Michelle G. Paul, Ph.D.
Workday Endowed Executive Director
Biography
Dr. Michelle Paul is the executive director of UNLV PRACTICE, an interdisciplinary mental health clinic that offers services to campus and community members. In her role, she is responsible for all aspects of programming, operations, and development, including clinical mental health training and service; research and policy activity; fundraising and development; local and state government and community engagement; and financial and business operations to provide critical infrastructure for the collaboration and shared resource needs of multiple main campus mental and behavioral health workforce development and training programs (e.g., masters and Ph.D. programs in clinical psychology, school psychology, couple and family therapy, mental health counseling, and social work) housed across multiple colleges and academic departments.
Dr. Paul leads the execution of an innovative institutional strategic plan to unite and integrate UNLV main-campus mental, cognitive, and behavioral health training clinics and related programs, alongside physical health programs, under the UNLV Academic Health Center Initiative and in alignment with the University’s Top Tier mission. This position includes working collaboratively and in closely coordinated fashion with community healthcare partners, and UNLV's health science schools (Dental Medicine, Integrated Health Sciences, Nursing, Medicine, and Public Health). This strategic initiative has significant potential to become a national model for integration and collaboration across multiple units, departments, and schools all in service of positively impacting the mental health and well-being of Nevada which for years has ranked 51st in the nation for its mental health. Through strategic collaboration, this initiative, under Dr. Paul's leadership, is anticipated to maximize the discovery, development, and dissemination of best practices in mental, cognitive, and behavioral health training, service, research, and policy.
Before taking on her current responsibilities, Dr. Paul served UNLV's Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program from 2004-2023. Paul is an active member of the Nevada Psychological Association, through which she has held a number of leadership positions and received several awards for advocacy and excellence in her field. In 2011, she was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval to serve as a member of the Nevada Board of Psychological Examiners. She served eight years, including three as president. Today, she serves as President-Elect for the Board of Directors for the International Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards.
Dr. Paul received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Vermont in 1997. She has worked in the Las Vegas community as a practicing psychologist since 1999.
Please note: Dr. Paul does not serve as a research mentor.
Clinical Interests and Professional Activities
Dr. Paul has strong generalist clinical training with particular interests in children, families, and psychological assessment of attention deficit disorders, learning disabilities and other neurodevelopmental or acquired emotional, cognitive and behavioral impairments in children and adults. She is also devoted to professional service. As an active member of the Nevada Psychological Association, she has served as the Public Education Coordinator, Legislative Committee Chair, Southern Region President, and Executive Board President for two terms and President of the Nevada Psychological Association Training Consortium Executive Board. She was honored by the Association for Outstanding Advocate for Psychology" in 2004, 2008, 2011, and 2019; and received the James Mikawa Award for Outstanding Psychologist in 2009. She was appointed by Governor Brian Sandoval to serve the Nevada Board of Psychological Examiners from 2011- 2019 and as Board President for 3 years. As the UNLV Psychology Department Associate Director of Clinical Training, Dr. Paul is committed to applying her clinical and professional service experience to develop and enrich the practical training experience for each clinical graduate student.