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. They completed undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Religious Studies from Arizona State University. Dr. Pinney completed her pre-doctoral internship at Lake Forest College’s Health and Wellness Center and post-doctoral fellowship at Northeastern Illinois University’s Student Counseling Services. Their areas of clinical passion, interest, and specialization include working with clients who have experienced interpersonal, political, immigration, and racial trauma as well as LGBTQIA+ identity development, family and relationship concerns, college adjustment, insomnia, and anxiety. Their research interests echo these clinical interests and focus on racial trauma including microaggression and institutional racism, therapist development, training and well-being, and scale development.
Dr. Michelle Tan is an Assistant Professor at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology as well as a licensed clinical psychologist whose work bridges the disciplines of health psychology and neuropsychology to address the complex interaction between brain, behavior, and physical health. Dr. Tan earned her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology (Neuropsychology emphasis) from Adler University, completing her APA-accredited internship at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her professional background includes leadership roles as Program Manager of Evaluation Services and Training Director at a pediatric outpatient behavioral center and as Neuropsychology Emphasis Coordinator at Adler University during her time as faculty there.
In her clinical work, Dr. Tan currently serves as Director of Assessment at Primary Care Psychology Associates, where she specializes in and oversees neuropsychological and psychological evaluation services across the lifespan and provides supervision for postdoctoral fellows and interns. She is deeply committed to training and mentoring future psychologists, emphasizing evidence-based practice, professional identity development, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Dr. Tan also provides evidence-based therapies including CBT, ACT, and mindfulness-based interventions to support clients to cope through challenges with the goal to improve daily functioning and quality of life. Other clinical and research interests include: ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, neurocognitive disorders, rehabilitation psychology, gerontology, palliative and end-of-life care. She is credentialed through PSYPACT and the National Register of Health Service Psychologists.
Margaret S. Warner, Ph.D. is a distinguished professor at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at NLU, having taught classes relating to client-centered therapy, group therapy, family therapy, diversity and severe psychology since 1983. Her doctorate is in behavioral sciences from the Committee on Human Development of the University of Chicago.
She is a client-centered therapist who has practiced for over 35 years, with a particular emphasis on working with clients experiencing “difficult process,” typically diagnosed as borderline, narcissistic, dissociative identity disorders or schizophrenia. Her clinical training was undertaken at the Chicago Counseling and Psychotherapy Center, an offshoot of the original Counseling Center founded by Carl Rogers at the University of Chicago. She was a co-founder of the Minor in Client-Centered and Experiential Psychology at the Chicago campus of the Illinois School of Professional Psychology.
Dr. Warner also has a particular interest in a person-centered approach to diversity issues. She co-founded a group called “Face to Face with Diversity” that conducted a day-long, person-centered diversity group at the Chicago 2000 conference. Following this, the Face to Face with Diversity group designed a group class called “Exploring Diversity” in which students explore diversity issues in an open person-centered group which as a “critical mass” of students of color.
Dr. Warner has published widely and has offered many presentations to international groups on “difficult process,” diversity, and the person-centered theory of meaning. Dr. Warner, with a group of volunteers, convened Chicago 2000: The Fifth International Conference in Client-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies, the first time that this conference had been held in the United States. She was a founding member of the World Association for Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapy and Counseling.
Dr. Zakowski is a professor in Clinical Psychology and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in Illinois. She obtained her Ph.D. in Medical Psychology at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and subsequently completed a Clinical Respecialization at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She has been teaching for over 20 years, and prior to joining the Illinois School of Professional Psychology she was a faculty member at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. In addition, she worked as mental health program director for Heartland Alliance in Northern Iraq and helped develop a Master’s program in Clinical Psychology at Koya University where she also taught.
Her clinical and academic interests focus on trauma, refugee psychology and international psychology. She is particularly interested in cross-cultural applications of trauma treatment and in the psychological consequences of human rights abuses and forced migration. She worked as a therapist at the Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture for about seven years and continues to volunteer there. She provides pro bono forensic psychological evaluations for asylum cases and conducts clinical consultations and training workshops internationally on topics related to trauma, the psychological consequences of forced migration, as well as health psychology.
Her current research investigates psychological trauma related to genocide, political persecution, and gender-based violence. She is a member of the Scientists-on-Call program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has contributed scientific consultations for international organizations documenting human rights abuses. Prior to completing her clinical respecialization, her work was focused on health psychology research in the areas of psychoneuroimmunology, psycho-oncology, and the psychobiological effects of chronic and acute stress.
.jpg)
