Administration
Bret McLaughlin, Psy.D., MBA
Licensed Psychologist
Dr. McLaughlin is the Founding Dean of the College of Psychology’s APA accredited program at California Northstate University. He is a licensed psychologist and a specialist in forensic and clinical psychology. He has worked for the Department of State Hospitals where he was a recognized expert witness on mental health and the evaluation of dangerousness in California courts. He has also worked for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation where he was the Vice Chair of the Psychology Department at the California Medical Facility and the Chief Psychologist and Chief of Mental Health at the California Health Care Facility. Dr. McLaughlin is currently pursuing his JD at McGeorge School of Law at the University of the Pacific.
Dean of the College of Psychology
Veronica Dobson, Psy.D.
Dr. Dobson earned her clinical psychology degree at Alliant International University in San Francisco, and Sacramento, CA. Her postdoc training included intensive training in court-ordered co-parenting therapy, individual and family interventions and couples’ work. Dr. Dobson’s area of specialty includes transitional ages (home to college, college to career), human sexuality and gender issues. She has taught human sexuality at California Community colleges for nearly a decade and maintains a passionate advocacy for sexual, gender, reproductive and social justice for the 2S/LGBTQIA+ community. Dr. Dobson’s early research focused on using forgiveness as a therapeutic intervention, peace psychology and restorative justice.
Dr. Dobson also specializes in collegiate leadership development. She has long served as an advisor for Fraternity and Sorority Greek Letter organizations, having previously served at Sacramento State University, Chico State, and currently works as a Collegiate Management Advisor at UC Berkeley. She is deeply interested in the welfare and wellbeing of undergraduate students and believes that social organizations have the power to transform, deepen understanding, bring diversity to bear on current social problems and strengthen the communities in which we live.
She has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Sacramento State University, and before her graduate training worked as a court-appointed parenting supervisor/trainer, as a clinician in a location-undisclosed safehouse for runaway youth and victims of domestic violence, and in county social services. She is a passionate gardener and loves the heritage arts.
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs and Admissions
Kelsy Harris, BA
Ms. Harris graduated from CSU Monterey Bay in 2018 earning her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in human development. While at CSUMB, she was part of the editing team for the second edition of The “Troubled” Adolescent: Challenges and Resilience Within Family and Multicultural Contexts by Drs. Jennifer Lovell and Joseph L. White. She began working at California Northstate University in 2018 with the College of Medicine before transitioning to the College of Psychology in 2020 as the Executive Assistant to Dean McLaughlin.
Director of Admissions
David Jull-Patterson, Ph.D.
A sixth-generation Californian, Dr. Jull-Patterson received an MA in Counselor Education from New York University, before receiving his MS and PhD from Pacific Graduate School of Psychology where he was also an adjunct professor. He completed his APA accredited internship and post-doctoral fellowship at University of California, San Francisco in health psychology.
He is inducted into the Academy of Medical Educators and has held leadership positions in the area of faculty development at both UCSF and UC Berkeley. He was a manager of training and curriculum development for the National Diversity program at Kaiser, was senior faculty for the HIV Office on Psychology Education for APA, the Assistant Head of Faculty Education at the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program, adjunct faculty at Alliant International University, and clinical professor at UCSF.
Dr. Jull-Patterson has won and has been nominated for numerous awards for his teaching and mentorship, including: the Honored Instructor award at UC Berkeley; many Essential Core teaching awards, the Inspirational Teacher award, and the Charlotte Baer Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching at UCSF; and the Top Trainer award at APA. He chaired the Ethics Committee for the California Psychological Association, is a liaison for the APA Ethics Task Force, was an associate editor for The California Psychologist, and served as a subject matter expert for the development and administration of the California Psychology Law and Ethics Examination at the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Currently he is the secretary for the Board of Directors of CPA Division II (Education & Training) and the Ethics Education Committee co-chair on the Board of Directors of the Sacramento Valley Psychological Association as well as a site visitor for the APA Committee on Accreditation.
Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs
Licensed Psychologist
Isabel K’Burg, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Dr. K’Burg is a bilingual Spanish-speaking therapist who earned her M.A. in Counseling Psychology from National University, and her PsyD in Clinical Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. She is the founder, owner, and head clinical supervisor of The Center for Integrative Healing, Executive Director and clinical supervisor at Hope for Healthy Families, and the head clinical supervisor at the Afghan Coalition. She specializes in sex therapy, forensics, and family law.
Dr. K’Burg is an affiliate of the American Psychological Association, California Coalition on Sexual Offending, American and California Associations of Marriage and Family Therapists, and was a leading member for the first Latinx Diversity Conference put on by AAMFT.
Clinic Director
Jason Lillis, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Lillis received his B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University Maryland and his MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno and then completed a postdoc at Stanford University. He has worked for almost 10 years an NIH grant-funded research scientist and faculty member at the Brown Medical School and the Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island. In addition, he regularly teaches, mostly recently at California State University- Sacramento before joining the CNSU faculty. Dr. Lillis has more than 50 publications and 3 books and is considered a leading researcher of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, a mindfulness and acceptance-based CBT intervention for treating mental and behavioral health issues.
Assistant Dean of Research
Sandra Nevis, Ph.D., ABPP
Dr. Nevis obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Bowling Green State University (APA accredited) and completed her APA accredited internship at Arizona State University.
She served over 10 years as the Training Director at California State University Sacramento within the university counseling center before leaving CSUS to start a private practice and teach as adjunct faculty at USF. Her areas of interest lie in the areas of training and supervision and clinical presentations related to human sexuality and gender identity. .
Associate Dean of Clinical Training
Licensed Psychologist
Clary Tepper, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Dr. Tepper received her Ph.D. in clinical developmental psychology and her master’s degree in social services from Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to California Northstate University, her university experience included working as a clinician with students, faculty and staff at three different universities, where she also developed specialized counseling programs and was the supervising psychologist for those programs. Dr. Tepper is currently in private practice and has specializations in several areas: working with physicians around the psychological challenges unique to the field of medicine; with issues related to maternal mental health; with trauma, and with grief and loss. She has a strong passion for issues related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and in her free time, she creates digital art to raise funds for organizations that are dedicated to social justice and/or protecting the environment. She is on the board of directors for both the Sacramento Psychoanalytical Society and the Sacramento Valley Psychological Association.