Christopher A. Flessner, PhD, is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Kent State University and clinical child psychologist with KidsLink Neurobehavioral Center. He has been Director of the Pediatric Anxiety Research Clinic at Kent State since 2011. Dr. Flessner's research focuses on biological and psychosocial risk factors that may be linked to the development of childhood anxiety and related problems--such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, trichotillomania, and tic disorders--and how a better understanding of risk factors might be used to improve existing therapeutic interventions.

John C. Piacentini, PhD, ABPP, is Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is Director of the Center for Child Anxiety Resilience Education and Support and of the Childhood OCD, Anxiety, and Tic Disorders Program at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. Dr. Piacentini is Chair of the Behavioral Sciences Consortium of the Tourette Association of America, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies, a Fellow and past president of the Society for Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. His research focuses on the etiology, assessment, and treatment of obsessive-compulsive, tic, anxiety, and body-focused, repetitive behavior disorders in children and adolescents.