Ekaterina Pivovarova, PhD is a licensed Clinical Forensic Psychologist. Dr. Pivovarova was the 2013-2014 CLBB Forensic Psychology Research Fellow. Her clinical training has focused on refining forensic assessment skills through specialized graduate and post-graduate training, and conducting research on clinical decision-making. Dr. Pivovarova continued her research training at the Center for Law, Brain and Behavior at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University by investigating the application of neuroscience to psycho-legal questions.
Dr. Pivovarova obtained her PhD in clinical psychology from Fordham University in New York. As a graduate student, she completed a wide-range of practicums/externships, including at St. Luke’s Hospital, Bellevue Hospital Center, Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, and Fordham Law School Criminal Defense Clinic. She obtained a highly competitive internship at Bellevue Hospital Center/New York University Medical School, where as a forensic psychology intern she conducted forensic evaluations at Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Hospital and Bronx Court Clinic, as well as neuropsychological assessments at Bellevue Hospital Center. Additionally, in her capacity as an intern, she provided individual, group, and family therapy to a wide-range of clients. After completing her PhD, Dr. Pivovarova entered a Clinical Forensic Psychology Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she conducted competency to stand trial, insanity, risk assessment, and need for commitment evaluations and testified about her findings in courts throughout the Commonwealth.
Dr. Pivovarova’s research training has focused largely on forensic psychological assessments, including exploring psychometric properties of various malingering instruments. For her dissertation, she developed a structured professional judgment tool, entitled the Malingering Assessment of Psychopathology (MAP) aimed at guiding, and potentially improving, decision making about feigning of psychiatric symptoms. The American Psychology and Law Society recognized her work and she received a second place Dissertation Award. She is continuing to research clinical decision making about psycho-legal issues, by focusing on how the legal system views evolving neuroscientific findings.
