About Us

Dr. McHale is a Professor of Psychology, Director of the USF Family Study Center on the St. Petersburg campus, and Executive Director for the Family Study Center’s Infant-Family Center. He was previously Founding Chair of the USF St. Petersburg Department of Psychology, a position he held for 7 years. James has published over 100 articles and manuscripts on coparenting in diverse family systems, the central focus of the Family Study Center’s work. His research studies have been supported since 1996 by the National Institutes of Health and numerous other entities. He serves as PI for National Institute of Child Health and Development R01, Randomized Controlled Trial of a Prenatal Coparenting Intervention for African American Fragile Families; Administration for Children and Families HMRE award, Skills-Based Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Services for At-Risk Families through a Child Welfare Diversion Program; and several other state, local, and Foundation grants.

An Adjunct Faculty member of the USF Psychology Department and the Family Study Center, Dr. Hogan has taught graduate courses in the Psychology MA Program and for the Infant-Family Mental Health Certificate program since 2015. She is presently project lead and co-Director for an FSC collaborative project with the state of Florida’s Office of Early Learning developing Reflective Supervision capacity for the state’s Early Learning Coalitions. Previously, she directed Florida State University (FSU)’s Harris Institute for Infant Mental Health Training from 2002-2013 and is co-author of the FSU Center for Prevention & Early Intervention Policy’s Partners for a Healthy Baby Curriculum.  Anne also served as 2015-2016 President of the Florida Association for Infant Mental Health and is currently Co-Leader for the FAIMH IMH-E ® Endorsement Committee. She continues to provide training and consultation throughout Florida and serves on the Advisory Committee for Florida’s Early Childhood Coordinating Systems (ECCS) statewide project. The primary focus of her efforts is on IMH training and workforce development for multidisciplinary audiences, with an emphasis on child development and applications of IFMH and developmental principles.   

Ms. Lewis is the Office Manager at the FSC and provides administrative and HR support for both the FSC and its Infant-Family Center. Serina earned her BS in Family, Youth, and Community Science from the University of Florida and has been involved with the FSC in numerous capacities for over 10 years. She previously served as a Mentor for "Figuring It Out for the Child", was a central study team member for that NICHD grant funded study for 6 years and is a co-author on forthcoming reports from its randomized controlled trial. Serina also holds an MSW, is training to receive certification as a practitioner of Child-Parent Psychotherapy and is working toward eventual licensure to practice as a social worker in the state of Florida. 

Ms. Miller is a Program Planner/Analyst for the FSC and one of the FSC’s most senior staff contributors, having served as Infant Family Mental Health Programs Coordinator since 2014. A graduate of Howard University, Ebony has 25 years of experience in child welfare, managed care, and medical/pediatric hospital settings. She has provided leadership for and supported numerous Family Study Center collaborations and initiatives in St. Petersburg and Pinellas County, including the Circuit 6 Early Childhood Court's Steering Committee and the Concerned Organization for Quality Education of Black Students (COQEBS) School Readiness Committee. Ebony is currently lead Project Manager for a community-based initiative sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, Skills-based healthy marriage and relationship education services for at-risk families through a child welfare diversion program. 

Ms. Girling is the FSC’s lead Research Administrator and supports several of its grant-funded projects and programs. A graduate of the University of South Florida, Tampa with a BSAS in Public Health, Sue has been a USF Certified Research Administrator ~ Advanced since 2014. Prior to joining USF, she served as Vice President for US Vision for 30 years, and her background includes 8 years as a Research Coordinator and Administrator at USF's Tampa campus supporting several sponsored projects testing a promising therapeutic practice for treating PTSD in adults, Accelerated Resolution Therapy (or ART). Sue currently serves as Data Manager for a community-based initiative sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, Skills-based healthy marriage and relationship education services for at-risk families through a child welfare diversion program. 

