Muniya Khanna, Ph,D., is a clinical psychologist and researcher specializing in the treatment and study of anxiety in children and teens. She has been involved in some of the most important research in the field of child anxiety in the last 15 years. This published research has established what is now the gold-standard treatments children and adolescents used in hospitals, clinics and schools around the world. She is a pioneer in web-based mental health research having spent the last decade working towards improving access to evidence-based mental health services in under-resourced populations by leveraging technology. Muniya is author of “The Resilience Recipe: Raising Fearless Kids in the Age of Anxiety” with Dr. Phil Kendall and “The Worry Workbook for Kids” with Dr. Deborah Ledley.
She is Founder and Director of the OCD & Anxiety Institute in Pennsylvania and Research Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). Prior to this, Muniya held a faculty position at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Director of the Child and Adolescent OCD, Tic, Trich, and Anxiety Group (“COTTAGe”). She was involved in the largest NIH multi-site trials evaluating the efficacy of treatments for anxiety in youth, including the Pediatric OCD Treatment Study (JAMA; Franklin et al. 2011), and Family-based Treatment of Early Childhood OCD (JAMA; Freeman et al., 2014), Child and Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Treatment Study (NEJM; Walkup et al., 2008) trials. She is currently conducting 2 large-scale clinical trials at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), funded by the NIMH, focused on the dissemination of evidence-based treatments for anxiety in urban public schools.
Muniya is a pioneer in web-based mental health research for anxiety disorders. In partnership with her mentor, Dr. Philip Kendall, she developed and tested Camp Cope-A-Lot, one of the first empirically-supported computer-assisted treatment programs for anxious youth. Most recently Drs. Khanna and Kendall have developed, Child Anxiety Tales, an empirically-supported online parent-training program for parents of anxious youth, along with www.CopingCatParents.com, a free informational website for parents and professionals who work with anxious youth and their families.
Among her professional activities, she has served as Associate Editor of the journal Cognitive & Behavioral Practice, on the review board of the Journal of Evidence-based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, on the Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (ABCT) CE committee, on the board of Division 53 Society for Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology of the APA, the APA Continuing Education Committee, and as Leader of the Child Anxiety Special Interest Group of ABCT. She serves on the Board of Horizons, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the education gap for children in the US.
Muniya graduated with Honors in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Temple University, completed her pre-doctoral training at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, and her NIH-sponsored postdoctoral (T-32) fellowship at Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons.
On weekends you’ll find Muniya at the squash courts cheering on her amazing kids, Ishani (15) and Sammy (11) and planning family adventures with her husband Vijay, her greatest source of inspiration and support. She has followed her heart every step of the way, working and living in Philadelphia so she is able to share her life with her parents, in-laws, brother, sisters, nieces and nephews -requiring a dining table that seats 24.
Live bravely again. Schedule an appointment today.
