Alexis Garcia

Dr. Alexis Garcia is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Florida International University with a specialty in child and adolescent psychology. Her postdoctoral training included a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) fellowship focusing on adolescent alcohol use. Dr. Garcia is affiliated with MUSC's College of Medicine and actively participates in the MUSC Youth Collaborative, focusing on self-regulation mechanisms related to substance use in adolescents, particularly those with ADHD and emotion dysregulation challenges.

Education & Professional Background:

• PhD in Clinical Psychology, Florida International University
• Predoc Internship: MUSC Child Track
• NIAAA Postdoctoral Fellowship (Adolescent Alcohol Use Research)

Research Interests: Her work examines emotion dysfunction in ADHD-affected adolescents and its link to risk-taking behaviors like substance use. She also investigates racial disparities in school disciplinary actions, family violence reporting discrepancies, and early intervention strategies for behavioral disorders. Methodologically, she employs multimodal assessments and longitudinal studies like the ABCD project.

Professional Contributions: As a mentor, she guides psychology interns and psychiatry fellows at MUSC. Her research has explored fidget spinner efficacy for ADHD symptom management in classrooms, the role of parental monitoring in alcohol experimentation, and neurobehavioral vulnerability markers for substance misuse. She collaborates on large-scale projects such as the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study.

Labs/Teams: Active member of the MUSC Youth Collaborative, contributing to interdisciplinary studies on youth mental health and developmental psychopathology.