CURRICULUM VITAE

Education:

2021 PhD             University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA; Counseling Psychology

2014 M.Phil         University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Professional Counseling

2013 MS              University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Counseling and Mental Health Services 

Psychoanalytic Training

2026-present Candidate in Psychoanalysis at the Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Boston, MA

2025 Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute's Community Psychoanalysis Concentration

2020 Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis's One-Year Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Boston, MA

2019 Boston Psychoanalytic Society & Institute's One-Year Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Boston, MA

Academic Appointments:

2025-present              Associate Director of Psychodynamic Training for the General Psychiatry and Family Medicine Psychiatry Residency Programs

2025 Adjunct professor Boston University Wheelock College

2022- present             Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine

2019-2021          Adjunct Professor, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA

Hospital Appointments or Other Employment:

2024-present Senior Researcher, Laboratory for Early Psychosis (LEAP) Center Signature Project

2024-present Director of Motivational Intervening for Loved Ones (MILO) Clinic, Boston Medical Center Boston, MA

2022-present               Counseling Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry, Boston Medical Center, Wellness and Recovery after Psychosis (WRAP) Program, Boston, MA

2022-2026           Crisis Clinician, Psychiatric Emergency Services, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA

2024-2026 Clinician, Community Behavioral Health Center, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA

2017-2019           Teaching Assistant, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA

2016-2017           Research Assistant, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA

Pre-License Training:

2021-2022           Postdoctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology, complex PTSD & psychosis track, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA

2020-2021           Predoctoral Intern, Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology/Boston University Medical Campus, Boston, MA

Site 1: Boston Center for Refugee Health & Human Rights (BCRHHR), Boston Medical Center

Site 2: Massachusetts Mental Health Center (MMHC), Harvard Medical School

2017-2019                 Clinical Fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Chelsea Healthcare Center, Chelsea, MA

2018-2019          Assessment Assistant, Massachusetts General Hospital - Asylum Clinic, Boston,   MA                           

2015-2016           Psychology Fellow, Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Medicine, Milwaukee, WI

2013                     Psychology Fellow, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center-Inpatient Unit, Philadelphia, PA

Selected Conference Presentations and Invited Talks

Institutional:     

• Motivational Interviewing for loved ones. (2026). Invited talk. William James College, Boston, MA

• Working with interpreters in health settings. (2025). Invited talk. New Mexico State University Counseling Psychology Program, Las Cruces, New Mexico

• Motivational Interviewing for loved ones. (2025). Invited talk. Boston Children’s Hospital. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Boston, MA

• Motivational Interviewing for loved ones. (2024). Invited talk. McLean Hospital Crafting Support Project 2025 Family Webinar Series, Boston, MA

• Motivational Interviewing for loved ones: (2023). Randomized controlled trial of brief training for first episode psychosis caregivers. The 11th CTSI Translational Science Symposium, Boston, MA

• The application of MI in family interventions for psychosis. (2023). Invited talk. Ankara University, Guidance and Counseling Psychology Program, Ankara, Turkey

• Multicultural case conceptualization: Applying the ADDRESSING model and reflective dialogue. (2021). Grand Rounds, BU School of Medicine, Boston, MA

• Pathways to resilience in the face of forced displacement. Cultural and Social Justice Meeting. (2019). Invited talk. Chelsea Behavioral Health Department, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

• Navigating trauma and resilience: A qualitative analysis of experiences of Iraqi and Syrian refugees. (2018). 2nd Annual UMB-Boston Social Science Research Council Fall Symposium, Boston, MA

  National:            

• Young adult perspectives on treatment engagement and family communication during psychosis. (2024). 4th Annual Mass-Step Meeting, Boston, MA

• Caregivers’ mental health in early course psychosis. (2023).The 3rd Annual Mass-Step Meeting, Boston, MA

• Motivational interviewing for loved ones: Randomized Controlled Trial of Brief Training for First Episode Psychosis Caregivers. (2023).The 11th CTSI Translational Science Symposium, Boston, MA

• Do we have consensus about consensus?: Reconceptualizing consensus as epistemic privilege. (2019). Plenary presentation at the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology Annual Conference in Boston, MA

• Survivors of war: An interpretative phenomenological analysis. (2019). SQIP Annual Conference on Qualitative Research Methods, Boston, MA

• Beyond manuals and into practice: A qualitative meta-analysis of cultural factors in psychotherapy. (2018). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA

• A qualitative meta-analysis of therapists’ experiences: Conducting empowering psychotherapy. (2018). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, San Francisco, CA

• Developing principles for clinical practice from qualitative meta-analyses: (2018). SQIP Annual Conference on Qualitative Research Methods, Pittsburg, PA

• Intergenerational trauma as expressed and experienced by refugees. (2018). Division of Psychoanalysis (39) Annual Spring Meeting, New Orleans, LA

• Multicultural and psychodynamic conceptualization of Muslim therapist and client dyads: Case Studies and Clinical Implications. (2018). Annual Muslim Mental Health Conference, Washington, DC

• Domestic and sexual violence against women in the context of war. (2017). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington, DC

• Breaking the relationship between poverty and associated risks: Role of coping and social support. (2017). American Psychological Association Annual Convention, Washington, DC

• A qualitative meta-analysis of therapists’experiences conducting psychotherapy. (2017). Association for Psychological Science Annual Convention, Boston, MA

• Body perception in trauma survivors: Interoceptive awareness, self-injury and childhood trauma. (2014). Society of Psychophysiological Research Conference, Atlanta, GA

  International:

• Motivational interviewing for loved ones: Randomized controlled trial of brief training for first episode psychosis caregivers. with family and clinical providers during first-episode psychosis treatment. (2024). Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS), Florence, Italy.

