Samantha Fordwood Meredith, PhD
Professor
Psychiatry
School of Medicine

Dr. Samantha Fordwood (she/her) is a Clinical Professor in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University, her doctoral degree from UCLA, and completed her internship and postdoctoral training at UCSF.

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Samantha specializes in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a goals-focused and skills-based treatment that addresses a wide range of emotional and behavioral issues and involves the practice of emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and mindfulness skills. Adolescents and young adults in the UCSF Wavefront DBT Program typically struggle with significant emotion dysregulation and engage in suicidal and self-harming behaviors, disordered eating behaviors, substance use, and other high-risk behaviors. Samantha is also experienced in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for anxiety and mood disorders, as well as in Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE) for trauma. In addition to providing clinical services, Samantha remains involved in research on delivering evidence-based treatments in clinical settings. She enjoys supervising psychology and psychiatry trainees and teaching about DBT and related topics.

Education & Training

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• Postdoctoral Fellow Clinical Services Research Training Program UCSF 06/2009
• PhD Clinical Pyschology UCLA 06/2007
• Internship Clinical Psychology Training Program UCSF 06/2007
• BA Psychology Cornell University 05/1998
• study abroad Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology Oxford University 05/1997

Websites

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• UCSF Wavefront DBT Clinic (wavefront.ucsf.edu)

Publications (6)

Top publication keywords:
Suicide, AttemptedPsychologyPsychotherapyRisk AssessmentBorderline Personality DisorderInternship and ResidencyPsychiatryEducational MeasurementViolenceClinical CompetenceResearchEducationPsychology, ClinicalDepressive DisorderProfessional Practice

• What five decades of research tells us about the effects of youth psychological therapy: A multilevel meta-analysis and implications for science and practice.
  The American psychologist 2017 Weisz JR, Kuppens S, Ng MY, Eckshtain D, Ugueto AM, Vaughn-Coaxum R, Jensen-Doss A, Hawley KM, Krumholz Marchette LS, Chu BC, Weersing VR, Fordwood SR
• Functions of non-suicidal self-injury in adolescents and young adults with Borderline Personality Disorder symptoms.
  Psychiatry research 2014 Sadeh N, Londahl-Shaller EA, Piatigorsky A, Fordwood S, Stuart BK, McNiel DE, Klonsky ED, Ozer EM, Yaeger AM
• A method for evaluating competency in assessment and management of suicide risk.
  Academic psychiatry : the journal of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry 2012 Hung EK, Binder RL, Fordwood SR, Hall SE, Cramer RJ, McNiel DE
• Effects of training on suicide risk assessment.
  Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.) 2008 McNiel DE, Fordwood SR, Weaver CM, Chamberlain JR, Hall SE, Binder RL
• Impact of clinical training on violence risk assessment.
  The American journal of psychiatry 2008 McNiel DE, Chamberlain JR, Weaver CM, Hall SE, Fordwood SR, Binder RL
• Suicide attempts among depressed adolescents in primary care.
  Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53 2007 Fordwood SR, Asarnow JR, Huizar DP, Reise SP