Leadership

Carla Allan, PhD Division Chief

Dr. Carla Allan joined the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital in January of 2021 and currently serves as the Division Chief of Pediatric Psychology. Previously, she served as the Director of ADHD Programs at Children's Mercy-Kansas City. Dr. Allan earned her doctorate degree in clinical psychology from Florida State University and completed her internship and fellowship training at Children's Mercy-Kansas City.
 

Lindsay Anderson, PhD Hematology / Oncology
 

Tava Arnold, PhD Consultation/Liaison

Tava Arnold, PhD, serves as the psychologist for several interdisciplinary teams at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Dr. Arnold's expertise includes helping children and their families navigate medical treatments, surgeries, and other challenges associated with complex health conditions. She has specialty training in pediatric psychology which includes pre-surgical evaluations, psychotherapy, and medical team consultation. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Society of Pediatric Psychology, and American Cochlear Implant Alliance. Dr. Arnold earned her doctorate degree in counseling psychology with an emphasis in health psychology from Georgia State University. Dr. Arnold completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Children's Hospital of Orange County in Orange, CA and post - doctoral fellowship at the Rocky Mountain Blood and Bone Marrow Transplant Program in Denver, CO.
 

Ginger A. Carlson, PhD, ABPP

Ginger A. Carlson, PhD, ABPP is a clinical psychologist in the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She obtained her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from DePaul University, and completed an internship at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and a postdoctoral fellowship with the Arizona Psychology Training Consortium. Dr. Carlson has published articles in several peer-reviewed journals and has been licensed as a psychologist in the state of Arizona since 2006. She provides evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy, including individual, parent-child, family, and group therapy, for children and adolescents with medical and psychiatric disorders. Practice focus includes adjustment to chronic illnesses and new medical diagnoses, adherence to medical treatment, post-transplant care and adjustment, pain management, treatment of somatic symptoms and somatic symptom disorders, and treatment of posttraumatic stress and adjustment symptoms secondary to medical diagnoses and procedures. Dr. Carlson is the Director of Pediatric Psychology Services.
 

Stacey Halverson, PhD Consultation/liaison
 

Marco-Antonio Hartmann, PsyD Pain service

Rosie Hodges, PsyD GI

Dr. Hodges is a graduate of the Stanford consortium in Palo Alto, California. She completed her internship training at Jackson Health System/University of Miami School of Medicine. Her fellowship was completed at Children's Health in Dallas Texas.
 

Emma Khatami, PhD

Dr. Khatami is a staff psychologist at Phoenix Children’s Hospital who performs inpatient consultation and liaison services for the inpatient medical floors. She is also the dedicated psychologist on the palliative medicine team. Dr. Khatami graduated from the University of Nevada Las Vegas doctoral program with specialty in Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology and did both her internship and fellowship at Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Dr. Ross was the recipient of the Arizona Psychological Association Resident of the Year award.
 

Zorash Montano, PhD

Dr. Montano joined Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children's Hospital (PCH) as a staff psychologist as part of the Consultation and Liaison Psychology Service in March 2020. Dr. Montano earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from Arizona State University (ASU). She completed her internship in Pediatric Psychology at Boston Children’s Hospital and her post-doctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA). Before arriving in Phoenix, Dr. Montano was the psychologist in the Division of Urology at CHLA. Stemming from her training at ASU, Dr. Montano is particularly interested in parenting interventions and how these can be applied in the medical setting. Further, she is passionate about working with multidisciplinary teams in the care of patients and is excited to continue this work at PCH.
 

Synthia Puffenberger, PhD

Synthia Puffenberger, PhD, a graduate of our internship, works with the Endocrinology Department and the diabetes patients.
 

Jenna S. Rudo-Stern, PhD

Dr. Jenna Rudo-Stern is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Clinical Professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. She serves both the Gender Support Program and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Clinic at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She uses humor and playfulness to help people apply the principles of behaviorism, cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and mindfulness to their own lives. Dr. Rudo-Stern earned her doctorate from Arizona State University and completed a doctoral internship at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She completed a postdoctoral residency in pediatric psychology at Phoenix Children's Hospital. Her research focuses on ways to expand access to effective care. She is now collaborating with partners at Arizona State University to explore ways to implement as a waitlist intervention an online intervention for parents of gender-diverse youth.
 

