Avani Modi, PhD, has been officially appointed as the director of the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology (BMCP). A pediatric psychologist and professor in the division and in the Center for Adherence and Self-Management, she has served as interim BMCP director since 2023.
“Dr. Modi brings a wealth of expertise to this role,” said Laurel K. Leslie, MD, MPH, director, Mental and Behavioral Health Institute. “She has developed therapies for future generations of children. We look forward to her taking the division to new heights.”
After completing both an American Psychological Association-accredited clinical internship in pediatric psychology and postdoctoral fellowship with Cincinnati Children’s, she joined the health system in 2006 and has held several academic positions, including assistant professor and associate professor.
Modi’s clinical experience is in pediatric psychology, with a specialization in pediatric epilepsy. Her research focuses on adherence to pediatric medical regimens, including the measurement of adherence, identification of adherence barriers, and the development and testing of adherence and executive functioning interventions, especially within pediatric epilepsy. Modi has been funded by the National Institutes of Health since 2003, and she has more than 200 publications and book chapters. She has developed and led several clinical initiatives, including the Adherence Initiative in kidney transplant and mental health screening in BMCP.
“Through these 22 years, I have had the opportunity to watch BMCP grow, with extraordinarily talented clinicians, researchers, trainees and support staff,” Modi said. “I have had the privilege of leading the division in my interim role for the past two years and becoming one of three divisions within the newly formed Mental and Behavioral Health Institute. We are uniquely qualified as an institute to test innovative models of clinical care, expand our immense research portfolio and train the next generation of mental health professionals.”
Modi earned her doctoral and master’s degrees in clinical psychology from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s with distinction in psychology from Duke University.
Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards and honors, including the American Psychological Association-Division 54 Routh Early Career Award, Cincinnati Children’s Charlotte Schmidlapp Women’s Scholar Award, Endowed Scholars Award and the Mid-Career Research Scientist Award.
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