Dr. Butler is an Associate Program Director for the Family Study Center and an Adjunct Faculty member in Psychology on the St. Petersburg campus. From 2018-2020 she served as the Family Study Center’s Learning and Development Facilitator for the Foundation for a Healthy St Petersburg sponsored-project “Trauma-Informed Infant-Family Mental Health”, and subsequently served as PI for an expansion of that initiative, Reckoning with Race and COVID-19 in Infant-Family Mental Health. Currently, Dr. Butler is the project lead for the Family Study Center's subcontract with the Pinellas County Department of Human Services, Opioid-Affected Youth Initiative: Aiding Drug Impacted Children in Out-of-Home Care. In the St. Petersburg community, Dr. Butler serves as Executive Director and CEO of The Well for Life, an alternative healing space serving individuals in need of mental health counseling, wellness, and self-care resources.

Russia Collins is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Child Protection Professional. A long-time contributor and collaborative partner with the Family Study Center and its community initiatives during her years working in community behavioral health and as the Sixth Judicial Circuit's Community Coordinator for Pinellas County's Early Childhood Court, Ms. Collins joined the Family Study Center and its direct services clinic, the Infant-Family Center, as its Clinical and Training Director in 2021. In her position, Ms. Collins leads a team of infant-family mental health clinicians, practitioners and specialists who specialize in providing family systems-informed assessment, coparenting consultation, and child-parent therapy for children from birth through age five who have encountered trauma or early adversity. Prior to joining USF, Ms. Collins was a contributor to the Family Study Center's "Listening to Babies" partnership with Concerned Organizations for Quality Education for Black Students (COQEBS). Lending her 15+ years of experience with children and families in the child welfare system to a major new healthy relationships initiative funded by the Administration for Children and Families, she also was instrumental in helping the Family Study Center plan, organize, start up and implement that community-embedded partnership. In that work, her efforts included co-development and facilitation of the newest adaptation of the Family Study Center's Focused Coparenting Consultation model, "Strengthening Family Safety through Coparenting" (SFSC), available to families participating in the ACF initiative.

Dr. Jenkins is Program Director for the Family Study Center's Juvenile Welfare Board-sponsored collective impact 0-3 Coparenting Initiative. A Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Kentucky and Florida, she also teaches graduate counseling courses in Marriage and Family Therapy for USF's College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. Her clinical experience includes in-home treatment with children and adolescents, evaluations for Tennessee's Department of Correction and family reunification support for ex-offenders, and treatment for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities with histories of sexually problematic behaviors and offenses. Dr. Jenkins is certified in Perinatal Mental Health, Embodied Trauma Conscious Reproductive Health, and Breath Coaching and is also trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) and fertility counseling. She maintains a private practice specializing in marital therapy and work with new and expectant families dealing with perinatal issues.

Dr. Sirotkin has worked for the Family Study Center since 2016, and has supported multiple projects and initiatives as a research assistant and research project manager for university-, NICHD- and NIH-funded projects in both the U.S. and in Israel. Her work for the Family Study Center has included planning and coordinating the startup for an infant-family mental health sub-study associated with a large longitudinal investigation at the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in Saint Petersburg, supporting the Pinellas Community Foundation-funded initiative "Attending to Infant-Family Mental Health in Pinellas County during COVID-19", and service as research coordinator for the NIH-supported randomized controlled trial, R01 HD082211, Randomized Controlled Trial of Prenatal Coparenting Intervention for African American Fragile Families. Her contributions to the NIH study also include analyses of infant triangular capacities during the Lausanne Triadic Play (LTP) paradigm, including infant affect, eye gaze patterns, and emotion regulation. Specializing in children’s emotional competence and regulation, Dr. Sirotkin has coauthored numerous articles and book chapters on children’s social-emotional skills, parenting and coparenting in diverse family systems. She is also founder of Parenting Expert, a parent education and consultation service that disseminates research findings of current relevance to parents.

Ms. Landrau joined the Family Study Center's Infant-Family Center in 2021. As the Center's first Practice Manager, Marilyn provides both administrative and staff support. Fluent in both Spanish and English, Marylin earned a Master's in Social Work (MSW) from the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in New York, focusing on mental health. She came to the Infant-Family Center (IFC) with 8 years of prior experience working with higher-risk populations in different capacities, providing support and resources for individuals and families. As the initial point of contact and first person who connects with clients seeking IFC services, Marylin is passionate about ensuring that access to care is possible and obtainable to all parents and families.