Dr. Cervantes is Research Director of Behavioral Assessment, Inc. He served as Research Psychologist at the UCLA Spanish Speaking Mental Health Research Center, and held a full-time faculty appointment in the USC School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences. Dr. Cervantes was the Principal Investigator for the NIH funded study, “Development of the Hispanic Stress Inventory-2” and PI on the recently completed the NIH study “Familia Adelante: A multi risk Prevention Program for Hispanic Youth”. He was also PI on the recently completed, NIH supported “Hispanic Family Assessment Inventory Study”. Dr. Cervantes is also a leader in evaluation science with special expertise in cultural competency and cross cultural instrument development. He serves as the lead evaluator for SAMHSA’s National Hispanic/Latino Addiction and Prevention Technology Transfer Centers, and was the lead evaluator for the New Mexico State Incentive Grant program, the Texas State Incentive Program the California State Incentive Program. He serves as the lead evaluator on a number of other community based mental health and substance abuse prevention projects. He develops and provides evaluation technical assistance and training to local community coalitions and non-profit organization. He sits on a number of SAMHSA and ACF evaluation Workgroups, and is a member of the University of Miami, El Centro Scientific Advisory Board. He has published extensively in peer review journals, books and special reports. Dr. Cervantes received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Oklahoma State University.
President/CEO
Associates
Clarissa Cervantes obtained her Bachelor's degree in Physical Therapy in 2000. Ms. Cervantes has extensive experience in Health Care and Mental Health Research as well in data entry and data management. She works closely with the Data Manager and Lead Evaluator in data entry and conduct of the evaluation statistical analyses. Ms. Cervantes also functions as a resource person for technical assistance, writing and reading and helps on with the implementation of the formal evaluation and ensures comprehension of the data analysis objectives. Ms. Cervantes, along with the Lead Evaluator is responsible for choosing the suitable software for conducting the appropriate statistical analysis; assist with report writing as necessary and monitoring performance in Projects such as Targeted Capacity Expansion (TCE) - HIV, MIP, Safe, Project Heal, Youth Adelante, Stop Short of Addiction and SWRBHC Conference Evaluation and Project Corazon. Ms. Cervantes is Portuguese-English bilingual/bicultural; she has traveled worldwide and had gained a lot of cultural diversity experience. Ms. Cervantes has many courses in Health Care and Mental Health matters. Clarissa Cervantes Ms. Camacaro is a member of BAI’s research, data management team and manages projects for BAI. She provides assistance to lead evaluators through providing logistics for meetings and research for reports. Ms. Camacaro maintains training schedules, invoicing for specific projects, assists in project management, staffing logistics, and trains incoming employees in data entry and data collection. She is bi-lingual in English and Spanish and has a keen interest in the physical and emotional growth of child development. Donna Camacaro
Richard C. Cervantes, Ph.D.
