Psychology Student Activities
Cultivating future discoveries in research and practice.
Our Derner School of Psychology doctoral students are passionate about their dissertation and research topics. Explore some of their areas of focus.
Fourth Year Students
| Name | Advisor | Research Interests | Externship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ardalan, Firouz | Dr. Joseph Newirth | Suicide bereavement research. Specifically, how do clinicians respond to the loss of a patient. In addition, how do clinicians respond to suicide attempts. | New School Counseling Center |
| Cassell, Sophie | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | The nature of the therapeutic process/therapeutic alliance with adolescents and its impact on outcome. | MSK Pediatric Neuropsychology |
| Cassell, Sophie | Dr. Mark Hilsenroth | Nassau University Medical Center | |
| Florio, Katrina | D. Kate Fiori | Mental and physical health effects of family caregiving across the lifespan; emerging adults acting as family caregivers; family dynamics | |
| Folse, Killian | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Parent-child communication, intergenerational relations, and childhood subjectivity | Montefiore Medical Center |
| Graham, Kathryn | Dr. Jacques Barber | Does Mother Know Best? The Relation of Maternal and Child Defense Mechanisms with Child Attachment Security | Hofstra University Counseling Center |
| Gregory, Wesley | Dr. Michael Moore | Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital at NYU Langone | |
| Hartmann, Vanessa | Dr. Kate Szymanski | New School Counseling Center | |
| Constantina Liasidou | Dr. Karen Lombardi | New School Counseling Center | |
| Ippolito, Bonnie | Dr. Kate Fiori | Growth Psychology | |
| Kalmutz, Amanda | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Who am I?: The relationship between adoptees’ experiences of identity and the level of their adoption openness | Montefiore RFK-CERC Under Five Program |
| Kuma, Naa-Adjeley Ama | Dr. Laura Brumariu | Counseling and Psychological Services | |
| Loughlin, Lauren | Dr. Kate Szymanski | Metropolitan Correctional Center | |
| McMillen, Kate | Dr. Mark Hilsenroth | How interpersonal problems in patients affect psychotherapy process and outcome; LGBTQ-affirmative therapy interventions | Brooklyn College Personal Counseling |
| Parmenter, Megan | Dr. Kate Fiori | Social support and social strain; network interference; coping with uncertainty | Northport VA |
| Plonka, Solomon | Dr. Michael Moore | The effect of mindfulness on anxiety, the effects of a self-help motivational interviewing intervention | Center for Cognitive Behavioral Psychotherapy |
| Poon, Michael | Dr. Dominic Fareri | Effects of Social Media Ostracism on Delayed Reward Discounting | Northwell Health |
| Swistel, Lily | Dr. Joseph Newirth | Financial and Psychic Inheritances: Phantasies of Money in Upper-Class American Life | NYPSI Externship Program |
| Tanner, John | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Lacanian interpretations of climate change, violence against transgendered persons. Socio-economic dynamics at psychotherapy clinics. | Pratt Institute |
| Uribe, Elizabeth | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Child development, emotions, and gender | SUNY Counseling and Wellness Services |
| Urmanche, Adelya | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | Early therapeutic alliance in relation to symptom change in Seeking Safety Treatment | MSBI Outpatient Psychiatry |
| Ward, Essosinam | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Callen Lorde | |
| Weiss, Marina | Dr. Damian Stanley | Etiology of traumatic stress, Mindfulness-based and integrative treatment of traumatic stress, interventions to address implicit and explicit bias in clinical training | Brooklyn College Personal Counseling |
Third Year Students
| Name | Advisor | Research Interests | Externship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brigante, Mathew | Dr. Joel Weinberger | Unconscious processes in depression, anxiety, and suicidal behavior | Creedmoor Psychiatric Center |
| Cain, Lylliam | Dr. Mark Hilsenroth | Psychotherapy process and outcome, object relations, interpersonal theory | Year 2: Derner Hempstead Child Clinic / Year 3: NYC Health + Hospitals Queens |
| Cavalcante Krause, Fernando | Dr. Michael Moore | Anxiety, Depression, Emotional regulation | Hofstra University – Student Health and Counseling Center |
| Chen, Liqiaonan | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | Microaggressuibs in racially mismatched dyads and its relationship to alliance ruptures | Year 2: Mount Sinai Beth Israel/ Year 3: The New School Counseling Center |
| Cohen, Elan | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Bronx Psychiatric Center | |
| Gaughran, Sean | Dr. Joy McClure | Fordham University Counseling | |
| Genovese, Juliana | Dr. Kate Szymanski | Shame, trauma, intergenerational transmission of trauma, gender issues in psychology, masculinity, relational theory | Nassau University Medical Center |
