Professor
Psychologist
Director, CAARE Center
To see if Anthony Joseph Urquiza is accepting new patients, or for assistance finding a UC Davis doctor, please call 800-2-UCDAVIS (800-282-3284).
3671 Business Drive
Sacramento, CA 95820
Heathy children are a product of being raised in a family in which they are safe, secure, and provided continuity of positive relationships with family members. Foundational to Dr. Urquiza's work for the last several decades has been in improviding the relationship in parent-child interactions, and inb training other mental health therapists in this same effort.
Dr. Urquiza is a clinical psychologist, Professor in Pediatrics at UC Davis Children's Hospital, and Director of both the CAARE Center and the UC Davis PCIT Training Center. The CAARE Center provides psychological assessments and a range of mental health treatment services primarily for abused and neglected children. He is a nationally recognized expert in the areas of trauma, child maltreatment, mental health treatment for victims of interpersonal violence, and the implementation of mental health interventions.
Dr. Urquiza's clinical research interests address all types of violence within the family with an emphasis on child maltreatment. His focus has included treatment approaches to physically abusive and high-risk families. He has been adapting Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) to families involved in child welfare systems and community mental health clinics. His empirical research has supported the benefits of PCIT with both abusive families and foster families. In addition, he has been instrumental in developing PCIT as an intervention for different cultural and ethnic groups, and currently involved in dissemination and implementation services research. This includes a PCIT dissemination/implementation training project, which has trained community mental health agencies throughout the United States and internationally.
Child Protection Center
B.A. University of Washington, Seattle WA 1983
M.S., Clinical Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle WA 1986
Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle WA 1989
Child Psychiatry, Primary Children’s Medical Center, Salt Lake City UT 1988-1989
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children - William Friedrich Memorial, 2011
California Governors Office of Criminal Justice Planning - Recognition, 2003
U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control - Recognition, 2002
Recognition of Achievement - Yolo County Board of Supervisors, 2002
Third Annual PCIT Sheila Eyberg Award - Merit Award, 2002
Runyon, M., Urquiza, A.J. Treatment of physically abused children and their families. In: J.E.B. Myers, L. Berliner, J. Briere, C.T. Hendrix, C. Jenny, T. Reid (Eds.), The APSAC handbook of child maltreatment (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 2010
Timmer, S.G., Ware, L., Urquiza, A. The effectiveness of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for victims of interparental violence. Violence Against Women, 2010: 25(4), 486-503
Timmer, S.G., Zebell, N., Culver, Urquiza, A.J. Efficacy of Adjunct In-Home Coaching to Improve Outcomes in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. Research on Social Work Practice, 2009:20(1), 36-45.
Urquiza, A.J. The future of play therapy: Elevating credibility through play therapy research. International Journal of Play Therapy, 2009:19 (1), 4-12.
Urquiza, A.J., Zebell, N., Blacker, D. Innovation and Integration: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy as Play Therapy. In Athena Drewes (Ed.), Cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches to play therapy. Wiley Sons: New York. 2009
Herschel, A., McNeil, C.B., Urquiza, A.J., McGrath, J., Zebell, N., Timmer, S.G., Porter, A. Evaluation of a treatment manual and workshops for disseminating, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy. Administration and Policy in Mental Health Services Research, 2009:36(1), 63-81.
Ogle, C., Augusti, E.M., Block, S., Culver, S., Harris, L., Timmer, S.G., Urquiza, A.J., Goodman, G.S. Accuracy and specificity of autobiographical memory in childhood trauma victims: Developmental considerations. In M. Howe, G.S. Goodman, and D. Cicchetti (Eds.), Trauma and memory development. Oxford University Press: New York, NY. 2008
Kalich, L., Carmichael, B.D., Masson, T., Blacker, D., Urquiza, A.J. Evaluating the evaluator: Guidelines for legal professionals in assessing the competency of evaluations in termination of parental rights cases. The Journal of Psychiatry and the Law, 2007: 35, 365-397.
Urquiza, A.J., Porter, A., Ceremello, T. Competence and certification of PCIT therapists. PCIT Pages, Winter, 2007.
Borrego, J., Anhalt, K., Terao, S.Y., Vargas E., Urquiza, A.J. Parent-child interaction therapy with a Spanish-speaking family. Cognitive Behavioral Practice 2006:13(2), 121-133.