LEAD INVESTIGATOR
Alyson Zalta, PhD
azalta@uci.edu
Dr. Zalta is a clinical psychologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at UCI . Her work focuses on trying to alleviate the mental health burden of trauma by enhancing our understanding of risk and resilience factors that contribute to the development of traumatic stress and exploring novel interventions for individuals affected by trauma.
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Sarah Stevens
damianos@uci.edu
Sarah is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Health Psychology program at UCI. Her research interests broadly involve identifying biological markers of risk and resilience to maladaptive health outcomes after trauma exposure. Her current research centers on the relationship between early childhood maltreatment and autonomic dysregulation, and how this relationship may contribute to fear learning and memory processes in adulthood.
David Cenkner
dcenkner@uci.edu
David is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at UCI. Broadly his research interests include understanding the relationship between trauma exposure and suicidal ideation in adult and service member populations. Currently, his work is focused on the relationship between sleep quality and suicidal ideation in adults seeking psychotherapeutic treatment using actigraphy and ecological momentary assessment techniques.
Kit Wislocki
k.wislocki@uci.edu
Kit is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at UCI. Her research interests revolve around the use of computational modeling and technology to improve our understanding of how best to assess and treat trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder. Currently, she is conducting research on the use of machine learning, ecological momentary assessment, and passively sensed data to predict intra-individual change in PTSD symptoms across time.
Maggie Canady
mtcanady@uci.edu
Maggie is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at UCI. Broadly, her research interests are focused on understanding the sociocultural factors that contextualize risk and resilience after trauma exposure, as well as supporting the development of culturally responsive and scalable trauma interventions. Her current research is focused on understanding the relationship between childhood trauma, neighborhood crime, sleep disturbance, and psychopathology in adolescents.
RESEARCH COORDINATORS
Hanniel Uwadia, Lab Manager
uwadiah@uci.edu
Ghazal Naderi, Lab Manager
gnaderi@uci.edu
Jay Lorenzini, Lab Manager
lorenzij@uci.edu
RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Post-Baccalaureate Research Assistants
| Blen Asres | Harper Murphy | Anh Tran |
| Agnes Zhou | Kayvon Amindari | Sono Lee |
| Alexandra Stibor |
Undergraduate Research Assistants
| Anastasia Poponina | Megan Chang | Alexandria Wong |
| Alice Chen |
David Tran
|
Layla Nahavandi |
| Yawen Guan |
LAB PHOTOS
LAB ALUMNI
Noa Gasway – M.S. in Counseling Psychology (MFT) program at California Lutheran University
Sirena Cuevas
Nathan Gaviria
Riley Woo
Hana Nip
Hana Walsh
Leslie Walker
Emili D’Amico
Matt Sereno
Michelle Jung – Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at Washington State University
Xrystyan Lascano – Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at University of Texas at Tyler
Diane Brown – Epidemiology Master of Public Health program at Harvard University
Daniel Lu – Masters of Social Work program at Boston College
Precious Araujo – Psychological Science Ph.D. program at University of California, Irvine
Ana Estevez Mejias – Program Coordinator at Spring Lake Ranch Therapeutic Community, Cuttingsville, VT
Sadaf Rizvi – M.A. in Developmental Psychology program at San Francisco State
Nadia Malek – Clinical Research Assistant at National Center for PTSD, Dissemination & Training Division, VA Palo Alto Health Care System
Hajra Usman – Research Associate at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education, San Fransisco VA
Jyotsna Grandhi – Masters in Clinical Mental Health at Georgia State University
Ashe Pappal – Clinical Ph.D. program at the University of Nevada
Cathy Liang – Postbaccalaureate Program in Medicine at Johns Hopkins University
Ramona Martinez – Social Psychology Ph.D. program at University of California, Riverside
Serena Carbery – Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program at Texas Tech University
Alexis Blacketer – Psychology M.S. program at California State Polytechnic University
Maryam Foroohi Manjili
Katherine Lucas
George Mosqueda – Counseling M.S. program at Fresno State (’23)