I received my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 2011, and then completed my clinical internship and postdoctoral training here in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh where I eventually joined the faculty in 2013. I am a licensed clinical psychologist whose research focuses broadly on emotional and social processes as risk and protective factors for dangerous and harmful behaviors. My specific interests include suicide and self-injury, aggression, and borderline personality disorder. I am especially interested in how these risk and protective factors play out in daily life, so I like to use intensive longitudinal study designs to examine these real-time processes as they unfold in the real world. I am currently a Lead (along with Dr. Lauren Bylsma) for Project 2 of the ACE, Daily Life Emotion Dysregulation in Autistic Adults with Ambulatory Psychophysiology, and a co-lead for the ACE Clinical Core. A fun fact about me is that I studied modern dance professionally in New York until I came to my senses and went back to school to become a psychologist. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, gardening, taking walks, exploring new parts of town and types of restaurants with my husband, cuddling my cats, and playing Pokémon Go and other games with my daughter.
- B.F.A. in Dance, Marymount Manhattan College, 1998
- M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, 2007
- Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, 2011
- Clinical Psychology Internship, Western Psychiatric Hospital, 2010-2011
- Postdoctoral Scholar, University of Pittsburgh/Western Psychiatric Hospital, 2011-2013
- Licensed Psychologist, License #PS018808, Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology, 2019-present