Lab Alumni – MIND LAB

Lab Alumni

Postdoctoral Alumni

Arianna Gard | arigard@umd.edu 

Dr. Gard is an Assistant Professor of Developmental Psychology, Faculty Affiliate in the Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Neuroscience (NACS), and Director of the Growth And Resilience across Development (GARD) Lab at the University of Maryland, College Park. She completed postdoctoral and graduate training at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Arianna is an interdisciplinary scientist with training in affective neuroscience, developmental psychology, clinical science, and survey methodology. Her research examines the neurobiological mechanisms linking socioeconomic adversity and protective factors to youth socioemotional development, highlighting the complex interplay between risk and resilience, genetic predispositions, and brain development. A prominent feature of her work is to increase sociodemographic diversity in neurobiological research by including historically under-represented groups in research design and implementation. 

Melissa Peckins | mpeckins@umich.edu

Dr. Peckins was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in developmental psychology. She received her doctorate in biobehavioral health from The Pennsylvania State University with a focus on the biopsychosocial consequences of early life stress across development and developmental methodology. Her research utilizes a multi-level, interdisciplinary approach to study how contextual factors such as child maltreatment and violence exposure impact the endocrine response to stress, health, and behavior from childhood to early adulthood. She is currently on a training grant to study the role of neural processes in the association between context, functioning of the stress response system, and behavior.

Rebecca Waller | rewaller@umd.edu 

Dr. Waller was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow who joined Michigan in 2013 after receiving her doctorate from the University of Oxford. She has an MA in Experimental Psychology and MSc in Evidence-Based Social Intervention, also from the University of Oxford. Her research is focused on examining behavioral and personality precursors of psychopathy and antisocial behavior from a developmental psychopathology perspective. Specifically, she studies how children’s early environmental risk (including parental harshness and low warmth) is related to the development of callous unemotional (CU) traits and the emergence of conduct problems in later childhood and adolescence. Within this, she focuses on issues related to the conceptualization and measurement of CU traits in children, as well as related constructs such as empathy and early conscience deficits. Her recent work incorporates neurogenetics to better understand the heritable and neural risk markers for CU traits and antisocial behavior, with the ultimate goal of informing preventative interventions. Dr. Waller is currently on a T32 Fellowship in the Addiction Center of Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan, where she is integrating models of early externalizing psychopathology with risk for problematic substance and alcohol use across development. From July 1st 2018, Dr. Waller will be an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Graduate Student Alumni

Rachel Tomlinson | raclaire@umich.edu

Rachel received her doctorate in Clinical Science in September 2022. Rachel received a BS in psychology from Duke University in 2014, with an additional major in biology. After graduating, she was lab manager for Elizabeth Brannon’s cognitive development lab at Duke (now Penn) and studied how infants and children learn about numbers and math. With her research program, Rachel is investigating the pathways through which early life adversity (e.g. poverty) affects the development of executive functioning. Clinically, she is interested in evidence-based treatments for childhood mental health problems (i.e. CBT for anxiety) and adapting these treatments for under-resourced populations. She is now a predoctoral Clinical Psychology Fellow in the Child Trauma Research Program at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Hailey Dotterer

Hailey received a BA with highest distinction in Psychology, a Master’s of Science, and doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan. She is now a Clinical Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University.

Isaiah Sypher

Isaiah received his doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan and a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University. His research explores links between race-based stress and substance use disorders, with a particular emphasis on community-based approaches. He completed his predoctoral internship providing services at the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit and Adult Community Mental Health programs within the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CMHC) at the Yale School of Medicine. He is completing his fellowship in Substance Abuse Services at the Connecticut Mental Health Center in the Yale Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology. In April 2022 he was awarded an APA Minority Fellowship from the American Psychological Association.

Laura Murray

Laura was a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. Laura received her B.A. in psychology with a minor in neurobiology from Harvard University in 2011, and was also a member of the Harvard Women’s Swimming and Diving team. Laura’s research focuses on understanding the role of reward processing in the development and persistence of antisocial behavior and psychopathy. Her dissertation investigates the potential relationships between components of antisocial behavior (e.g., callous-unemotional traits, delinquency, and disinhibition) and dysfunctional neural response to reward and punishment in youth and adults at risk for antisocial behavior. This year, Laura will be completing her clinical psychology internship at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University.

