Melanie Wilcox

Melanie M. Wilcox, Ph.D., ABPP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology and incoming Director of Doctoral Training for the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program at the University at Albany. She currently serves as President of Division 17, the Society of Counseling Psychology. She is also a member (and Chair-Elect) of the APA Committee on Socioeconomic Status, a former Chair of the APA Board of Educational Affairs, and an Associate Editor with the Journal of Counseling Psychology and Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Her research focuses on psychotherapy training, culturally and structurally responsive psychotherapy, racial and socioeconomic inequity in higher education, and racial and social justice more broadly. She has authored or co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed articles and given nearly 200 presentations (including peer-reviewed and continuing education workshops). She has co-authored numerous APA policy statements and guidelines related to graduate training and antiracism. Dr. Wilcox has been nationally recognized for her scholarship, leadership, teaching, and advocacy, earning multiple awards including recently the 2024 Karl F. Heiser APA Presidential Award for Advocacy, the 2024 Training and Education in Professional Psychology Outstanding Contribution Award, and 2022 Division 17 Fitz & Linn Kuder Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions to Counseling Psychology. Beyond her academic and advocacy work, Dr. Wilcox is a licensed and board-certified counseling psychologist who works part-time in private practice with the Aguirre Center for Inclusive Psychotherapy based in Atlanta. She specializes in trauma and loss, culturally and structurally responsive approaches to psychotherapy and assessment, LGBTQ+- affirming care, and the assessment and treatment of addiction.