Josh Cisler, PhD

Clinical Biography

Josh Cisler, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist in both UT Health Austin’s Bipolar Disorder Center and UT Health Austin’s Trauma Recovery and Research Center. He specializes in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumatic stress-related symptoms in adults, primarily using treatment modalities of exposure therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy. Additionally, Dr. Cisler is an associate professor in both the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts’ Department of Psychology’s Clinical Psychology Graduate Program at The University of Texas at Austin. He also serves as the Co-Director for the Dell Medical School Institute for Early Life Adversity Research.

Dr. Cisler earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Saint Louis University, his master’s degree in clinical psychology from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, where his research focused on emotional and cognitive mechanisms that mediate anxiety disorders. He completed a clinical internship in the treatment of traumatic stress-related mental health disorders at the National Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center through the Medical University of South Carolina, where his research focused on understanding risk factors for psychopathology following assaultive events (e.g., physical and sexual assault). He also completed a fellowship in fMRI methodology and computational and network approaches to imaging analysis at the Brain Imaging Research Center through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Dr. Cisler previously served on the faculty of the Brain Imaging Research Center as well as the University of Wisconsin Madison Department of Psychiatry. His current research interests include neuroimaging, computational modeling, exercise, pharmacology, and clinical trials methodology to understand core psychopathology mechanisms among individuals experiencing traumatic stress-related symptoms and to identify and enhance core mechanisms of treatment for traumatic stress-related symptoms.