Kristen M. Benito, PhD

Kristen Benito, PhD, a staff psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital and Bradley Hospital, is an assistant professor (research) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.

She earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Florida in 2010. Dr. Benito completed postdoctoral training in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)/anxiety that was supported by a T32 award from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Dr. Benito is also the principal investigator of a federally funded study testing a practical measure of treatment quality in exposure therapy, and the co-principal investigator on a federally funded study testing methods of training community therapists to deliver exposure therapy. Her research focuses on understanding treatment quality and mechanism of change in exposure-based treatments and using this knowledge to disseminate effective treatments into community settings, augment existing treatments, and develop new treatments.

Dr. Benito also has research interests related to developing behavioral treatments for families of youth who have medical problems such as congenital heart disease and orthostatic intolerance. She provides clinical psychology services in the Bradley Hospital Intensive Program for OCD and in the Hasbro Children’s Hospital Pediatric Heart Center and Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Clinic.