Dr. Alissa Pencer did her B.Sc. Honours in Psychology at St. Francis Xavier University and went on to do her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Calgary. She is a Senior Instructor within the Departments of Psychology and Neuroscience and Psychiatry at Dalhousie University and a Registered Psychologist in the province of Nova Scotia.  Dr. Pencer is also an Affiliated Scientist with the IWK Health Centre and the Nova Scotia Health Authority (NSHA).

Dr. Pencer is a co-founder and senior scientific director for an internet-based CBT company out of Nova Scotia (Tranquility Online). She previously worked within outpatient mental health services at the IWK Health Centre for over 10 years providing CBT for anxiety and mood disorders and served as the Team Leader for the anxiety clinic for several years.

Dr. Pencer has been involved in several program development and evaluation initiatives including helping start-up and demonstrate the effectiveness of CBT for anxiety groups with children and adolescents and university students. She continues to provide clinical supervision to Ph.D. clinical psychology students and psychiatry residents for assessment and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for anxiety and depression.

Her clinical and research interests are in the areas of prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, severe mental illness, and substance use in youth and young adults.