Dr. Elizabeth C. Pasipanodya, PhD — Psychology Evaluator
Licensed clinical psychologist and rehabilitation research scientist. California Qualified Medical Evaluator in psychology.
Dr. Elizabeth C. Pasipanodya is a licensed clinical psychologist and research scientist with more than a decade of experience in clinical research, including rehabilitation and health psychology. Since 2024 she has conducted consultative psychological interviews and standardized neuropsychological assessments, with written reports, for adults seeking Social Security Disability benefits, and she provides telehealth psychotherapy to adults in California. From 2019 to 2025 she was Clinical Research Program Manager at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center Rehabilitation Research Center, where she worked on federally sponsored studies of spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, including as a co-principal investigator. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and a Graduate Certificate in Statistics from the University of Delaware, completed her internship at Geisinger Medical Center and has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications.
Why attorneys choose Dr. Pasipanodya
Dr. Elizabeth C. Pasipanodya brings both clinical evaluation experience and research-level rigor to psychological questions in injury cases. Since 2024 she has conducted consultative psychological interviews and administered standardized neuropsychological assessments to determine the extent of functional limitations in adults seeking Social Security Disability benefits, then scored, interpreted and summarized the findings in written reports used to decide those claims. That work closely parallels a medical-legal evaluation: a structured interview, standardized testing and a written report on function.
Her focus is the psychology of serious injury. From 2019 to 2025 she managed rehabilitation research at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, serving as Co-Principal Investigator on the Northern California Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems, a $2.4 million program funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research. There she studied physical and psychosocial outcomes after traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury from acute rehabilitation through community reintegration, and she evaluated research participants in high distress for suicide risk. Her internship at Geisinger Medical Center included spinal cord stimulator evaluations with the interventional pain team.
She has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications, including studies of traumatic brain injury severity and functional outcomes in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation and of cognitive profiles after spinal cord injury in Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Statistics and contributes to the scientific direction of the NIH-funded National NeuroHIV Tissue Consortium at Emmes.
Disability evaluation experience
Conducts consultative psychological interviews and standardized neuropsychological assessments and writes reports for Social Security Disability determinations.
Rehabilitation psychology
Clinical Research Program Manager for spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury studies at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (2019–2025).
Medical-setting training
Her internship at Geisinger Medical Center included spinal cord stimulator evaluations with the interventional pain team, and she co-led chronic pain groups.
Research and statistics
Graduate Certificate in Statistics and more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in HIV, aging, health psychology and rehabilitation.
Medical-legal experience
- California Qualified Medical Evaluator — Psychology
- Consultative psychological evaluations with written reports for Social Security Disability determinations (2024–present)
- QME, AME and expert witness evaluations through Sound Medical Evaluators
- Suicide risk evaluation of research participants in high distress, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (2019–2025)
Evaluations Dr. Pasipanodya performs
QME
Qualified Medical Evaluations for California workers’ compensation disputes.
AME
Agreed Medical Evaluations when both parties select one examiner.
Expert Witness
Expert witness services in clinical, rehabilitation and health psychology.
Credentials and training
- Licensed clinical psychologist
- Ph.D., Clinical Psychology; Graduate Certificate in Statistics — University of Delaware (2016)
- Psychology Internship — Geisinger Medical Center (2015–2016)
- Postdoctoral Researcher — HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program, University of California, San Diego (2016–2019)
- Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship in NeuroAIDS — University of California, San Diego (2017–2019)
- Research Ethics Training Institute Fellowship — Fordham University (2017–2019)
- Co-Principal Investigator, Northern California Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems
- B.A., Psychology and Chemistry, cum laude — Williams College (2009)
- NeuroHIV Subject Matter Expert/Project Manager, Emmes, National NeuroHIV Tissue Consortium (2025–present)
- Principal Investigator, Aging Well with Disability: Successful Aging with Spinal Cord Injury module; Co-PI on the $2.4 million NIDILRR-funded Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems (2021–2026)
- Publications include Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation (2023) and Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (2021)
Where Dr. Pasipanodya evaluates
Dr. Pasipanodya’s Approach
Each evaluation begins with a careful review of the complete record, a structured clinical interview and appropriate standardized testing. Dr. Pasipanodya explains her findings clearly and bases her opinions on the record, the test results and accepted professional literature, with the aim of being fair and impartial to every party, applicant and defense alike.