Dr. Guarnera is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the ILPPP. Her research seeks to improve the fairness and accuracy of the justice system, both by studying biased decision-making among forensic experts and by investigating the legal experiences of vulnerable individuals.

Dr. Guarnera’s original research on the legal experiences of women who become pregnant from rape was honored with the Best Dissertation Award and multiple grants from the American Psychology-Law Society. As a clinician, she completed a predoctoral internship focused on traumatic stress in Charleston, South Carolina, and a postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology at the ILPPP. She specializes in forensic evaluations involving traumatic stress.