MIRECC / CoE

Meet a SC MIRECC Researcher: Desirae Vidaurri, PhD

Q. Please tell us a bit about your educational and career background.

After graduating from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Arts, Honors in Psychology, I attended graduate school at the University of Maine, receiving my PhD in Clinical Psychology. I completed my predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System (SLVHCS) in 2016 and 2017, respectively. Upon completing my training, I accepted a position as the inpatient psychologist and Inpatient Mental Health Program Coordinator at SLVHCS. I served in this role for four years, before being selected as the supervisory psychologist for outpatient, residential, and inpatient programs at SLVHCS in 2021. After multiple details to the assistant chief role, I applied and was selected as the Deputy Chief, Psychology Service in March 2024 which is the role I continue to serve today.

Q. What do you like about doing research with Veterans?

I am of the strong belief that we should provide the best treatments available while always striving to find something better. VA has been a beacon of gold standard treatments because that is what Veterans deserve, and I appreciate being a part of the mission to continue that tradition. Veterans are a special population, and it is a privilege to work with them. I appreciate their tenacity and the opportunity to work with their unique strengths and skill set to return to living the life they want to live.

Q. Do you have any ongoing or upcoming projects that you want to highlight?

Currently, my primary focus is improving evidence-based care in acute inpatient settings. It is a difficult setting for traditional weekly psychotherapy, since individuals are often discharged within 7-10 days. However, it is also a unique opportunity to meet the needs of individuals whose intense mental health needs deserve the best we can offer. I am lucky to be a part of a team in New Orleans that has the same vision. After successfully examining the benefits of massed (i.e., multiple treatment sessions in one week) Written Exposure Therapy on the acute unit, we are now working to determine if Trauma Informed Guilt Reduction on an individual basis and Safety Aid Reduction Therapy in a group format can be acceptable, feasible, and effective in a similar way.

Q. Who are the people who have played important roles in your professional development that you would like to mention?

C. Laurel Franklin (Harlin) has been the most impactful mentor throughout my career. I struggle to find words to describe fully the ways in which I could successfully acknowledge her contribution. She has been instrumental from my first VA internship rotation treating Vietnam Veterans with Prolonged Exposure for PTSD to the mentorship she provided every step along the way as I have moved into the Deputy Chief role. She is ever working to promote gold standard care with unparalleled fervor, while also supporting psychologists at each level of development as clinicians, researchers, and administrators. Her approach is thoughtful, honest, and fair and I am so lucky for her mentorship and friendship.

Q. How has your SC MIRECC affiliation helped grow your research career?

The SC MIRECC affiliation has helped through various training and consultation opportunities as well as funding support for my colleagues at the Southeastern Louisiana Health Care System (SLVHCS). The SLVHCS research department was decimated right along with New Orleans post-Katrina. The SC MIRECC’s funding of research, particularly Dr. Amanda Raines, has allowed for research to exist in ways that would otherwise not be possible. From quality improvement to CDAs, this support created a path that allowed our service to thrive. I benefit from that daily in my own work and in the work we do to support the service and SLVHCS as a whole.

Q. What would your dream research study be if funding weren’t an issue?

For me, this is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Jokes about cloning for more time aside, a few dream research projects would include manualizing and refining a transdiagnostic treatment specifically to target rumination as both a standalone treatment and as an adjunct module to align with other cognitive behavioral treatments; gaining a better understanding of underlying factors that contribute to the comorbidity between conditions like PTSD and depression and utilizing that understanding to contribute to refining the diagnoses; and determining how to accelerate the impact of treatment in general (e.g., massed; transdiagnostic underlying constructs that persist post improvement) to better meet the needs of Veterans in all settings.

Q. How can people get in touch with you if they have questions?

Happy to chat via Teams or reach out by email (Desirae.Vidaurri@va.gov).

Last updated: October 22, 2025