Franssy Zablah
Interim Director, Institute for Community Mental Health (ICMH) Clinic
100 Discovery Blvd, Suite 632
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19713
Background and Interests
Dr. Zablah is a native Spanish-speaker who was born and raised in Honduras. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of New Orleans and completed her predoctoral internship in Integrated Behavioral Health at Nemours Hospital for Children. Dr. Zablah obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from The Catholic University of America (CUA), where she pursued a concentration in Children, Families, and Cultures. She then sought out specialized training in dissemination and implementation (D&I) science as a post-doctoral research fellow at the University of Delaware (UD).
As an assistant professor in UD’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dr. Zablah is engaged in research, clinical work, and teaching, all aimed at improving access to high-quality evidence-based services for historically marginalized and underserved communities. At the Center for Training, Evaluation, and Community Collaboration (C-TECC), she is currently leading the Spanish adaptation of a parenting and financial well-being intervention for low-income families in Head Start Centers and overseeing the implementation of a mental health awareness training program for probation officers in Delaware and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She previously led the evaluation of a statewide expansion of evidence-based mental health and care coordination services in Delaware.
As the Assistant Director of the Institute for Community Mental Health-Clinic (ICMH-C), Dr. Zablah provides clinical supervision to doctoral students and other providers serving children, families, and adults in the community. She also supports training curriculum development, quality improvement and expansion initiatives, and administrative tasks.
Her research, grounded in prevention science and guided by a D&I science framework, aims to address systemic factors contributing to the complex needs of socioeconomically disadvantaged communities and to examine disparities in access to high-quality evidence-based services. She is passionate about promoting culturally and linguistically relevant care for the Latino community and training the next generation of scientifically minded and culturally humble clinicians well-versed in evidence-based care.