Lab Director

Ayelet Meron Ruscio, Ph.D.

Ayelet Meron Ruscio is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Clinical Psychology Training Program at the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving her B.A. in Psychology from Brandeis University, she completed post-baccalaureate research training at the Behavioral Science Division of the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, where she cultivated interests in anxiety, measurement, and classification. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Penn State, where she studied anxiety and mood disorders, focusing in particular on generalized anxiety disorder and its cardinal feature of worry. After completing her clinical internship at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, Virginia, she took a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard, where she learned epidemiological methods for studying diagnostic boundaries and comorbidity in the community. She joined the faculty at Penn in 2006. Dr. Ruscio is a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses on the basic nature of anxiety and depression and on the mechanisms that contribute to their close relationship. She has published more than 75 scientific papers and is the coauthor (with John Ruscio and Nick Haslam) of a book on the taxometric method. Dr. Ruscio’s research program has been supported by a career development award and research project funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. In Penn’s Department of Psychology, Dr. Ruscio teaches undergraduate students in Abnormal Psychology (PSYC 1462) and supervises mentored undergraduate research in clinical psychology (PSYC 4998). At the graduate level, she teaches the Psychopathology Proseminar (PSYC 6000) and has taught clinical psychology seminars (PSYC 7090) on Debates in Classification and on Transdiagnostic Processes in Psychopathology.

Email: ruscio@psych.upenn.edu; Download CV

Download syllabus for Dr. Ruscio’s Graduate Seminar on Transdiagnostic Processes in Psychopathology

 

Lab Manager

Grace (Jiaxin) Chen, B.A.

Grace is the full-time lab manager of the Boundaries of Anxiety and Depression Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Economics from Colgate University, where she worked closely with Dr. Lauren Philbrook to investigate how physiological regulation and sleep quality moderates the association between loneliness and maladjustment in young adults. She completed her honors thesis on emotion co-regulation in romantic partners under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Tomlinson. Grace was a former member of Dr. Jutta Joormann’s Affect Regulation and Cognition Lab at Yale University, where she studied interpersonal emotion regulation in parent-child dyads. Her research interests involve investigating affect regulation as a transdiagnostic mechanism underlying mood disorders. In her free time, Grace enjoys cooking, snuggling with her two (adorable) cats, and traveling with her partner.

Personal email: gjchen@sas.upenn.edu
Lab email: psych-rusciolab@sas.upenn.edu

 

Research Assistants

Madison Dengel

Madison Dengel is a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania from Billings, Montana. She is studying cognitive science and philosophy, and she plans to attend graduate school for psychology. She is interested in gaining a deeper understanding of how language interacts with mental disorders and impacts their diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. In her free time, she enjoys reading, listening to podcasts, volunteering at local schools, and teaching spoken word poetry.

Email: mdengel@sas.upenn.edu

 

 

Sadie Kilar

Sadie is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania from San Francisco, California. She is majoring in Psychology with a minor in Consumer Psychology. She hopes to become a clinical psychologist specializing in adolescent depression and anxiety. She is also the host of She Persisted — a teen mental health podcast, and the co-founder of Waveform Social, a podcast marketing agency. She loves dogs, spending time with friends, watching TV shows, reading, and going on walks!

Email: sadiek@sas.upenn.edu

 

 

Madeeha Mirza

Madeeha is a senior at the University of Pennsylvania from Orlando, Florida. She is majoring in Psychology with minors in American Sign Language/Deaf Studies and Religious Studies, and she plans to attend graduate school for Psychology. She is interested in exploring interventions for depression across age groups, as well as how vulnerabilities in children’s emotional development predispose adolescents to depression and anxiety. She is the co-president of Penn-In-Hand, the deaf advocacy and signing club on campus. In her free time, Madeeha loves to paint, read, volunteer with various organizations, and hang out with her friends.

