SDUIS Faculty

Core Faculty | Adjunct Faculty

Neenah Amaral
Ph.D.

is a Marriage, Family, Child Counselor in private practice in San Diego. Dr. Amaral is the current president and chief financial officer of the San Diego Chapter, California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She speciailizes in Alcohol and Drug Abuse and Hypnotherapy. Dr. Amaral teaches in the areas of legal and ethical issues for Counselors and theory and practice of family therapy.

Margaret V. Austin
Ph.D.

is a core faculty member with San Diego University for Integrative Studies teaching an on-line Behavioral Statistics Class and the Assessment and Treatment of Child Abuse. She also has a private practice in North San Diego County that focuses on working with parents and teachers in order to teach principles of non-violence to young children. She is currently conducting research in this area. Dr. Austin received a masters degree in psychology from Tennessee State University, as well as a masters degree and a doctorate in clinical psychology from California School of Professional Psychology. Her varied background includes a position as Director of Mental Health on a reservation in Montana, as well as the Assistant Director of Mental Health in a rural California county, the development of a Childrens Mental Health Program, and founding a software company whose focus was the development of products for the mental health community. Her special areas of interest are Family and Youth Violence, Violence Prevention, Child and Youth Development, Childhood Pathology and Treatment, Multiculturalism, Managed Care and Computer Use in Psychology.

Michael G. Essex
M.D.

is a board certified psychiatrist. He graduated from the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and did his psychiatric residency at the Shepard and Enoch Pratt Hospital, near Baltimore Maryland. He is currently Medical Director of BPSR-Vista in Vista, CA. He has studied Tibetan Buddhism since 1975. He has been very involved with the Drikung Kagyu Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism since 1985. He has studied intensively with Khenchen Konchog Gyaltshen and Drubpon Samten Rinpoche. He was appointed Umdzat (chantleader) by Drubpon Samten Rinpoche. He was one of the pioneers of using computerized desktop publishing techniques for producing bilingual Tibetan-English meditation texts. In 1994, he was asked by His Holiness Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang to coordinate the English language component of the International Drikung Kagyu Text Project. He has edited and translated many Tibetan meditation texts.

Joel Fick
Ph.D.

received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology specializing in Family/Child Health Psychology, and the B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College. Dr. Fick is a California licensed Clinical Psychologist and was a clinician for Mental Health Systems Inc., Mental Health Rehabilitation Specialist Supervisor for the Telecare Corporation, Clinical Director of the Weekend Program at Bayview Hospital, and Counselor for San Diego State University. He was appointed Postdoctoral Research Fellow for the Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health at SDSU, and has conducted partial hospitalization and community mental health treatment-outcome research. Dr. Fick teaches Practicum and Field Placement Supervision courses at National University and has conducted community health and communication seminars for SDSU. He teaches Developmental Psychology, Clinical Counseling Skills Training, Psychopathology, and Thesis/Dissertation Instruction at SDUIS.

Lisa Hazlewood - Hunt
Ph.D.

is a supervising psychologist for the Dept. of Psychiatry Children's Hospital of San Diego and a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in San Diego. Dr. Hazlewood-Hunt earned her Ph.D. at Northwestern University in Chicago. She was awarded a post-doctorate fellowship at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and has been a Psychology Fellow at Illinois Masonic Hospital, Dept. of Psychiatry. Dr. Hazlewood-Hunt has been actively involved in Jungian Psychology organizations for the past 14 years.

Peter Lambrou
Ph.D.

is a licensed clinical psychologist and a specialist in anxiety, work stress, weight management, and Energy Psychology. He is a Certified Medical Hypnotherapist by the American Psychotherapy and Medical Hypnosis Association, of which he is past-president. Dr. Lambrou received his undergraduate degree in journalism from San Diego State University and his doctorate degree in psychology from the University for Humanistic Studies in 1992. He has written and published books and articles for both the professional and general markets and he is the co-author of Self-Hypnosis: The Complete Manual for Health and Self-Change (2nd Ed.), which has been translated into seven languages, and co-author of the books Hyper-Performance and the award-winning Instant Emotional Healing: Acupressure for the Emotions, published by Random House. Dr. Lambrou is the Chairman of the Task Force for Psychology and Integrative Medicine at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, California, where he maintains a private practice on the Scripps Memorial Hospital campus.

