Faculty Spotlight: Vaishali V. Raval

photo of Vaishali V. Raval

  • associate professor of Psychology
  • teaches undergraduate and graduate psychology courses focusing on culture and psychopathology
  • research interests include parenting and children’s emotions in different cultural contexts
  • enjoys spending time with her three-year-old

Background

"I received my undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Toronto and then went on to get a Master's and PhD in Clinical Developmental Psychology from the University of Windsor in Ontario. While in Windsor, I completed some of my clinical traineeships across the border in Detroit. Soon after, I moved to Denver, Colorado to complete a full-year pre-doctoral internship at The Children's Hospital and then to Chicago for a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago—and finally came to Miami.

"In graduate school I learned that a lot of what we knew in the field of psychology—human behavior, emotion, and cognition—was very much based on research done in North America. We really did not know much about people in other parts of the world, so that is how I became interested in my current field, cultural clinical psychology. I study parenting, children's emotions, and mental health issues within an international and cultural context."

Teaching

"At the undergraduate level, I teach Psychology Across Cultures (PSY 210) and Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities (PSY 345). I also teach Capstone courses on culture and mental health, and at the graduate level I teach courses in psychological assessment, cultural clinical psychology, and developmental psychopathology. I recently co-taught GHS 201 Data and Decisions in Global Health with Dr. Cameron Hay-Rollins from Anthropology. This past January, I co-led a study abroad workshop to India with Dr. Liz Wilson from Comparative Religion.

[Read the July 2015 Miami press release Miami professor leads an international team to create cultural-centered mental health education.]

"I really enjoy my interactions with students, especially when students are interested in solving a real-world problem rather than focusing only on a grade."

Research

"I direct the Culture, Affect, RElationships Lab in the Department of Psychology and collaborate with several graduate and undergraduate students. We currently have a number of projects on understanding how parents socialize children’s emotions in different cultural contexts and how these are related to children's emotional outcomes.

"Much of my own research is focused on understanding how culture is connected to child health outcomes, particularly within families in Asia and Asian American families in the U.S. with children of all ages."

Outside the Classroom

"My three-year-old keeps me motivated in my career and my life in general. The amount of energy he exudes from morning through nighttime keeps me fully engaged and busy."

[July 2015]