People
Director, Lori A. Zoellner, PhD
Medical Director, Richard Ries, MD
Nurse Practitioner, Alice Friedman, ANRP
Research Fellows and Clinicians
Frank Farach, PhD, Research Scientist
Research Focus: I am interested in expanding our understanding of
how information
processing, physiology, and behavior interact in the maintenance and
treatment of anxiety disorders, particularly posttraumatic stress
disorder. Accordingly, my translational program of experimental research
draws from robust conceptual and methodological models from cognitive
and behavioral neuroscience toward understanding, and improving the
treatment of, pathological anxiety.
Michele Bedard-Gilligan, PhD,
Acting Assistant Professor, Psychiatry
Research Focus: My research interests are in understanding
mechanisms of recovery in PTSD and in improving current treatments for
PTSD. I am interested in conducting applied research that can give us a
better understanding of “what works for whom”. I also have interests in
the overlap of PTSD and substance misuse, with a particular focus on how
alcohol and drug use following trauma exposure contributes to developing
and maintaining PTSD symptoms.
Doctoral Researchers and Clinicians
Janie Jun, MS
Research Focus: My research interests focus on understanding the
processes of change in treatment for PTSD. Specifically, I am
interested in seeing how cognitive and emotional processing is
associated with symptom change in psychotherapy for PTSD and its effects
on treatment outcome.
Alissa
Worly, MS
Research Focus: Broadly speaking, my research interests include
identifying those who are most likely to develop PTSD, and improving
current treatments for those who are already suffering from
psychopathology following trauma exposure. More specifically, I am
interested in exploring the following questions: What are the individual
risk factors for developing PTSD in the aftermath of trauma? What are
the mechanisms underlying the intergenerational transmission of trauma?
What are the individual, familial, and therapeutic factors that
influence the effectiveness of PTSD treatment? And how can we bridge the
gap between the experimental literature on fear learning and treatment
for PTSD?
Libby Marks, BA
Research Focus: I am interested in studying fear
memory processes after exposure to stressful situations or traumatic
experiences. More
specifically, my research focuses on memory extinction and
reconsolidation, and ways in which the effects of fear extinction can be
longer lasting and more durable.
By studying fear memory processes, I hope to better understand
the potential implications for prolonged exposure treatment for
individuals with PTSD.
Research Focus: I am interested in the learning processes
that underlie maladaptive fear in trauma survivors with PTSD. More
specifically, I am interested in fear generalization and deficits in
safety cue discrimination as possible explanations for the acquisition
and maintenance of maladaptive fear.
Research Coordinators
Hillary Smith, BS
Research Focus: My research interests revolve around the influence
of emotion regulation and cognitive control on an individual's abilty to
cope with hardship and anxiety. This interest extends, broadly, to
concepts of emotional intelligence, resiliency, and modification of
therapeutic interventions to accommodate individual differences.
Lindsay Kramer, BS
Research Focus: My research interests focus on how individuals
cope after a traumatic life event and how they are forced to reappraise
their core attiudes and beliefs. I am particulary interested in studying
those who are able to achieve resilience by utilizing positve emotions
and adaption to bounce back from the stressful situation. I hope to
better understand how individuals are able to successfuly cope and
discover positive growth and transformation after traumatic experiences.
Undergraduate Research Assistants/Post Baccalaureate Research
Assistants
Nikki Ayres
Marianne Bricker
Travis Dennison
Perry Firth
Helen Kinsel
Jonathan Poquiz
