Dr. Gail N. Kemp
Dr. Gail N. Kemp is an assistant professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology in the College of Health Professions. She received a PhD in Clinical Psychology and a Master of Public Health from Boston University. She received her BA in African-American Studies from Harvard College. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Franciscan Children’s in Boston, Massachussetts and her postdoctoral training at the University of Scranton’s Counseling Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Dr. Kemp is licensed to practice clinical psychology in Georgia.
Dr. Kemp has clinical experience conducting semi-structured diagnostic interviews, cognitive testing, and other psychological assessments, as well as providing treatment for children and adolescents presenting with myriad difficulties, with an emphasis on youth with internalizing symptoms of fear and anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, and related conditions. She also has a particular clinical interest and expertise in treating the rare childhood anxiety disorder of selective mutism. She has worked in outpatient, inpatient, school-based, intensive camp-based, and college counseling settings. Dr. Kemp also provides clinical supervision for a national epidemiology study of psychological disorders in the US.
Dr. Kemp’s research focuses on social determinants of and contributing factors to psychopathology (such as environmental sources of chronic stress) and treatment acceptability among Black/African-American parents as a function of culturally competent care. She is also developing research programs on 1) Increasing the accessibility of evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions for under-resourced minoritized communities, particularly those comprised of persons identifying as Black/African-American, and 2) Adapting cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to address psychological obstacles to persistence in anti-racism activism. Dr. Kemp incorporates community-based participatory action research to study these focal areas.
Dr. Kemp is an active member of the American Psychological Association, Association for Psychological Science, and the Black Americans in Research and Behavioral Therapy Special Interest Group in the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.