• Young adult perspectives on communication with family and clinical providers during first episode psychosis treatment. (2023). Congress of the Schizophrenia International Research Society (SIRS), Toronto, ON, Canada.       

• Analysis of qualitative methodology from the research literature on therapists’ experiences conducting psychotherapy. (2022). 53rd International Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), Denver, Colorado

• A new agenda for research on personalizing therapy: Findings from an omnibus qualitative meta-analysis of therapists’ experience. (2021). Society for Psychotherapy Research Annual Meeting,  Heidelberg, Germany

• We can do (no) harm: Building cultural responsiveness in refugee healthcare training. (2021). Workshop at the North-American Refugee Conference, Toronto, Ontario

• Post-migration adaptation and self-determination in Syrian asylum seekers and involuntary migrants: Teachers’ perspectives, (2019). The International Psychological Counseling and Guidance Conference, Antalya, Turkey

• Self-determination and psychological adaptation in refugees and asylum seekers. (2019). International Communities Organization, London, UK

• Examining how therapists navigate diversity and culture in psychotherapy: A qualitative meta-analysis. (2018). Society for Psychotherapy Research Annual Meeting, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Original, Peer Reviewed Articles:

• Rizo, J. , Levitt, H. M., Morrill, Z., Ipekci, B. A metamethod analysis of qualitative research methodology in studies of psychotherapists’ experiences. Psychotherapy Research Journal. 2026: 36(5), 856-869.

• Ipekci, B., Thibeau, H., Gibbs, J., Barnard, E., & Kline, E. R. Young adult perspectives on treatment engagement and family communication during psychosis. Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 2025: 19(2), e70006.

• Ipekci, B., Thibeau, H., Barnard, E., Keshavan, M., Vaswani-Bye, A., Kline, E. R. First episode psychosis caregiver perspectives on motivational Interviewing for loved ones training: A Qualitative Study. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 2024:1–8

• Davis, B., Fenley, A., Sanders, A., Ipekci, B., Thibeau, H., Khan, T., Shashidhar, G., Keshavan, M., Kline, E. Development of the motivational interviewing for loved ones skills assessment (MILO-SA). Early Intervention in Psychiatry. 2023:1-6

• Kline, E., Thibeau, H., Davis, B., Fenley, A., Sanders, A., Ipekci, B., Oblath, R., Yen, S., & Keshavan, M.S. Motivational interviewing for loved ones: Randomized controlled trial of brief training for first episode psychosis caregivers. Schizophrenia Research, 2022; 250, 43-49

• Ipekci, B. Predicting PTSD and complex PTSD among Iraqi and Syrian refugees. Community Mental Health Journal. Advance online publication. 2022:1-10

• Levitt, HM, Collins, KM, Morrill, Z, Gorman, KR, Ipekci, B, Grabowski, L, Karch, J, Kurtz, K, Orduña Picón, R, Reyes, A, Vaswani-Bye, A. Learning clinical and cultural empathy: A call for a multidimensional approach to empathy-focused psychotherapy training. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 2022:1-13.

• Mattar, S., Ipekci, B., Louis, E., Taknint, J. Clinical supervision and training: Implications for refugee serving public healthcare settings. International Perspectives in Psychology: Research, Practice, Consultation. Advance online publication. 2022:1-10

• Turan, N, Ipekci, B., Cinalioglu, EA, Yilmaz, MY. Post-migration adaptation and self-determination in Syrian asylum seekers: Teachers’ perspectives. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research. 2022:17(1):8-27.

• Levitt, MH, Ipekci, B, Morrill, Z, Rizo, JL. Intersubjective recognition as the methodological enactment of epistemic privilege: A critical basis for consensus and intersubjective confirmation procedures. Journal of Qualitative Psychology. 2021; 8(3):407-427.

• Ipekci, B, Turan, N. Dysfunctional relationship beliefs as gendered predictors of alexithymia in Turkish cultural context. British Journal of Counseling Guidance and Counseling. 2020:1-14. 

• Turan, N, Ipekci, B, Yilmaz, MY. Self-determination and psychological adaptation in refugees and asylum seekers. New England Journal of Public Policy. 2019;31(2):1-14.

• Ipekci, B. Complexity of resiliency framework for refugee population: A Letter to the editor regarding Wright et al. (2016). Journal of Immigration and Minority Health. 2018; 20(5):1041.

Professional Service:

2023-Present Reviewer, American Psychological Foundation

2022-Present Reviewer, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma

2019-2021 APA Division 17, Section for the Advancement of Women, Student Advisory Committee Member

2017-2021 APA Division 5, Ethics Committee Member

2015-2022 Association for Psychological Science (APS), Campus Representative

Awards:

2026 Faculty Teaching Award, Boston University School of Medicine

2021 Exemplary Commitment to Social Justice Award, UMass Boston 2021 Book Awards

2019 APA Division 39 Multicultural Concerns Committee Scholar Award