Broadly, my research explores how life experience shapes and interacts with unfolding developmental processes to alter trajectories of youth mental health. I use a mix of clinical and developmental psychology approaches and neuroscience methods like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to answer questions across several domains of health development including:

• Do the same neural and psychological factors that make adolescents sensitive to the negative effects of interpersonal stress also make them more likely to benefit from particularly supportive peer and family contexts?
• What are the mechanisms through which childhood adversity exposure increases risk for negative health outcomes like anxiety and depression, and are there ways to intervene on those pathways to promote post-adversity adaptations?
• How does ongoing brain development and growing self-regulatory ability support adjustment during transitions of childhood and adolescent development?

Through this work my lab endeavors to shift our thinking from a deficits perspective focused on negative health outcomes to one that considers that myriad strengths individuals possess that can help them flourish across varied developmental contexts.

Undergraduate students: I will be accepting applications for students interested in joining the lab in Spring 2026.

Graduate students: I will be reviewing applications for graduate students this cycle (to join the lab in Fall 2026).