Elias Koutantos has been involved in the field of psychological and behavioral research for over 10 years. Mr. Koutantos graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology in 2014 from the University of California, Riverside, but has been involved in the psychological field since 2011. Mr. Koutantos has been working in psychological- and behavioral-related research and has assisted in multiple psychological, behavioral, and community studies throughout his career. He currently oversees progress and development of the projects that he is currently involved in as a co-evaluator and researcher and meets with project staff in order to ensure that they are able to achieve their goals. Elias Koutantos Cindy serves as a Sr. Research Associate II for BAI. She assists with grant writing and proposal development efforts, research and reporting, training and technical assistance, and survey development. Cindy assists with all aspects of program evaluation activities and analysis including focus groups and key informant interviews and reporting. She has an Associate degree in technical writing from Oklahoma State University, a bachelor’s degree in Liberal Sciences from University of Oklahoma (2003), and a master’s degree in Adult Education and Vocation from Oklahoma State University (2005). Cindy Keig Mr. David Salinas has over 12 years of clinical and social service research experience combined. As a research associate, Mr. Salinas has been the clinical coordinator/data manager for privately and federally funded clinical trials ranging from traumatic orthopedic research to studies focusing on co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders in adolescents. These endeavors included the administration of psychometric tools to measure treatment effectiveness and safety. Mr. Salinas is also experienced in implementing health services research like needs assessments for non-profit entities, city and county departments, and for state agencies. Major assessment areas included evaluation of health services gaps in HIV prevention, treatment, and care; adolescent sexual health education in schools; and mental health and substance abuse needs among adolescents. His evaluation expertise includes project coordination in clinical and health services research, including literature reviews; study research design; instrument development; primary and secondary data collection; data manipulation and statistical analysis; manuscript and report writing, and presentations. Moreover, as a native of Mexico, Mr. Salinas speaks both Spanish and English which allows him the opportunity to deeply explore and understand external and internal behavioral and social stressors among the Latino community. Mr. Salinas has both a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and in Spanish Literature from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Public Health. David Salinas, MPH
Consultants/Partners
Dr. Fisher is currently the Director of the Center for Behavioral Research and Services (CBRS) and a full Professor of Psychology at the California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). Before coming to Long Beach he was the Director of the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He was the chair of the Data Management committee of the NIDA Cooperative Agreement. His M.S. degree was in Counseling Psychology and his thesis was “A Behavioral Perspective of Heroin Addiction.” His doctorate was in Program Evaluation from the evaluation center (CIRCE) at the University of Illinois. He was a NIDA Epidemiology and Statistics postdoctoral fellow with the measurement group at UCLA Psychology Department. He was the evaluator for the Western Center for Drug Free Schools and Communities. He has taught courses in: Psychological Testing, Psychological Statistics, Cluster Analysis, Health Data Analysis, Biostatistics for Health Professionals, Graduate Statistics, and Research Methods. He has over 100 peer-reviewed publications including many on applications of classical test theory to self-report. He will take the lead on the preparation of scientific manuscripts and reports. Dennis Fisher, Ph.D. Dr. Jeremy T. Goldbach, LMSW, Ph.D. joined the USC School of Social Work in 2012 after completing both his master's and doctoral degrees in social work at The University of Texas at Austin. Specializing in prevention science, Goldbach received a doctoral in May 2012 at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests involve cultural competence in prevention practice, with a focus on sexual and ethnic minority youth experiences. His past research has primarily examined the impact of chronic stress experiences on Latino adolescents, and the development of evidence-based prevention programs for these youth and their families. Currently, Goldbach is exploring the relationship between minority stress and behavioral health outcomes in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) youth. He also serves as project evaluator with the National Association of Social Workers HIV/AIDS Spectrum: Mental Health Training and Education of Social Workers Project. His practice background includes both clinical and community organizing. Before returning for his doctoral education, Goldbach oversaw a large community organizing project in Texas that funded 32 community coalitions to reduce substance use concerns through environmental, policy-based strategy. His teaching interests include direct social work practice, human behavior and research with vulnerable populations. Jeremy Goldbach, Ph.D. Alan Kumamoto is a founding partner of Kumamoto Associates, a marketing, management and communications general partnership located in Greater Los Angeles area. Alan conducts leadership workshops and capacity building seminars for national and international clients. His career spans work in business, government, and nonprofit organizations has been in charge of a human relations training for the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission, and served as a senior trainer of program planning and proposal writing for The Grantsmanship Center. Alan served as President and Executive Director for the Center