Dr. Pickens received his doctorate in clinical psychology from Fordham University and is currently the Assistant Director at the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, the coordinating site of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). In this role, he is responsible for supporting diverse national, cross-disciplinary, and collaborative efforts to make child-and family-service systems more trauma-informed. His research focuses on trauma-informed and culturally responsive programming in numerous service sectors and optimizing service utilization among underserved communities. He has been awarded by the American Psychological Association Early Career Achievement Award and the Black Enterprise BE Modern Man award for his contributions to the field of psychology. Isaiah Pickens, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in counseling and educational services for individuals and organizations. 

Dr. Pickens is also Founder of iOpening Enterprises, a professional development and media company that specializes in building the capacity of individuals and organizations to unlock their potential using psychological science and implementation best practices. In this capacity, Dr. Pickens has developed the Bridge Trauma-Informed Culturally-Responsive (TICR) Program, a multi-day professional development for educators that provides a practical toolkit for managing youth traumatic stress responses in the school setting. Dr. Pickens is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Fellow.