Harvard Catalyst Profiles

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA	PhD	2002	Clinical Psychology
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH	A.B.	1993	Biology & Psychology

I am a clinical psychologist and neuroscientist who applies multidisciplinary research methods to understand the neurobehavioral underpinnings of anxiety and posttraumatic stress-related disorders. I am employed full-time at the Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research of McLean Hospital. My hospital appointment is as Director of the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders Laboratory, where I devote approximately 90% of my time to research and mentoring, and 10% to administrative activities involved in running a lab. I also have the position of Associate Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. My primary activities involve directing two NIMH R01 studies on which I am the Principal Investigator (PI), managing a NIMH P50 project as Project PI, and serving as Co-I on a clinical trial of neuromodulation for anhedonic depression. I hold multiple editorial board positions, and am a chair of the Committee for Advancing Women's Leadership at the Society of Biological Psychiatry.

My research uses brain imaging to characterize neurobiological phenotypes of posttraumatic stress spectrum disorders, and to relate them to behavioral phenotypes and clinical phenomenology. The field of psychiatry has reached an exciting juncture where we have the neuroscience knowledge and methods that can lead to a mechanistic understanding of mental illness -- particularly in the context of the NIMH’s commitment to the dimensional and transdiagnostic research framework known as RDoC. All three of my current NIMH grants apply this framework to isolate components of posttraumatic stress disorder: one study is focused on characterizing mechanisms of intrusive memories (symptoms) of PTSD, a second project focuses on understanding stress peptide pathways contributing to hyperarousal symptoms, and the third project isolates social functioning aspects of PTSD.

My current teaching activities consist of training and supervising research assistants and postdoctoral students, as well as giving occasional seminar presentations. I have a strong track record of mentorship. Over the past 12 years, I have directly supervised and mentored +20 postbacc research assistants, 12 postdoctoral fellows, and 4 junior faculty. This entails one-on-one training and supervision across a variety of activities including statistical and research methods, clinical training and supervision, and supervision of daily research activities. Nearly all my advisees have served as co-authors on abstracts, posters, and published manuscripts emanating from my research activities. Multiple postdoctoral mentees have transitioned to independent investigators, including two as assistant professors at my institution (Harvard Medical School) and two with tenure-track positions at other large universities (Oregon State, University of Colorado). In addition, I am highly committed to DEI as evidenced first and foremost by the diversity of people I hire into my laboratory. Most of my lab members are either underrepresented minorities (URM), foreign nationals, or both.
Although I am not currently engaged in clinical practice, I maintain my license as a Psychologist and Health Service Provider in Massachusetts, and I have clinical privileges at McLean Hospital.

• Anxiety Disorders
• Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
• Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Trauma