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Alison K. Boos

Alison K. Boos

•Research Program Manager, PREVENT Lab
•
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Biography

Alison Boos is the Research Program Manager in the PREVENT Lab under Dr. Jason Schiffman. She received her Master of Social Work from California State University, Long Beach in 2026 and her B.A. in Psychology from the University of San Francisco in 2016.

Boos serves as Research Program Manager at the Psychosis-Risk Evaluation, Early Intervention, and Treatment (PREVENT) Lab in the Department of Psychological Science at the University of California, Irvine, a position she has held since July 2021. In this role, she manages lab operations, supervises staff and research assistants, co-leads trainings for the Structured Interview for Psychosis Risk Syndromes, and oversees multi-site longitudinal studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Prior to this position, she worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Brain Imaging and EEG Lab at the University of California, San Francisco Department of Psychiatry and San Francisco VA Medical Center from 2016 to 2020. In this role she coordinated the North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS III) and conducted clinical interviews, EEG, and MRI appointments with participants. She has co-authored publications in journals including Schizophrenia Bulletin, Early Intervention in Psychiatry, Schizophrenia Research, and Biological Psychiatry, and has contributed to a book chapter in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience.

In addition to her career in research, Boos has completed social work internships at the Department of State Hospitals - Metropolitan (DSH-M) and at Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) in middle school and high school wellness centers. At DSH-M she worked with patients in the Penal Code 1370 (incompetent to stand trial) inpatient program, where she worked on a multidisciplinary team, lead psychoeducation and treatment groups, created treatment plans, coordinated with families, and assisted with discharge planning. At LBUSD, she conducted counseling sessions with students and lead lunch time mental health and wellness activities. Additionally, she was a recipient of the Public Behavioral Health MSW Training and Fellowship Program for the 2025-2026 academic year. Her culminating MSW thesis explored the perceptions and attitudes of social work graduate students toward psychosis.

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Education

  • Master of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach, 2026
  • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, University of San Francisco, 2016
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Distinctions

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    Areas of Expertise

    • Clinical High-Risk Psychosis
    • Structured Diagnostic Interviewing
    • Neuropsychological Assessment Administration
    • Mental Health Service Utilization
    • Neighborhood Disadvantage Effects
    • Suicide Prevention Interventions
    • Electrophysiological Reward Processing