William Leslie
M.A.

received his M.A. in philosophy from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on critical thinking and philosophy of religion. He teaches philosophy at Palomar Community College and is the President of the Sierra Foothills Chapter of Educators for Social Responsibility. E-mail

Robert Nideffer
Ph.D.

is president of Enhanced Performance Systems, has written 15 books and authored over 100 research and/or applied articles. He is the developer of the Test of Attentional and Interpersonal Style (TAIS) which is used world wide to measure the attentional and interpersonal skills of high level performers in sports, business, sales and the military. Dr. Nideffer has worked with Olympic teams from the US, Canada, and Australia, and taught in psychiatry, psychology, and physical education departments in various universities. Dr. Nideffer received his Ph.D. in clinical and experimental psychology from Vanderbilt University.

Bapsi Slali
Ph.D.

is a licensed psychologist in private practice in San Diego and Imperial Counties. Currently, she is doing individual and group psychotherapy in the areas of depression, abuse, performance, stress and family relationships. She is a co-founder of Kearny Mesa Psychological Services and the Center for the Treatment of Sexual Abuse. Dr. Slali completed her bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology in India. She has done graduate work and received teaching fellowships at San Diego State University and the University of Houston. She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology.

Raymond Trybus
Ph.D.

is a former Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at National University, Executive Vice President of Alliant University Foundation, and for nine years was the Chancellor of the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP), San Diego. Dr. Trybus has authored seventeen book chapters, authored or co-authored five books, and has published more than twenty-two scientific journal articles and technical reports. For the past three years, Dr. Trybus was the project Administrator for Project ESSEA (from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea to America), and outreach-based mental health program for refugees and immigrants from those four East African countries who now live in San Diego. He is also regarded as an internationally known research expert on the psychological issues of persons who are hard of hearing or deaf. Dr. Trybus has received over $4,000,000 in external funds for his research projects from state, federal, and private agencies and has presented more than fifty papers at scientific conferences. We are greatly honored to now have the scholarly expertise of Dr. Trybus, who is also a licensed psychologist in the state of California, District of Columbia, and Maryland. He has extensive clinical experience and has been practicing and consulting for over 30 years. Dr. Trybus received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and M.S. in Psychology with specialization in Research Methodology and Design from St. Louis University.
Cristina B. Versari
Ph.D.

Cristina Bortoni Versari attended the United States International University and obtained her Ph.D. and Masters degree in Psychology with specialization in Sport Psychology. Dr. Versari also obtained two Bachelors degrees from Gama Filho University located in Brazil. Dr. Versari has been working with high profile clientele for over sixteen years. Versaris duties include overseeing work with individuals, couples and teams in the areas of career development, life planning, educational planning, performance enhancement, stress management and relationship issues. Dr. Versari was the Program Administrator for the NBPA/NBA Education and Career Development Program which means being responsible for the services offered to twenty-nine NBA teams (over 450 players). Dr. Versari counseled NBA players on a variety of specific topics including life planning, education and degree completion. In addition to this Cristina Versari also developed numerous NBA players seminars and training programs. Dr. Versari was the official psychologist for the Brazilian Mens basketball Team in the 1992 Olympics and the 1994 World Basketball Championships. Dr. Versari is also very active in academic study, being President and Director of the Sport Psychology Program at the San Diego University for Integrative Studies, and has conducted a large number of international (and national) workshops/training programs for athletes, coaches, businesspeople and academics. As part of her commitment to the further development of Sports Psychology, Dr. Versari is the Editor of Self Help and Psychology Magazine, Performance/ Sport Psychology and various sources on the internet. She also provides executive and life coaching consulting services to high profile individuals who are interested in improving their professional performance, learning how to cope with IT infrastructure and coping with business reorganization. E-Mail