The Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Psychiatry is delighted to announce the appointment of Avital Falk Graf, Ph.D., to the newly created role of Vice Chair for Treatment Innovation, in addition to her current role as Director of Child and Adolescent Psychology.
In this dual leadership role, Dr. Falk will provide strategic, clinical and academic leadership across treatment development, digital innovation and child and adolescent psychology services.
As Vice Chair for Treatment Innovation, Dr. Falk will lead the Department’s efforts in advancing innovative care delivery. This includes driving the strategic growth of child and adolescent services through the Psychiatry Physician Organization, expanding evidence-based outpatient treatment models, developing and implementing technology-enabled services and fostering collaboration with institutional and external partners.
As Director of Child and Adolescent Psychology, Dr. Falk will continue to oversee the clinical, educational and scholarly mission of the program. Her responsibilities include faculty mentorship, training and professional development, program representation and quality oversight across psychological services. In this role, she has advanced two major areas of psychological and digital treatment innovation. She has expanded the Pediatric OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders (POCAT) Program and developed innovative intensive treatment models for pediatric OCD and anxiety disorders. In addition, she designed Maya, Weill Cornell Medicine’s digital app that provides a flexible, modular platform for delivering cognitive behavioral therapy skills. Dr. Falk has been deeply committed to growing these programs, advancing training within them and conducting research to support their efficacy and dissemination.
Dr. Falk is an Associate Professor of Psychology in Clinical Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. She earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and her doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She completed her psychology internship at the NYU Child Study Center/Bellevue Hospital and her postdoctoral fellowship at the Youth Anxiety Center (now the Center for Youth Mental Health) at NewYork‑Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine.
Dr. Falk's leadership will be instrumental in shaping the Department’s future in treatment innovations and child and adolescent mental health care. We look forward to her continued contributions and the impact of her expanded role.
This is the second new Vice Chair role created in the Department of Psychiatry in the last fiscal year. In July 2025, Faith Gunning, Ph.D., was appointed Vice Chair for Faculty and Academic Affairs, to serve in a new capacity in addition to her current and complementary position as Vice Chair for Research. These advancements reflect the Department’s commitment to fostering a departmental culture that prioritizes career development, mentorship and academic excellence.