Core Faculty
Sarah Miller, Ph.D., ABPP
Fellowship Training Director
Sarah Miller (she/her) is the Director of the State Forensic Service. She conducts criminal forensic mental health evaluations and provides consultation to examiners, attorneys, judges, and others. Prior to that, she worked with the Behavioral Health team in the Maine Department of Corrections and ran an independent forensic practice. Before coming to Maine, she worked at Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts conducting forensic evaluations in a high security correctional setting. Dr. Miller is board certified in forensic psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. She earned her MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama with a concentration in Psychology and Law. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in forensic psychology at University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Jeffrey Hecker, Ph.D.
Fellowship Program Coordinator
Dr. Hecker (he/him) is Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maine. His research has focused on anxiety disorders, juvenile sexual offending, and rural mental health. He has maintained a part-time practice in clinical and forensic psychology throughout his career. Dr. Hecker was a contracted evaluator with the State Forensic Service from 1988 to 2007 and renewed this relationship in 2021. He has extensive experience in higher education leadership having served as department chair, college dean, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost, and Senior Advisor to the President, all at UMaine.
Shalene Kirkley, Ph.D.
Fellowship Training Coordinator
Shalene Kirkley (she/her) is a Forensic Evaluator with the State Forensic Service. Before joining State Forensic Service, she was in private practice in Arizona as a forensic psychologist conducting evaluations in criminal and civil courts, primarily in areas of competency to stand trial and decisional capacity. Dr. Kirkley has also taught graduate courses in psychological assessment and ethics, and supervised interns and postdoctoral residents in clinical and forensic evaluations. She obtained her MA from Boston University and her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Alabama with a concentration in Psychology and Law.
April O’Grady, Ph.D.
Fellowship Administrator and Clinical Supervisor
April O’Grady (she/her) is the Director of the Psychological Services Center (PSC), UMaine’s in-house training clinic for the Doctoral Training Program in Clinical Psychology. Through her work at UMaine, she provides clinical training and supervision for doctoral students with particular interests in forensic psychology and supervises forensic evaluations for the Department of Corrections. She has been a contracted evaluator with State Forensic Service since 2004 and maintains an active private practice conducting evaluations for both state and federal courts. Particular areas of expertise are in competence to proceed, criminal responsibility, abnormal condition of the mind, recidivism risk, diagnosis and treatment planning within the legal context, and civil commitment. She obtained her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at UMaine.
Caitlin Wahrer, Esq.
Legal Studies Coordinator
Caitlin Wahrer (she/her) is an attorney at Thompson Bowie & Hatch LLC, a law firm in Portland, Maine. Caitlin’s practice is largely focused on professional responsibility for medical and mental health professionals, as well as appellate and other areas of civil litigation. Caitlin has extensive experience in court-appointed work, including juvenile defense, child protection litigation, and criminal appeals. She has worked on cases involving immigration law, school law, family law, personal injury law, and protection from abuse litigation. Caitlin is from central Maine. She attended Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pennsylvania, where she earned a BA in Marriage and Family Studies and Criminal Justice. Caitlin later earned her law degree at the University of Maine School of Law, where she served as a teaching assistant for the civil procedure, criminal procedure, and legal writing classes. Before entering private practice, Caitlin clerked for Justice Alexander at the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, Maine’s highest state appellate court. Caitlin is also a novelist; her debut, The Damage, was published by Penguin in 2021.
Andrew Wisch, Ph.D., ABPP
Clinical Supervisor
Andy Wisch (he/him) has specialized in criminal forensic psychological evaluation and consultation since 2004. During that time, he has conducted evaluations as a contract examiner for the State Forensic Service and as a privately retained expert, including adult competency and criminal responsibility evaluations, pre-sentence evaluations (including sex offending and violence risk assessments), juvenile competency, bindover, pre-dispositional evaluations, civil commitment evaluations, and evaluation of psychological damages in personal injury cases. Dr. Wisch is board certified in forensic psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Forensic Psychology (2014-2019) and served as board President (2018). He was a member of ABFP’s examination faculty from 2012 to 2017. He currently serves as a public member of the Maine Board of Bar Examiners (2016-2024).
Debra Baeder, Ph.D.
Clinical Supervisor
Debra Baeder (she/her) is board certified in forensic psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology. She served as the Chief Forensic Psychologist for the State Forensic Service in Maine and then as the Director of Clinical Services for the Maine Office of Behavioral Health for a combined 23 years. She currently has a small private practice doing all manner of forensic evaluations for the State Forensic Service. Her expertise includes evaluations of adult pre-trial defendants on issues of competence and criminal responsibility as well as evaluations of juveniles on matters pertaining to dispositional recommendations, risk assessments, competence, and waiver to criminal court. Dr. Baeder helped develop the statute and evaluative protocol for juvenile adjudicative competence in Maine. She has regularly provided training and consultation for psychologists and legal personnel both in Maine and nationally.