Dr. Zori A. Paul, PhD, LPC (MO), is an Assistant Professor in Counseling program located in the Department of Education Sciences and Professional Programs at the University of Missouri – St. Louis. She received her PhD in counselor education and supervision from the University of Missouri-St. Louis, her MA in clinical mental health counseling from Northwestern University, and her BA in comparative human development with a minor in gender and sexuality studies from the University of Chicago. She is a psychodynamic trained Licensed Professional Counselor and a certified provider of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT).

She is a co-founder of Black in Mental Health, an online initiative to highlight and promote Black mental health professionals, students, researchers, and advocates throughout the world as well as a co-host for the Therapy on a Tangent podcast, where two therapists nerd out about their geeky passions. Dr. Paul’s research focuses on three main areas: intersecting marginalized identities, specifically bisexual+ women of color; cross-cultural mentorship in counseling programs; and ethical social media and artificial intelligence (AI) use for mental health professionals.

With the Miles Group, Dr. Paul investigates how mental health counseling services are delivered, coordinated, and accessed across networks of care. Her work explores how communication, identity, and organizational dynamics influence the availability and quality of counseling—particularly for communities historically underserved by traditional systems.