SHANNON SAUER-ZAVALA, PHD

Shannon Sauer-Zavala, PhD, is co-developer of the Unified Protocol and the founding director of the Unified Protocol Institute at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University.  She has provided training and consultation in the Unified Protocol to clinicians all over the world.  In addition to over 15 years' experience as a clinical psychologist providing evidence-based treatments, Dr. Sauer-Zavala maintains a prolific research career focused on exploring emotion-focused mechanisms that maintain psychological symptoms (particularly high-risk symptoms such as suicidal thoughts and behaviors) and using this information to develop more targeted, easily disseminated intervention strategies.  She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Kentucky (UK) and is the founding director of Clinical Services at the UK Clinic for Emotional Health.  Dr. Sauer-Zavala completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology from UK, her predoctoral internship at Duke University Medical Center, and her postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University.  Her research has been supported by NIMH, NIAAA, Templeton Foundation, the Center for Implementation and Improvement Sciences, and the Canadian Institute of Health Research.  Dr. Sauer-Zavala has co-authored over 100 scholarly publications and three books, including workbook and therapist guides on the Unified Protocol for Oxford's Treatments That Work Series, as well as Neuroticism: A New Framework for Emotional Disorders and Their Treatment, with David Barlow.