    Recent Publications

    • DeVylder, J., Ryu, Y., Title, S. J., Amos, B., Smith, M. E., Montague, E., Boos, A., King, C.A., Schiffman, J., “Youth-nominated support teams for youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (YST-CHR): A novel approach to suicide prevention in early psychosis” (opens in new tab), Early Intervention in Psychiatry, vol. 19, no. 10, 2025.
    • Coronado, K., Healey, L.V., Boos, A., Giljen, M., Villegas, M., Mittal, V., Ellman, L., Schiffman, J. E., “Mapping Migration: Exploring the Interplay of Generation Status and Social Factors in Attenuated Psychosis”, 2024. Presented at Society for Research in Psychopathology 2024, Montreal, Canada, October 17-18, 2024.
    • Boos, A., Healey, L. V., Petti, E., Villegas, M., Coronado, K., Giljen, M., Bridgwater, M., Ellman, L.M., Mittal, V., Schiffman, J. E., “Exploring the Associations Between Neighborhood Disadvantage, Mental Health Care Utilization, and Psychosis-Like Experiences”, 2024. Presented at Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, April 24-28, 2024.
    • Coronado K., Healey, L. V., Boos, A., Giljen, M., Villegas, M., Mittal, V., Ellman, L. M., Schiffman, J.E., “From Arrival to Adolescence: Understanding Psychosis-Like Experiences Across Generations In Immigrant Populations”, 2024. Presented at Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, April 24-28, 2024.
    • Villegas, M. C., Healey, L. V., Boos, A., Coronado, M., Ellman, L. M., Corlett, P., Staruss, G., Waltz, J., Silverstein, S., Woods, S., Walker, E., Powers, A., Gold, J., Mittal, V., Schiffman, J.E., “Examining Links between Urban, Suburban, and Rural Neighborhood Types on Psychosis-Spectrum Symptoms, Functioning, and Other Indicators of Mental Health”, 2024. Presented at Western Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA, April 24-28, 2024.
    • Bridgwater, M.A., Klaunig, M.J., Petti, E.J., Pitts, S.C., Rakshan Rouhakhtar, P.J., Ered, A., Kuhney, F.S., Boos, A., Andorko, N.D., Ellman, L.M., Mittal, V.A., Schiffman, J.E., “The influence of psychotic-like experiences on intent to seek treatment: Findings from a multi-site community survey of mental health experiences” (opens in new tab), Schizophrenia Research, vol. 260, pp. 30-36, 2023.
    • Petti., E., Bridgwater, M.A., Akouri-Shan, L., Rakhshan Rouhakhtar, P., Klaunig, M.J., Kuhney, F. S., Boos, A., Martínez, A., Villegas, M. C., Martinez, B., Yang, J., Martin, E. A., Mittal, V. A., Ellman, L. M., Schiffman, J., “Mental Health Care Use & Psychosis-Risk: Positive Symptoms & Social Determinants”, 2022. Presented at NIMH Mental Health Services Research Conference, Bethesda, MD, August 2-3, 2022.
    • Bridgwater, M.A., Klaunig, M.J., Petti, E., Snyder, M., Rakhshan Rouhakhtar, P., Martinez, A., Boos, A., Villegas, M.C., Martinez, B., Jones, N., Martin, E., Schiffman, J., “Mental Health Care Utilization & Psychotic-Like Experiences – Preliminary Findings from the Mental Health Care Utilization Questionnaire (MHCU-Q)”, 2022. Presented at NIMH Mental Health Services Research Conference, Bethesda, MD, August 2-3, 2022.
    • Akouri-Shan, L., Petti, E., Martínez, A., Bridgwater, M. A., Boos, A., Villegas, M. C., Klaunig, M. J., DeLuca, J. S., Rakhshan Rouhakhtar, P., Martin, E. A., Mittal, V. A., Ellman, L. M., Schiffman, J., “Associations among family criticism, internalized stigma, and psychosis-spectrum symptoms in a community sample of youth”, 2022. Presented at The 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Psychopathology, Philadelphia, PA, September 8-11, 2022.
    • Ramsay, I.S., Fryer, S., Roach, B.J., Boos, A., Fisher, M., Loewy, R., Ford, J.M., Vinogradov, S., Mathalon, D.H., “Response to targeted cognitive training may be neuroprotective in patients with early schizophrenia” (opens in new tab), Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, vol. 312, 2021.
    • Fryer, Susanna L., Roach, B J., Holroyd, C B., Paulus, M P., Sargent, K., Boos, A., Ford, J M., Mathalon, D H., “Electrophysiological investigation of reward anticipation and outcome evaluation during slot machine play”, NeuroImage, vol. 232, 2021.
    • Petti, E., Bridgwater, M. A., Rakhshan Rouhakhtar, P., Klaunig, M., Akouri-Shan, L., Boos., A., Martínez, A., Andorko, N. D., Kuhney, F. S., Mittal, V. A., Ellman, L. M., Schiffman, J., “Associations Between Race, Psychotic-Like Experiences, Discrimination, and Social Support With Intent to Seek Mental Health Services”, 2021. Presented at Harvard Women in Psychology's 3rd Annual Trends in Psychology Summit, Boston, MA, November 12, 2021.
    • Hamilton, Holly K., Boos, A., Mathalon, D H., “Electroencephalography and event-related potential biomarkers in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis” (opens in new tab), Biological Psychiatry, vol. 88, no. 4, pp. 294-303, 2020.
    • Ford, Judith M., Hamilton, H K., Boos, A., “The Neurobiology of Auditory Hallucinations”, Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, 2019.
    • Fryer, SL., Roach, BJ., Ford JM., Abram, SV., Boos, A., Mathalon, DH., “Alpha Event-Related Desynchronization During Reward Processing in Schizophrenia”, vol. 44, no. Suppl 1, pp. 344-344, 2019. Presented at American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting, December 2019.
    • Ramsay, Ian S., Fryer, S., Boos, A., Roach, B J., Fisher, M., Loewy, R., Vinogradov, S., Mathalon, D H., “Response to targeted cognitive training correlates with change in thalamic volume in a randomized trial for early schizophrenia” (opens in new tab), Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 590-597, 2018.
    • Fryer, SL., Roach, BJ., Ford JM., Boos, A, Mathalon, DH., “Electrophysiological Assessment of Reward Processing to Near-Miss Events in Schizophrenia”, 2017. Presented at American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting, Palm Springs, CA, December 2017.
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    Contact Information

    Website: https://sites.uci.edu/leaps/

    Email: boosa@uci.edu

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    This profile was created with the help of AI.

    Last updated on 7/2/2026.