Annahita Mahdavi West

Annahita Mahdavi West was born and raised in Iran by her mother, a teacher, and her father, a writer and a poet. The influences of her both parents and their encouragement have been fundamental to her writing. She immigrated from Iran in 1985 and resided in Turkey as a UN refugee until mid-1987, when she was granted residency in Sweden. After staying in Sweden for two years, she came to the United States in 1990, when she was also granted political asylum in the United States by 2005. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Human Development from Vanguard University in 2007, and her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2010, and her Ph. D in 2018 in International Psychology with an emphasis on Global Trauma Services from Chicago University. She is a Professor at Long Beach City College Department of Allied Health. Other than her role as a clinician and an educator, she has been a passionate advocate for many social justice issues for marginalized communities including women, refugees, people of color, incarcerated populations, and drug policies. Annahita has a 27-year-old daughter who is in her third year Ph.D program in English literature, and is married to author-philosopher Dr. Cornel West.