| Gottlieb, Kayla | Dr. Carolyn Springer | Orthodox Jewish Women and spousal relationship satisfaction | Montefiore Supporting Healthy Relationships |
| Hougen, Clint | Dr. Carolyn Springer | Health and rehabilitation psychology, Primary care integration | St. Barnabas Hospital in The Bronx |
| Kiernan, Christina | Dr. Laura Brumariu | Parent-Child relationships/Attachment, Optimism & Positive Psychology, Anxiety, Depression, Trauma/Sexual Violence | Hunter College Counseling & Wellness Services |
| Lokai, Andrew | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | Therapeutic Alliance | Weill Cornell Medicine Department of Neurological Surgery |
| López-Aybar, Laura | Dr. Lauren Gonzales | Critical Psychology, Mental Health Stigma, Disparities in Mental Health, Mental Health and Social Justice, Mental Health Policy | Hempstead Child and Adolescent Clinic |
| McCullough, Brittany | Dr. Lauren Gonzales | College of Staten Island (CSI) Counseling Center | |
| Nissen, Kevin | Dr. Joel Weinberger | Terror Management Theory, personality pathology, political opinion-forming, and unconscious processing | Year 2: Derner Hempstead Child Clinic/ Year 3: Adelphi University Student Counseling Center |
| Rahman, Mariam | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Intergenerational/ Historical Trauma, Sexual Violence, Community Mental Health | Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research |
| Rothbaum, Beatrice | Dr. Chana Etengoff | Brookdale Hospital | |
| Schwartz, Yael | Dr. Chana Etengoff | Brooklyn VA | |
| Telzak, Sarah | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Unconscious Transmission of Shame in the Mother-Daughter Relationship | Medical Center |
| Wild, Mackenzie | Dr. Kate Szymanski | NYU Langone Child Study Center, Long Island Campus | |
| Wolpoff, Alexxa | Dr. Joel Weinberger | Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research |
Second Year Students
| Name | Advisor | Research Interests | Externship |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ackerman, Sayde | Dr. Michael Moore | Cognitive aspects of depression Dimensional vs. categorical understanding of personality and personality disorders. |
Mount Sinai Beth Israel |
| Chen, Crystal | Dr. Lauren Gonzales | Weight stigma in eating disorder treatment; mental illness stigma within the professional field of psychology. Culturally-informed understandings of attachment; cross-cultural adaptations of the Adult Attachment Interview. |
Derner Hempstead Child Clinic |
| Degtyarev, Zoren | Dr. Michael Moore | Brookdale Hospital Medical Center | |
| Delgado, Brian | Dr. Joel Weinberger | Institute for Parenting | |
| Fayyaz, Sundus | Dr. Kate Szymanski | Beth Israel Mount Sinai | |
| Kisson, Kimberly | Dr. Carolyn Springer | Long Island Reach | |
| Krovatin, Brendan | Dr. Lawrence Josephs | St. Christopher’s | |
| Kulsa, Mila Kirstie | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Bronx Psychiatric Center | |
| Mikelic, Maxwell | Dr. Christina Marini | Romantic relationship initiation, development, and maintenance; attachment interventions; SMI and romantic relationships | Mount Sinai Beth Israel |
| Peebles-Dorin, Maggie | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Institute for Parenting | |
| Rodrigues, Gabriela | Dr. Laura Brumariu | Derner Hempstead Child Clinic | |
| Sangster, Raynell | Dr. Karen Lombardi | St. Albans VA | |
| Schwartz, Joshua | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Parent-child Emotion Communication, Emotion Regulation, Same-sex Parenting, LGBTQ Mental Health | Early Learning Center |
| Sheridan, Richard | Dr. Karen Lombardi | Psychology of religion and spirituality, psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theory & practice, dying and grieving during the Coronavirus pandemic | Counseling and Wellness Center of St. Joseph’s College |
| So, Christine | Dr. Kate Fiori | Romantic relationships and social network of emerging adults, development of social relationships in emerging adulthood | VA NY Harbor Health Care St. Albans Campus |
| Soultanian, Stephanie | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | Mount Sinai Beth Israel | |
| Terry, Kendra | Dr. J. Christopher Muran | Mount Sinai Beth Israel | |
| Teodoro de Assis, Renata | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Early Childhood Mental Health, Parental Mental Health, Reproductive Mental Health, Children’s experience in Pediatric Hospitals, Eating Disorders in Early Childhood, Somatic Psychoanalysis, Psychosis in Childhood | St. Christopher’s |
| Tseng, Ting-Yun | Dr. Robert Bornstein | Long Island Reach | |
| Tuminelli, Logan | Dr. Joel Weinberger | Mount Sinai Beth Israel | |
| Vizlakh, Breanna | Dr. Michael O’Loughlin | Trauma of immigrant and refugee populations, particularly political refugees from the former Soviet Union and survivors of the Chernobyl disaster. / Transmission of intergenerational trauma. | Shelter Rock Academy |
| Waslin, Stephanie | Dr. Laura Brumariu | Parental Emotion Socialization, Parent-Child Attachment, Child Psychological Adjustment | Shelter Rock Academy |