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Erika Luis Sanchez, PhD

Erika Luis Sanchez, PhD

2026-2028 Friends Scholar

B. Erika Luis Sanchez, PhD (she/her/hers), is a Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Scholar at UCLA TIES for Families, an interdisciplinary program serving youth with foster care histories and their families. Dr. Luis Sanchez’s research centers on developing and expanding access to evidence-based interventions for ethnically and racially diverse, marginalized, and system-impacted populations. Born and raised in Oaxaca, Mexico, she is fluent in English, Spanish, and Zapoteco, an Indigenous language of Oaxaca. Dr. Luis Sanchez earned her doctoral degree in Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She completed her predoctoral internship at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, where she specialized in providing trauma-informed, asset-based, and culturally responsive services to youth and families experiencing stress and trauma, including foster care–involved youth and their caregivers. Her clinical and dissemination work includes providing Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in both English and Spanish, as well as contributing to efforts to expand PCIT access in Mexico and South America. As a Friends of the Semel Institute Research Scholar, Dr. Luis Sanchez will lead a project evaluating the feasibility and acceptability of a foster care/adoption-specific intervention designed to promote youth mental health and support ethnic–racial socialization within multiracial families.

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