Kimberly Balsam, PhD

Kimberly F. Balsam, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Psychology Department at Palo Alto University, where she is the Director of the Center for LGBTQ Evidence-Based Applied Research (CLEAR) and of the LGBTQ Area of Emphasis in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. She received her M.S. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon in 1994 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Vermont in 2003. She has a 20-year history of clinical practice in a range of settings including community mental health and private practice and has worked extensively with LGBTQ+ clients across the lifespan. She has been conducting and publishing innovative research on LGBTQ+ psychology since the 1990s, on topics including trauma, minority stress, mental health, and LGBTQ+ families and intimate relationships. She has led and collaborated on numerous projects to develop and test culturally relevant assessment tools for LGBTQ+ specific constructs. Dr. Balsam has been also been active in LGBTQ+ psychology within the American Psychological Association and is Past President of APA’s Division 44, the Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. She is currently the Project Director and Principal Investigator for the LGBTQ+ Clinical Academy, a partnership with Santa Clara County in which her team developed, implemented, and evaluated an evidence-based intensive 40-hour cultural competence training for behavioral health providers in the public sector.