Biography

George M. Slavich

was born and raised in California to Croatian-immigrant parents. A clinical psychologist by training, he attended Stanford University and the University of Oregon for undergraduate and graduate school, respectively, before completing his clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and subsequent post-doctoral research fellowships at UCSF and UCLA. He has been at UCLA since 2009, and is currently the Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and a Research Scientist at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, where he directs the UCLA Laboratory for Stress Assessment and Research. Outside of work, he coached the UCLA Women’s Club Water Polo team for several years and in his free time, he loves spending time with his two greatest loves: his amazing wife, Britton, and their incredible daughter, Stella. 

He founded and serve as the faculty director of the Bruin Stress Resilience Network, which hosts free, evidence-based stress and resilience-building workshops for UCLA students, faculty, and staff. In addition, he is the Director of the California Stress, Trauma, and Resilience (CAL STAR) Network, which seeks to enhance resilience, promote community health and well-being, and prevent and mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress in California. He also directs the Global Belonging Collaborative, which aims to enhance belonging worldwide, and direct the Evaluation and Evidence Department for the UCLA/UCSF ACEs Aware Family Resilience Network (UCAAN), which is California’s state-wide initiative to develop, promote, and sustain evidence-based methods for addressing the negative impacts of adverse childhood experiences and toxic stress physiology on health and wellbeing. UCAAN is supported by a $175 million award from the Office of the California Surgeon General and California Department of Health Care Services. All of this work is powered by a truly incredible and inspiring team of UCLA post-docs, graduate students, undergraduates, project coordinators, and collaborators who he is deeply honored and grateful to work with on a daily basis.

When I was young, my father once told me “Nothing is impossible.” It stuck, and whatever positive impact I’ve had on the world is thanks in large part to the great optimism and agency he thankfully instilled in me.