Graduate Student Directory

Chris is 2nd year student working with Dr. Jenny Cundiff. He is interested in early environment, adversity, resilience, and later mental and physical health outcomes

Caitlin is a 4th year student working with Dr. Jim Hamilton.

Katie is a 4th  year student working with Dr. Jim Hamilton.

Kaleb is a first-year student working with Dr. Martha Crowther and Dr. Rebecca Allen. Kaleb completed his undergraduate degree at Xavier University of Louisiana before returning home to Alabama. His research interests include resilience in older adults, aging, and mental health disparities among Black and LGBTQIA+ populations.

Josh is currently a fourth-year doctoral student in the clinical health psychology program working with Dr. Kenneth Lichstein. His research interests include the impact of circadian rhythms in insomnia and emotional dysregulation, behavioral interventions aimed at regulating the sleep cycle, and the health importance of regularity in daily routines.

Calia is a 5th year working with Dr. Beverly Thorn. She graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S. in Psychology. Her research interests include health disparities in chronic disease management and cross-cultural validations of evidence-based treatments. Specifically, she is interested in improving the accessibility of psychosocial treatments for chronic pain among ethnic minorities and rural communities. She is currently working on her dissertation examining the effect of a literacy-adapted treatment Learning About My Pain (LAMP) on patient’s knowledge and conceptualization of the bio psychosocial approach to pain management. 

Andrea is a 3rd year graduate student working with Dr. Beverly Thorn in the health concentration. Andrea is from New York and completed her undergraduate degree at Bates College in Maine. She is currently interested in researching health disparities and psychosocial factors related to chronic pain

Maz is a 3rd year student working with Dr. Jim Hamilton. Maz’s research focuses on the role of social-cognitive processes in the way people experience and respond to health and illness. Currently, his clinical work focuses on the treatment of psychological issues affecting physical health, and the implementation of psychosocial interventions  programs for chronic health problems in integrated healthcare settings.

Hylton is a 2nd year student working with Dr. Ken Lichstein.

Sarah Emert is a fifth-year doctoral student working with Dr. Kenneth Lichstein in the clinical health psychology program. Sarah was awarded her M.A. in Clinical Psychology in August 2016. Her Master’s Thesis investigated the associations between perceptions of sleep disturbance, personality, and emotional intelligence. She is currently working on her dissertation exploring possible predictors of insomnia identity. Her research interests include behavioral sleep medicine, neurobehavioral and biological effects of nonrestorative sleep, sleep deprivation, and sleep disturbance.