Jeanette M. Smith, PhD

Dr. Smith has been providing assessment and treatment to children and families as a licensed psychologist for more than 19 years, working in both outpatient settings and medical inpatient settings. She completed her doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship at Children’s Hospital, Boston. Dr. Smith received her PhD in clinical psychology at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia. She completed her clinical internship and post-doctoral fellowship from Children’s Hospital Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Smith practices all aspects of pediatric psychology with a special interest in helping children cope and adjust with chronic illness, treatment adherence and non-pharmacological pain management. Some of the procedures she uses includes cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion regulation skills training, relaxation techniques and biofeedback. She provides resident and intern training and developed the American Psychological Association accredited doctoral internship program at Phoenix Children's.
 

Arie Zakaryan, PhD

Dr. Zakaryan is a psychologist with clinical specialization in Pediatric Psychology and Pain Management. He received his doctoral degree with a child clinical subspecialty from Loyola University Chicago in Chicago, IL. He went on to conduct his pediatric psychology internship at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Dr. Zakaryan completed his fellowship in pediatric psychology at Children’s Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) in their Co-Occurring Clinic with a focus on treating patients with co-occurring medical and mental health diagnoses, especially for youth diagnosed with cancer. He also is fluent in Spanish and Armenian and conducts assessment and intervention in Spanish. Dr. Zakaryan joined Phoenix Children's Hospital in 2017 and is a psychologist as part of the Pain Medicine Program.
 

Joel S. Hanania, PhD

Pediatric psychologist specializing in autism diagnosis. His child-centered approach to patient care provides comprehensive diagnostic evaluations for children with a wide variety of developmental and learning challenges. An internship with a school for children with autism led him to choose pediatric care. He says being part of the Phoenix Children's team gives him "the opportunity to provide desperately needed services to those who need it most."
 

Neuropsychology Faculty:

BriAnne Butcher, PhD

Dr. Butcher is a pediatric neuropsychologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and serves as the primary supervisor of the Neuropsychology Track for the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Internship Program. Dr. Butcher earned a PhD at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas in 2009 where she completed specialty training in pediatric neuropsychology. She completed a doctoral internship at Miami Children’s Hospital with a pediatric neuropsychology focus. Following internship, Dr. Butcher completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Butcher’s current clinical focus is neuropsychological assessment of pediatric patients with acquired brain injuries and medical conditions that impact the central nervous system. Dr. Butcher is also an assistant professor in the clinician-scholar track at the Barrow Neurological Institute at Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
 

Kristin Crocfer, PsyD Neuropsychologist

Michael Lavoie, PhD

Director of Neuropsychology Services, has been a licensed psychologist for 20 years and had two years of post-doctoral experience in Neuropsychology. He has been training students and conducting neuropsychological evaluations for the past 20 years. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in Brain Development, Brain and Behavior Relationships, Anatomy and Physiology, Human Physiology, and Clinical Neuropsychology at Assumption College and Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, and at Arizona State University. Dr. Lavoie has lectured at local and state conferences and has presented at national conferences. He is a member of the Neuroscience Advisory Committee and the Professional Health Committee at Phoenix Children’s Hospital and is the past president of the Arizona Neuropsychological Society. 
 

Kimberly Painter, PsyD

Neuropsychologist who is responsible for the inpatient neuropsychology service at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Her primary role is as a member of the multidisciplinary team on the CARF accredited inpatient rehabilitation unit. Dr. Painter completed her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s Hospital of Michigan and her APPCN Neuropsychology fellowship at St. Louis Children’s Hospital/Washington University Medical School. She holds academic appointments at University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix and Barrow Neurological Institute as an Assistant Professor, and is involved in clinical teaching of practicum students, interns, and medical residents.