Lab Staff Alumni

  • Paula Guzman (pguzman@umich.edu)
    • Paula worked in the MiND Lab as the project coordinator from 2020 to 2023. She received her B.S. in psychology from Michigan State University. Her research interests include the developmental trajectories of children and young adults facing adversity. Specifically, she is interested in the effect parenting has on the child’s mental health, with a focus on depression and anxiety. She went on to pursue a Master’s in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
  • Maria Gabriela Eyrich Freile (eyrich@umich.edu)
    • Maria Gabriela (Gaby) worked in the MiND Lab as the undergraduate coordinator from 2019 to 2023. She is a first-generation student that graduated from the University of Florida with a BS in psychology with behavioral and cognitive neuroscience and a BA in sociology. Her research interests include the effects of social and cultural factors on the diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders. She went on to an MSW at the University of Michigan in August 2023.
  • Kaitlin Prakken (kprakken@umich.edu)
    • Kaitlin contributed to the Study of Adolescent Neural Development and the Michigan Twin Neurogenetics Study in the MiND Lab. She also managed Dr. Craig Rodriguez-Seijas’ Stigma Psychopathology Assessment Lab and Dr. Leah Richmond-Rakerd’s Psychopathology, Population Health, and Genetics Lab. Kaitlin is interested in understanding how clinical findings on the psychological impacts of environmental factors translate into law and policy.
  • Lara Stojanov (larastoj@umich.edu)
    • Lara was the MTwiNS project coordinator from 2017-2020 and the senior lab coordinator for the MiND and TaD Labs from 2020-2021. She went on to graduate from the University of Michigan Law School in 2024.
  • Jenna Hayes (jkhayes2@crimson.ua.edu)
    • Jenna was the MTwiNS Data Manager for two years. She is now a Psychology-Law Ph.D. student at the University of Alabama. She is working in Dr. Karen Salekin’s Intellectual Disability and the Law lab. She received her BA from the University of Michigan in 2018. Her research interests include competency to stand trial in individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and/or severe mental illness.
  • Emma Rodgers
    • Emma was Staff Manager and is now a PhD student at the University of California Irvine.
  • Alicia (Allie) Pardon:
    • Allie was the MiND Lab Manager from 2016 to 2019. She is currently pursuing her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Florida under the mentorship of Dr. Kimberly Driscoll. Her research interests include the effects of chronic childhood illness on psychosocial functioning.
  • Toni Walker (twalks@umich.edu):
    • Toni serves as lab manager for the MiND lab from 2015 to 2017.  She is currently attending Louisiana State University to pursue her Ph.D in clinical psychology.
  • Martha Alves (mlalves@umich.edu):
    • Martha served as the first MiND lab manager from Spring 2013 to Fall 2015.

Undergraduate Alumni

  • Paulina Ortega
  • Isabel Aulicino
  • Vibha Moorthy
  • Maeve Lucas
  • Amaya Tanhueco
  • Desiree Blancoromero
  • Julia Plawker
  • Noor Khalaf
  • Alexa Krugel
  • Madison Konja
  • Leah Gowatch
  • Claire Goods
  • Alison Albrecht
  • Tessa Hampton
  • Kat Coyle
  • Anna Gottesman
  • Carly Abrahams
  • Jamie Terner
  • Emmary Smith
  • Meegan Smith
  • Laurel Easley
  • Leena Alhawati
  • Alaina Lurie
  • Alice Galley
  • Anna Gareau
  • Anthony Bokshan
  • Ashley Holmes
  • Malavika Sabu
  • Dana Labuda
  • Carolyn Wu
  • Elizabeth Estes
  • Jude Eyamba
  • Juliana Kammerzell
  • Tabatha Hart
  • Leena Twal
  • Eva Antebi-Lerman
  • Olivia Girvan
  • Sophie Stempel
  • Sharon Lang
  • Isabel Saville
  • Emma Pearson
  • Emily Dyke
  • Melissa Shiner
  • Maya Youness
  • Danielle Harrison
  • Meredith Seewald
  • Gaby Eyrich-Freile
  • Anna Smith
  • Miloni Shah
  • Madeleine Gerson
  • Andrea Maxwell
  • Kelly Rea
  • Julia Swan
  • Anni Subar
  • Sophia Eisenberg
  • Karina Forsythe
  • Abbey Derechin
  • Claire Morrison
  • Mélanie Rosado
  • Tia Tsakos
  • Melanie Wellstein
  • Hannah McCabe
  • Kepriah David
  • John Bell
  • Elizabeth Friedman
  • Ariana Headrick
  • Julia Osinski
  • Louisa Kane
  • Torrey Talifer
  • Lawrence Tello
  • Meaghan Thompson
  • Bianca Troncone
  • Josh Mogel
  • Caitlin Authier
  • Sarah Winter

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