Rising Stars of Clinical Science

Thursday, May 26, 1:30 PM – 2:50 PM

Featuring talks from Katie Burkhouse, Katie Wang, Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, and Erik Nook, this session will highlight some of the exceptional researchers whose work is shaping the future of clinical science. The session will be moderated by Anna Weinberg. 

The Role of Neural Reward Reactivity in the Treatment and Prevention of Depression in Youth 

Katie Burkhouse, University of Illinois at Chicago

Katie Burkhouse is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Ohio State University studying how alterations in cognitive-affective processing styles are involved in the development, prevention, and treatment of depression and anxiety in youth. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Binghamton University (SUNY) and completed her Predoctoral Clinical Psychology Internship and Postdoctoral Training at UIC. Her work is currently supported by a NIMH K23 Young Investigator Award and a NARSAD Young Investigator Award. 

Stigma and Mental Health Inequities: Exploring Psychosocial Mechanisms and Intervention Possibilities

Katie Wang, Yale University

Katie Wang, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Yale University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program. Dr. Wang’s research broadly focuses on the role of stigma as a psychosocial determinant of mental and behavioral health inequities among various marginalized populations, with a specific emphasis on people with physical disabilities and mental health conditions.

Heterogeneity in Common Mental Disorders: Opportunities Worth Pursuing and Opportunities Worth Ignoring

Lorenzo Lorenzo-Luaces, Indiana University

Prof. Lorenzo-Luaces is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University-Bloomington where he heads the Study of Affective Disorders’ Classification and Treatment Lab (SADCAT). He has expertise in cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) for internalizing distress including depression and anxiety. He is specifically interested in the prediction of response to CBTs, low-intensity formats for delivering CBT, processes of change in treatments, and using social media to understand vulnerability to internalizing distress.

Using Language to Measure Emotion Regulation and Mental Health: From the Lab to the E-Clinic

Erik Nook, Princeton University

Erik Nook studies how language and emotion interact, focusing on the development, representation, and regulation of emotion as well as the clinical implications of these processes. Erik is currently an NSF-funded postdoctoral fellow at Yale University working with Prof. Dylan Gee. He received a Clinical Psychology PhD from Harvard University under the direction of Prof. Leah Somerville and will begin as an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Princeton University this Fall.

Clinical Science Forum Coffee Break

Thursday, May 26, 3:00 PM – 3:30 PM

Grand Challenges in Clinical Science

Thursday, May 26, 3:30 – 4:50 PM

Clinical Science has made incredible advances over the past century. In order to keep advancing, our field will also need to grapple with some substantial challenges. Join Dr. Dylan Gee, Dr. Chardée A. Galán, Dr. June Gruber, and Dr. Angus MacDonald, as they talk about their visions of the grand challenges that we face, including advancing anti-racism, training the next generation of clinical scientists, grappling with the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and dealing with stigma in clinical science. Moderated by Dr. Thomas Rodebaugh.  

Stigma of Mental Illness Considered: The Optimistic, the Pessimistic and the Nihilistic

Angus MacDonald, University of Minnesota

Angus MacDonald’s laboratory uses clinical and affective cognitive neuroscience to examine the symptoms of psychosis and psychopathology more broadly. He is the Director of Clinical Training and a Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota and was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Psychopathology of Clinical Science when it transitioned from its former title, Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

A Call to Action: Clinical Science and Mental Health During and Beyond COVID-19

June Gruber, University of Colorado, Boulder

June Gruber is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of Colorado and Director of the Positive Emotion and Psychopathology Laboratory and was previously an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Yale University. She received her Ph.D. and B.A. from the University of California Berkeley. Dr. Gruber’s work focuses on positive emotion disturbances in psychopathology with a focus on bipolar mood disorders. She has published over 100 articles and chapters and has edited/co-edited 2 books. Her work has been recognized by the Association for Psychological Science’s Rising Star Award and the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, the Society for Research in Psychopathology’s Early Career Award, NARSAD Young Investigator Awards, and the Yale University Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Junior Faculty. Dr. Gruber teaches courses on affective science, happiness, and psychopathology and recently launched a new online #TalkMentalIllness Coursera course. Dr. Gruber is invested in mentoring the next generation of clinical scientists and co-writes a column for young scientists in Science Careers, is the recipient of the 2020 UROP Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award and 2022 Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award, and received an IMPART grant to co-lead a workshop on advancing underrepresented women in the sciences.

Training the Next Generation of Clinical Scientists: Key Challenges and a Call to Action

Dylan Gee, Yale University

Dr. Dylan Gee is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Yale University, where she directs the Clinical Affective Neuroscience and Development Laboratory. Dr. Gee received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA and completed her predoctoral clinical internship at Weill Cornell Medical College. Her lab’s research focuses on developmental psychopathology and the ways in which early experiences shape brain development and mental health.

Advancing Antiracism in Clinical Science: Moving Beyond Performative Change

Chardée A. Galán, University of Southern California

Chardée A. Galán, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern California (USC) where she oversees the Dismantling Racial inEquities Around Mental Health (DREAM) lab. Her works takes a multipronged approach to reducing racial disparities in child and adolescent mental health by 1) promoting resilience at the individual-level through strengths-based approaches to mitigating the effects of racism-related stressors; and 2) dismantling structural drivers of racial inequities that persist in education and training programs, research institutions, and mental health care settings.