I dedicated 4+ years in the field, working with children and families at high risk for problematic outcomes due to living in contexts of structural and socio-economic disadvantage. This includes working with very low income parents in rural Alaska for Head Start (a school readiness program for US families living in poverty), and 3+ years working with court-ordered adolescents on month-long wilderness rehabilitation programs in rural Florida for Outward Bound. These and related experiences continue to inform the research conducted within the lab, and within the Developmental Science of Mental Health Team at Telethon Kids Institute, which I currently lead.

I trained in developmental and quantitative psychology at the Unviersity of Virginia (undergraduate), University of New Hampshire (PhD) and Arizona State University and the Prevention Research Center (REACH; NIMH-funded post-doc). In addition to a T32 NIMH fellowship with REACH, focused on advanced quantitative methods and prevention science, I trained as a NIMH CHIPS (Child Health Intervention and Prevention Science) fellow in ambulatory assessment, including experience sampling, wearable technologies, and bio-marker methodologies. 

My team maps how adolescents (and parents) navigate stressors, seek support from those around them (including online), and move onto problematic vs. healthier trajectories at key developmental junctures. The lab harnesses new technologies to investigate diverse pathways of risk, health, and wellbeing, with a focus on youth and families living in the context of structural and socio-economic disadvantage. We apply a lens across years, weeks, days, and moments via longitudinal surveys, daily diaries, experience sampling, and passive sensing approaches.