Ashley Kroon Van Diest
Pediatric Psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Clinical Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics
Bachelor of Science in Psychology, 2008
Ashley Kroon Van Diest built her career on a strong foundation that all began with the dedicated and caring faculty at Ohio State Marion and today empowers her to positively influence the lives of young people both clinically and academically.
She attended The Ohio State University at Marion from 2004 through 2008, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. In order to reach the pinnacle of her career goals, furthering her education beyond her undergraduate degree and gaining practical experience were paramount. After graduate school, she completed a two-year fellowship in pediatric psychology for advanced training.
Since completing her education, her Van Diest’s career positions have both been in academic medical centers with clinical assistant professor appointments at the associated universities, Cleveland Clinic Children’s/Case Western Reserve U, and now Nationwide Children’s/Ohio State. She is currently a pediatric psychologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics through the College of Medicine at The Ohio State University, as well as Medical Co-Director of the Rumination Syndrome Treatment Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Her current position involves direct clinical care for children with chronic and acute medical illnesses. She also conducts research in these same areas that is driven by improving clinical care and learning about particular patient populations from a psychosocial perspective. This specifically involves teaching, training and supervision of psychology interns and fellows, as well as medical residents and fellows; other professional and developmental roles at institutional, state, and national levels.
Van Diest said, her career journey would have been irrelevant without a strong foundation in psychology and her degree from Ohio State.
“The foundation of my research skills was formed through course work and research done with the psychology professors at Ohio State Marion,” she said.
“Without the teaching and guidance from the psychology faculty, I would not have gotten into graduate school in clinical psychology thus making the rest of my journey irrelevant,” Van Diest said.
“Their help was invaluable to my current career, she added. “The faculty in the psychology major at Ohio State Marion made a difference in providing opportunities to go further.”
Van Diest said, “the psychology faculty at Ohio State Marion are more than willing to help students interested in advanced careers in psychology. They provide excellent research training and support to strengthen graduate school applications.”
“They were always willing to go above and beyond to help me when I needed and set me up to ultimately have a very successful graduate training and current career in the field of psychology,” she concluded.