for Nonprofit Management, responsible for training and consultation to a variety of nonprofit corporations and he is a certified trainer for the United States Department of Justice Weed and Seed Program. He serves as a training and technical assistant consultant to the City of Los Angeles Community Development Department to build capacity among nonprofit and faith based agencies. Alan is the KA lead consultant to Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics providing training and technical assistance along a life cycle continuum from growth to maturity or from decline back to growth. Alan most recently developed curriculum for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Executive Leadership Development Program. He has been a change management consultant to agencies for over 30 years. Allen Kumamoto A founding partner of Kumamoto Associates, a marketing, management and communications genDenniseral partnership located in Greater Los Angeles area, provides technical assistance to non-profit organizations on program development and evaluation, project management, and organizational development and training. She specializes in market research, needs assessments, and feasibility studies. Ms. Kumamoto was the project manager for a Transportation Communications Needs Assessment Study, to understand communication channels and information needs for non-English speaking Asian communities. She was the principal evaluation investigator for an entertainment job training program. Prior to forming Kumamoto Associates, Ms. Kumamoto was an appointee in the Los Angeles City Mayor’s Office, Division of Human Resources, where she was responsible for staffing city department task forces and community advisory committees, and establishing a low interest loan, volunteer, and energy conservation projects. After leaving the Mayor’s Office Ms. Kumamoto also consulted as a sole proprietor with business organizations, major arts institutions, and engineering firms. Ms. Kumamoto is a former Commissioner for the City of Los Angeles Housing Authority and Telecommunications Board. Joanne Kumamoto Dr Padilla is currently a Professor of Psychological Studies in Education at Stanford University. His interests include academic resilience and positive school experiences of students from at-risk backgrounds; psychological acculturation and adjustment of immigrants, especially children and adolescents; and simultaneous and successive forms of bilingual development. He publishes widely in his areas of research expertise. He is also interested in quantitative research methods in multicultural contexts. He serves as the principal investigator of the California Foreign Language Project (CFLP), a program that assists California teachers in foreign language instruction by offering year-round professional development programs, including intensive institutes in the summer and follow-up sessions during the school year. Dr. Padilla received his B.A., (Psychology) New Mexico Highlands University; M.S. (Experimental Psychology) Oklahoma State University; Ph.D. (Experimental Psychology) University of New Mexico. Amado Padilla, Ph.D. Daniel Santisteban earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami in 1991 and completed his internship at Bellevue Hospital/NYU. He is currently Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami, Center for Family Studies. He has published over 15 articles and chapters. His interests are in treatment development, family therapy research with adolescents, and Hispanic families. Dr. Santisteban is the Principal Investigator of two grants funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and one funded by the American Foundation for Externship program for the training of family therapists; has focused on developing Suicide Prevention. Dr. Santisteban has been a co-leader of the Center for Family Studies new culturally appropriate family treatment interventions for specialized populations; and is leading efforts in blending research and practice at the national and state levels. Daniel Santisteban, Ph.D.
Project/Technical Support
Adrian Reyes is the founder and president of Adrian Information Strategies, a full service market research and data processing company in Dallas, Texas. With over thirty years experience in all facets of market research and data processing, he has established and managed local, state, and national accounts, and has conducted hundreds of qualitative and quantitative studies. Mr. Reyes attended City College of New York and the Computer Programming Institute of New York. He was instrumental in the development of interactive computer programs for survey research tabulation. Currently, Mr. Reyes serves as data manager to BAI and has been responsible for data collection, database management, Web site development and maintenance. He has also been instrumental in questionnaire design, providing both web-based online and offline survey data entry of evaluation instruments. Adrian Reyes
Internal Review Board (IRB), Chairperson
Dr. Cristo is the Chairperson for BAI’s independent Internal Review Board. Dr. Cristo and the IRB committee members conduct an extensive review of research protocols, research designs, data collection instruments and research participant consent forms. Research projects are submitted to the IRB for review and approval prior to commencement. Dr. Cristo has served as lead evaluator for the past twenty-five years on numerous projects funded by SAMSHA, Office of Women’s Health, Administration for Children and Families, FIRST 5 California and CA Department of Developmental Services. Dr. Cristo has evaluated program service models targeting Latino women and their children impacted by substance abuse, trauma due to violence, HIV risks, juvenile delinquency, mental health issues and Autism. Dr. Cristo has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and has been a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the State of California since 1994. Her clinical focus includes PTSD, Substance Use Disorders and women’s mental health risks. Martha Cristo, Ph.D.
BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT, INC.
More . . . More . . .