Faculty and Staff

Max Zubatsky, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Program Director
Medical Family Therapy Program
The Memory Clinic Director
Morrissey Hall, Room 1129
3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1101
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314-977-2496
Email: max.zubatsky@health.slu.edu

Research Interests/Clinical Interests: 
Caregiving, Alzheimer's disease, integrated behavioral health, residency education, couples therapy, dementia, family caregiving, chronic illness in families, couples. 

As program director, Max Zubatsky oversees the operations, duties, resources, and curriculum of the program. In addition, the program director communicates and corresponds with division directors routinely within the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Specific roles and responsibilities of the program director include:

• Continually assesses and makes any necessary adjustments to curriculum and/or course of study for the M.A. and Ph.D. programs (including program objectives, student learning outcomes and assessment of these outcomes)
• Approves decisions around any substantive changes taking place in both programs.
• Monitors the program budget around fiscal year income and expenditures
• Oversees resources and facilities in the Medical Family Therapy Program
• Helps assist and support the director of clinical services around operational and/or training decisions with students in their clinical work
• Provides input to the department chair around changes, opportunities or expansion of services in the behavioral health division of the department
• Performs continuous quality improvement and review of feedback from students, faculty and supervisors, in efforts to maintain and enhance the necessary goals of the program.

Katie Heiden-Rootes, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Medical Family Therapy Program
Assistant Vice President, Division of Diversity and Innovative Community Engagement
Rainbow Research Lab
Office: Morrissey Hall, Room 1133
3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1101
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314-977-8196
Fax: 314-977-2614
Email: katie.heidenrootes@health.slu.edu

Research Interests:
Sexuality and sexual health; LGBTQ youth and young adults and their families; women's sexual and relationship health post-cancer.

Dixie Meyer, Ph.D.
Professor
Medical Family Therapy Program
Relationships and Brain Science Research Laboratory
Office: Morrissey Hall, Room 1125
3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1101
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314 -977-7114
Email: dixie.meyer@health.slu.edu

Research/Clinical Interests:
Neurobiological applications in counseling, couples counseling, drama therapy, affect regulations and attachment.

Megan Ferber, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Medical Family Therapy Program
Office: Morrissey Hall, Room 1127
3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1101
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314-977-2507
Fax: 314-977-2614
Email: megan.ferriby@health.slu.edu 

Research/Clinical Interests:
The psychosocial processes that surround weight loss and maintenance within patients and family members with particular interest in romantic relationships and the bariatric surgery population, examining weight stigma and its impact on patient-provider interactions, and developing couple-based interventions to bolster patients’ long-term health behavior change, weight loss, and romantic relationships quality.

Shelly Dalton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Medical Family Therapy Program
Office: 3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1131
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314-977-4066
Fax: 314-977-2614
Email: michelle.dalton@health.slu.edu

Shelly Dalton, Ph.D., LPC is an assistant professor in the medical family therapy program in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. Dr. Dalton received their doctorate from Texas Woman’s University in marriage and family therapy. Dr. Dalton completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology at Syracuse University in the field of health psychology. They direct the social determinants research lab. Dr. Dalton’s clinical and research interests include developing interventions for reducing minority stress, social determinants of health for the TGNC community, HIV, alcohol use, and attachment processes within couple and family relationships.

Jeanna R. Knight, Ph.D., LMFT, LPC
jeanna.knight@health.slu.edu

Dr. Knight is an adjunct professor in the Medical Family Therapy Program. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Missouri, and a licensed professional counselor in Missouri and Illinois. She received her M.A. in marriage and family therapy from Indiana Wesleyan University and her doctorate in medical family therapy from Saint Louis University. Dr. Knight is an approved MFT supervisor in Missouri. She is the owner of an independent private practice where she serves individuals, couples and families and offers talks on a variety of behavioral health issues. Her primary research interest is maternal health and wellness of African American women. She is also an adjunct instructor at the University of San Diego.

Doug Pettinelli, Ph.D., LMFT
doug.pettinelli@health.slu.edu

Dr. Pettinelli is an adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. He received his M.S. (1971) and Ph.D. (1973) in developmental-social psychology from Kansas State University (Manhattan). Doug is a licensed psychologist in Missouri, as well as a clinical fellow and approved supervisor of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. He is a consultant to several schools, programs and agencies that serve children. His main areas of interest are child and family development.

Brittany Robinson, Ph.D., LMFT
brittany.robinson@health.slu.edu

Dr. Robinson is an adjunct professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine. She received her M.A. in marriage and family therapy from Saint Mary’s University in Minnesota and her doctorate in medical family therapy from Saint Louis University. She is a Missouri Approved MFT supervisor and a licensed marriage and family therapist. Her primary research and clinical interests include preventative measures for sexual minorities with HIV/AIDS, sexual health among African American men, family coping after an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, clinical effectiveness for therapists treating members of the LGBTQI community, and  LGBTQI youth within heterosexual/traditional families.

Christine Schneider, Ph.D., LCSW
cschneider@integrativemindinstitute.com

Dr. Schneider is an adjunct professor in the Medical Family Therapy Program. She is a licensed clinical social worker and certified in EMDR. She has her Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Saint Louis University and interned at SLUCare Family Medicine. She currently provides therapy services at the Integrative Mind Institute.

Nancy Morrison, Ph.D. (Emeritus)

Research Interests:
Family resiliency, single-parent and remarried families, postmodern therapy and teaching.

Craig W. Smith, Ph.D. (Emeritus)

Research/Clinical Interests:
Medical family therapy, marital resiliency, rural families, marriage and family therapy teaching and supervision, and psychotherapy in China.

Mary Donjon
Administrative Secretary
Office: Morrissey Hall, Room 1137
3700 Lindell Blvd, Suite 1101
St. Louis, MO 63108
Phone: 314-977-7108
Fax: 314-977-2614
Email: mary.donjon@health.slu.edu