Email: mirzam@sas.upenn.edu

 

Madeline Navea

Madeline is a 3rd year undergraduate at Drexel University studying Psychology. Currently, she is working at the Drexel University Center for Weight, Eating and Lifestyle Science (WELL Center) where she is also pursuing her own research on the connection between non-suicidal self-injury, compensatory behaviors, and depression. Furthermore, she is a research assistant at Drexel University’s Nezu Stress and Coping lab studying suicidality in the veteran and college student population. Maddie’s specific research interests involve trauma, suicidality, and their contributions towards maladaptive coping mechanisms. In her free time, Maddie enjoys cooking and listening to music with her friends!

Email: mn686@drexel.edu

 

Peter Qiu

Peter is a junior at Swarthmore College studying Psychology and English Literature. He is from Shanghai, China. He plans to attend graduate school and become a clinical psychologist. He is interested in exploring the common transdiagnostic mechanisms among various anxiety disorders such as GAD and OCD. In his free time, he likes to play video games, play basketball, and write stories.

Email: bqiu1@swarthmore.edu

 

 

Jessica Thomas

Jessica Thomas is a junior at the University of Pennsylvania from Westchester, NY. She is majoring in Psychology with a minor in Legal Studies and History. She has recently co-founded Nexus, a new AI-assisted club at Penn working to create a space for Black students to explore AI and mind studies. She is interested in how mental disorders disproportionately affect Black communities and how research can be used to develop more effective intervention strategies. In her free time, Jessica enjoys reading, dancing, volunteering, and hanging out with friends.

Email: thomaje@sas.upenn.edu

 

Christen Yu

Christen (Ziqing) Yu is a first-year master’s student at the University of Pennsylvania from Beijing, China. She is majoring in Counseling and Mental Health Services, hoping to become a psychiatrist. She is passionate about promoting and researching international student mental health. In her free time, she enjoys playing board games and traveling.

Email: czyu@upenn.edu

 

 

Lab Alumni

Liz Coleman Chichester, Ph.D.

Liz started as a full-time lab manager in 2010 after graduating with a B.A. in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College. During her undergraduate career, she conducted research with Dr. Marc Schulz on the mechanisms mediating the relationship between adult attachment style and emotion recognition. Liz received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education in 2017. During graduate school, Liz worked with Dr. Ann Loper, studying the impact of parental incarceration on children and families. Liz completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the Lexington Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Lexington, KY, and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Couples and Family Clinic at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, SC. She now owns her own practice in Charleston, South Carolina. Liz is also an avid scuba diver.

Email: drlizchichester@gmail.com

 

Rivka Cohen, Ph.D.

Rivka graduated from the lab in 2023 after completing their internship at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. They are currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. In their research, Rivka is interested in how thoughts and memories about stressful events can unintentionally pop into people’s heads, and why some people find it harder than others to stop thinking about them. Outside of the lab, Rivka enjoys food with friends (yum!), playing the ukulele, and adventuring with their dog.

Email: rivkac@sas.upenn.edu

 

Courtney Forbes, Ph.D.

Courtney was Dr. Ruscio’s full-time lab manager from 2015-2017, after graduating with a B.A. in Psychology from American University and working for several years as a Teach for America teacher. Courtney received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Toledo in 2022. She completed an APA-accredited internship at the Emory University School of Medicine and a postdoctoral fellowship in Dr. Michelle Craske’s Anxiety and Depression Research Center at the University of California Los Angeles. Courtney is currently a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates in Washington, DC, where she specializes in the treatment of mood, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorders.

Email: cforbes@mfa.gwu.edu

 

Anna Franklin, Ph.D.

Anna graduated from the lab in 2022 after completing her predoctoral clinical internship at VA Puget Sound. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow working with adolescents and young adults in Seattle, WA. After completing her B.A. in psychology at Dartmouth College, she worked as a research coordinator for the University of Washington Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress. Anna is interested in transdiagnostic risk factors for maladaptive anxiety, particularly during emerging adulthood.

Email: annafran@sas.upenn.edu

 

Joe Friedman, B.A.

