Amanda L. Sanchez, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Amanda Sanchez earned her PhD in Clinical Science at Florida International University. Her research and clinical interests center on improving access to quality mental healthcare for culturally diverse youth and families. More specifically, her work focuses on (1) understanding and addressing structural and systemic barriers to engagement, (2) delivering innovative mental health services in children’s natural environments, and (3) improving the cultural responsiveness of mental health services and systems. In this vein, her work has focused on using cultural assessment to inform case conceptualization and treatment planning and identifying effective culturally responsive strategies that address specific cultural and contextual challenges (e.g., racism/discrimination, acculturation, housing/food insecurity) and cultural strengths (e.g., racial/ethnic identity, community support) within mental health treatment. As a graduate student, she led an NIH-funded project examining the use of the Cultural Formulation Interview as a strategy to improve satisfaction, engagement, and clinical outcomes among culturally diverse families. She is now a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine conducting community-partnered work to improve cultural responsiveness of community mental health services. Dr. Sanchez can be contacted at Amanda.sanchez1@