Emily Wakefield, PsyD

Education

Education:
BA, LeMoyne College, 2007
MA, Drexel University, 2009
Psy.D, University of Hartford, 2014

Internship:
Child/Adolescent Clinical Psychology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, 2013- 2014

Fellowship:
Child/Adolescent Psychiatric Consultation and Liaison Service, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center/Institute of Living Hartford Hospital, 2014-2015

Faculty Appointment

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine

Clinical Expertise

Dr. Wakefield has been recognized as a leader in her clinical abilities during her doctoral and fellowship training programs where she received several recognitions, including the Director’s Award for Sustained Superior Performance and the Clinical Excellence Leadership Postdoctoral Fellow Award. She is a recent addition to the multidisciplinary team in the Division of Pain and Palliative Medicine and has dedicated her career to understanding and reducing the psychological burden of disease for children and adolescents with chronic health conditions and their families.

Dr. Wakefield has expertise in pediatric pain and research interests in psychosocial factors impacting the quality of life for youth with chronic pain and sickle cell disease. The challenges of evaluating pediatric pain due to the invisibility of pain is a current focus of her research as she is interested in understanding the impact of pain invalidation on children and adolescents with chronic pain and their parents.

Selected Publications

• Wakefield, E. O., & Jerson, B. T. (2017). Social influences in the evaluation and treatment of biopsychosocial contributors to adolescent chronic pain. Topics in Pain Management, 32, 1-8. doi:10.1097/01.TPM.0000515416.01386.7d

• Wakefield, E. O., Popp, J. M., Dale L. P., Santanelli, J. P., Pantaleao, A., & Zempsky WT. (2017). Perceived racial bias and health-related stigma among youth. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 38, 129-134. doi:10.1097/DBP.0000000000000381

• Zempsky, W. T., Wakefield, E. O., Santanelli, J.P., New, T., Smith-Whitley, K., & Casella, J.F., & Palermo, T.M. (2017). Widespread Pain among Youth with Sickle Cell Disease Hospitalized with Vasoocclusive Pain: A Different Clinical Phenotype? Clinical Journal of Pain, 33, 335-339. doi: 10.1097/AJP.0000000000000403

• Namerow, L.B., Kutner, E.C., Wakefield, E.O. Rzepski, B.R., & Sahl, R.A. (2016). Pain amplification syndrome: A biopsychosocial approach. Seminars in Pediatric Neurology, 23(3), 224-230.

• Zempsky, W.T., O’Hara, E.A., Santanelli, J.P., T.M., New, T., Smith-Whitley, K., & Casella, J.F., & Palermo, T.M. (2014). Development and validation of the youth acute pain functional ability questionnaire (YAPFAQ). The Journal of Pain, 15, 1319-1327. doi:10.1016/j.jpain.2014.09.008

• Robinson, M.R., Daniel, L.C., O’Hara, E.A., Szabo, M.M., & Barakat, L.P. (2014). Insurance Status as a Sociodemographic Risk Factor for Functional Outcomes and Health-related Quality of Life Among Youth With Sickle Cell Disease. Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, 36, 51-56. doi:10.1097/MPH.0000000000000013

• Zempsky, W.T., O’Hara, E.A., Santanelli, J.P., & Palermo, T.M., New, T., Smith-Whitley, K., & Casella, J.F. (2013). Validation of the sickle cell pain burden interview-youth. The Journal of Pain, 14,975-982. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2013.03.007

• Mulchan, S. S., Wakefield, E. O., Martin, S. R., Ayr-Volta, L., Krenicki, K., & Zempsky, W. T. (2021). Navigating Ethical Challenges for Pediatric Sickle Cell Pain Management in the Context of the Opioid Epidemic. The Clinical Journal of Pain. doi: 10.1097/AJP.000000000000100

• Mulchan, S.S., Wakefield, E., Santos, M. (2020). What COVID-19 teaches us about implicit bias in pediatric health care. Journal of pediatric psychology, jsaa131. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/jpepsy/jsaa131