Joe Friedman worked as the full-time lab manager of the Boundaries of Anxiety and Depression Lab from 2021-2023. He received his B.A. in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied cognitive-behavioral mechanisms of obsessive-compulsive disorder and specific phobia, as well as the neurological basis of fear. His research interests center around perseverative thought as a transdiagnostic factor and improving treatments for anxiety. Currently, Joe is pursuing his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Abramowitz. In his free time, Joe enjoys hiking, biking, and barbecue.

Email: josebfri@live.unc.edu

 

Emily Gentes, Ph.D.

Emily graduated from the lab in 2012 and completed her clinical internship at the Durham VA Medical Center, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, which is housed within the Durham VA. She is currently an Assistant Professor at Providence College. Emily’s research interests include cognitive-behavioral processes (e.g., repetitive negative thought) that may operate across distinct disorders to differentiate normal from abnormal experiences or increase risk for the development of anxiety or mood symptoms. Emily is originally from the Boston area and received her B.A. in psychology from Skidmore College.

Email: emily.gentes@gmail.com

 

Haijing Wu Hallenbeck, Ph.D.

Haijing was Dr. Ruscio’s full-time lab manager from 2012 to 2014, after graduating with a BA in Psychology from Vanderbilt University. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Washington University in St. Louis and completed her predoctoral clinical internship and postdoctoral research fellowship at VA Palo Alto. Haijing is currently a research investigator at the National Center for PTSD Dissemination & Training Division at VA Palo Alto. She is also an Instructor (Affiliated) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine. Haijing’s research focuses on comorbid PTSD and depression and their impact on psychosocial functioning. She studies how to leverage technology to conduct real-time assessments (e.g., through EMA and digital phenotyping) and to provide scalable and personalized interventions (e.g., through mobile and web-based platforms) for these conditions.

Email: hwu902@gmail.com

 

Lauren Hallion, Ph.D.

Lauren graduated from the lab in 2014 after completing her clinical internship at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School (CBT track), followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the Anxiety Disorders Center/Center for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy at the Institute of Living. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on cognition-emotion interactions in the context of worry and anxiety.

Email: hallion@pitt.edu

 

 

Christina Johnson, MPH

Christina worked as lab manager in the Ruscio lab from 2017-2019 after graduating with a BS in Human Science with a minor in psychology from Georgetown University. Christina received her Master of Public Health degree from Penn in 2022. Her MPH capstone project focused on unintended consequences of implementation research. Christina now works as the Director of Research Operations on Dr. Rinad Beidas’ team in the Department of Medical Social Sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. In her free time, Christina enjoys running, cooking, and trying out new restaurants.

Email: christinajohnson3@gmail.com

 

 

Jason Jones, Ph.D.

Jason worked as Dr. Ruscio’s full-time lab manager from 2008 to 2010. He completed his Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. Jason is currently a Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a Research Scientist in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a broadly trained psychological scientist with interests that lie at the intersection of developmental psychology, social psychology, clinical psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics. The unifying theme underlying his research is the application of an interpersonal framework to advance the understanding of risk and protective factors for adolescent psychopathology with the ultimate goal of guiding prevention efforts.

Email: jasonjones5001@gmail.com

 

Gabi Kattan Khazanov, Ph.D.

Gabi graduated from the lab in 2019, after completing her clinical internship at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. She is currently a Research Psychologist at the Center for Excellence in Substance Addiction Training and Education (CESATE) at the Philadelphia VA. Gabi’s research focuses on increasing individuals’ engagement in evidence-based treatments for suicidal ideation and behavior, depression, and problematic substance use. She is particularly interested in the use of financial and social incentives and the implementation of lethal means safety counseling, a suicide prevention intervention. Gabi also studies how motivational deficits impact daily experiences and treatment outcomes for individuals with emotional disorders. In addition to her research, Gabi directs the national implementation of contingency management, which provides financial incentives to encourage abstinence, medication adherence, and treatment attendance among Veterans with problematic substance use seeking treatment in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers.

