JODI POLAHA

Biography

A high-school science teacher first inspired my interest in human behavior and I had to quit the cheerleading squad to attend competitions at the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science.  When I went to college at the University of Pittsburgh (1987-1991), I knew I wanted to be a psychologist.  As a sophomore, I had the opportunity to work with children with disruptive behavior disorders in the context of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic Attention Deficit Disorders Summer Treatment Program.  Four years of work in this program established the foundation for my career including: 1) the importance of empirically-supported treatment, 2) an interest in the assessment and treatment of children with disruptive behavior disorders, and, perhaps most importantly, 3) an appreciation for the scientist-practitioner model.

I attended graduate school at Auburn University where I specialized in child clinical psychology and completed both my masters and dissertation projects in the general area of disruptive behavior disorders.  During these years I became increasingly interested in applied behavior analysis and its application to outpatient treatment for this population.  In addition, I fell in love with working in rural settings.

To further my training in behavior analysis and continue my work with rural, underserved families, I accepted an internship at the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, Department of Pediatric Psychology.  There, I was able to collaborate on an outreach initiative designed to integrate pediatric behavioral  health services into rural primary care clinics.  Eventually, I took a lead role in developing this network of clinics, which grew from two (1998) to fourteen (2006) while I was there.  In addition, I developed an adjunct service known as the Pediatric Behavioral Telehealth Clinic.

In the fall of 2006 I took a faculty position in the Department of Psychology at East Tennessee State University.  Located in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, the Departments of Psychology, Family Medicine, and others have carved a special niche in the area of rural health, and is an excellent fit for my interests.  My research program focuses on the portability of empirically-supported treatments to the "real world" context of rural primary care practices and the utility of telehealth technology to further this aim.  I work to maintain the scientist-practitioner model in all of my academic pursuits, developing research questions that are built upon my clinical experience while using knowledge gained from research to enhance the care (and training) I provide.