Nickki Pearce Dawes, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with a practice in BMC’s Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic, working with patients across the life span. Additionally, she is a clinician within BMC’s Integrated Behavioral Health (IBH) program, serving as the Behavioral Health Lead Clinician in a team of providers serving low-income children, youth, and families living with HIV and navigating complex and overlapping physical and mental health concerns. She also supports clinicians working within the Boston Emergency Services Team (BEST) program with the development and delivery of multicultural trainings.

Dr. Dawes currently serves as a Core Faculty and Supervisor of doctoral Clinical Psychology Interns within the APA-Accredited Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology on the BMC campus. Prior to joining the BU-BMC community, Dr. Dawes held academic faculty and administrative leadership positions at other institutions. She brings to BU-BMC over 20 years of teaching experience. She is passionate about the transformative power of community-engaged learning opportunities for students, and has been recognized by a Teaching Innovation Award for her expertise in this area.

Her research activities have included a focus on examining how youth engagement in organized youth programs enhance positive youth development in the short and long term. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and disseminated at local and regional conferences. Recent research interests include examining the impact of incorporating culturally responsive interventions into traditional mental health treatment solutions for vulnerable populations, such as immigrant and refugee pregnant women.