Email: kattang@sas.upenn.edu

 

Danielle Mathersul, Ph.D.

Danielle was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab from 2014 to 2016 and subsequently completed further postdoctoral training at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. She is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in both Australia and California. Danielle is currently a Senior Lecturer (equivalent to Assistant Professor) in the School of Psychology at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia, where she provides clinical supervision and research mentoring to both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She also retains an Affiliated Clinical Research Scientist role at the War Related Illness & Injury Study Center, VA Palo Alto. Her research strives to determine the most effective non-drug treatments across various “emotional disorders”, including PTSD/trauma, depression, anxiety, and alcohol use, and she is particularly interested in mindfulness-based psychotherapies and mind-body/mindful movement (yoga) interventions for transdiagnostic mental health. She also uses neurophysiological techniques like heart rate variability to advance personalized medicine. In her “spare time,” she enjoys hiking with friends, reading novels, and snuggling with her (gentle) giant rescue dog Charlie Brown.

Email: danielle.mathersul@murdoch.edu.au

 

Laura Romanowski, B.A.

Laura served as the full-time lab manager at the Boundaries of Anxiety and Depression Lab from 2014 to 2015. Prior to her work at Penn, she received her B.A. in Psychology from Smith College, where she completed her honors thesis on self-ambivalence and contingent self-worth as risk factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder. She is interested broadly in transdiagnostic processes and protective factors, with a particular interest in the processes of perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty. In her free time, Laura enjoys being outdoors, listening to live music, and spending time with friends and family.

Email: lromanowski14@gmail.com

 

Allison Seitchik, Ph.D.

Allison was Dr. Ruscio’s full-time lab manager from 2006 to 2008. Allison received her Ph.D. in Psychology at Northeastern University in 2013 under Dr. Steve Harkins and was a College Fellow at Harvard University working with Dr. Mahzarin Banaji from 2013-2015. She joined the faculty at Merrimack College in 2015 and is still there as an Associate Professor of Psychology. She is broadly interested in motivation and behavior, especially in relation to athletics and social threats, and creating interventions. Her process-oriented approach (i.e., examining how one thing influences behavior step-by-step) to research stems from the perspective that motivation plays a direct role in influencing behavior, which can be beneficial or detrimental to behavior. Allison is interested in answering questions about how the social environment and cognitive processes influence motivation and/or shape our behaviors. She aims to understand how to then create interventions to prevent negative influences on behavior (e.g., stereotype threat influencing women’s lack of interest in STEM and police decisions to use force, concussions influencing emotion regulation) or to enhance positive influences on behavior (e.g., utilizing various goal to increase performance). In her “spare time,” she likes to read and be with family and friends.

Email: aseitchik@gmail.com

 

Betsy Stade, Ph.D.

Betsy graduated from the lab in 2023, after completing her clinical internship at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. She is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology and the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence at Stanford University. Betsy’s research uses computational linguistic methods, including artificial intelligence and large language models, to measure, understand, and intervene on psychopathology. Betsy frequently combines this work with her longstanding interest in transdiagnostic and dimensional classification of psychopathology. For fun, Betsy enjoys cooking, running, and enjoying the mountains through hiking and skiing.

Email: betsystade@stanford.edu

 

Auburn Stephenson, M.A.

Auburn served as the full-time lab manager of the Boundaries of Anxiety and Depression Lab from 2019 to 2021. She received her B.A. in psychology from Boston College, where her research focused on how young children think about and react to life’s challenges. Currently, Auburn is pursuing her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Temple University, under the mentorship of Dr. Lauren Alloy. As a graduate student in the Mood and Cognition Lab at Temple, Auburn hopes to further her study of cognition across development and examine cognitive risk factors associated with depression onset during adolescence. In her free time, Auburn enjoys running, cooking, listening to podcasts, and exploring new restaurants with her family and friends.

Email: auburn.stephenson@temple.edu

 

Sarah Wyckoff, Ph.D.