I'm Traci Maynigo — a licensed clinical psychologist, assistant professor, program director, and researcher. I've spent my career at the intersection of clinical practice, research, training, and community-based programming, with one consistent thread: a deep commitment to serving families and communities that are too often overlooked.

I'm a proud daughter of first-generation Filipino immigrants, and I grew up understanding that culture, identity, and family are inseparable. That understanding shapes everything I do — from how I sit with a couple in therapy to how I design programs that serve hundreds of families a year.

Before I became a psychologist, I worked in book publishing as a production editor at Scholastic, Penguin, and HarperCollins. I even authored a few books myself, including A Girl's Guide to College and Spark Your Career in Book Publishing. My interest in self-help, pop psychology, and mind-bending nonfiction eventually led me to graduate school, first at Columbia University's Teachers College for counseling psychology, and then to Rutgers for my doctorate in clinical psychology with a concentration in multicultural psychology.

Today, I hold a faculty appointment as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where I supervise and train the next generation of clinicians. I also serve as Program Director for the Supporting Healthy Relationships (SHR) program and HERO Dads program at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx — two federally funded initiatives that provide relationship and parenting education, case management, and employment services to hundreds of low-income families every year.

My clinical work is deeply informed by Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Gottman Method Couple Therapy, structural family therapy, and integrative behavioral couple therapy — always adapted to honor the cultural contexts and lived experiences of the people I work with. I've presented at national and international conferences, published in peer-reviewed journals, and co-authored book chapters on multicultural couple and family therapy.

At the heart of it all, I care about social justice. I believe that access to quality mental health care, strong relationships, and supportive communities shouldn't depend on your zip code, your income, or your identity. That belief drives my clinical practice, my research, my teaching, and the programs I build.

When I'm not working, I'm home in Queens with my husband Jason, our two kids Asha and Luca, and our Havanese, Bodie.