Marla Buchanan, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology and Special Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia. She is currently the Director of Graduate Programs for her department. She is a faculty member in the Counselling Psychology Program and an Associate Member of the Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine at UBC.

Her research interests are in the field of traumatic stress studies. She has conducted a national survey on secondary traumatization among health care providers in Canada. She has worked internationally providing trauma treatment and psycho-educational services regarding traumatic stress reactions. She currently teaches and is a clinical supervisor of masterial and doctoral students in the Counselling Psychology Program at UBC.

With Patrice Keats of Simon Fraser University, she has completed a SSHRC funded research grant investigating the experiences of Canadian journalists and photojournalists exposed to traumatic events while reporting the news. A second SSHRC grant has been submitted to explore the psychosocial implications of trauma exposure upon journalists and to examine the effects upon journalists' families.