Lab Members

Julia Garon-Bissonnette, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study primarily working with Drs. Laurie Cutting, Autumn Kujawa, and Kathryn Humphreys at Vanderbilt University. She is currently completing her Ph.D. in Psychology at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. During her graduate studies, she developed a particular expertise on childhood adversity, pregnancy, reflective functioning, infant development and the mother-infant relationship. Julia’s research focuses on how parental and child individual, interpersonal, and psychosocial risk and protective factors interact in predicting infant behavioral and socioemotional development and parent-child interactions. Outside the lab, she enjoys backcountry skiing, cycling, reading, and spending time with her family and friends.

Linhao Zhang, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Autumn Kujawa and Dr. Kathryn Humphreys. She earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Science from the University of Georgia. Her research examines how adversity influences children and youth development and psychopathology, with a focus on the psychophysiological and neural mechanisms underlying these processes. In her free time, she enjoys watching movies and TV shows, reading and running.

Resh Gupta, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Autumn Kujawa. She earned her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Vanderbilt University. Her research leverages multimodal methods and advanced analytic approaches to study mental health, mindfulness, and cognition. Outside the lab, she enjoys practicing mindfulness meditation, playing music with her family band, and creating art.

Adon Rosen, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Autumn Kujawa and Dr. Ashley Watts. He earned his Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Oklahoma. His research develops techniques to analyze intensive longitudinal data using latent variables and multilevel modeling all via a Bayesian perspective. Dr. Rosen's applied interests include the examination of person-environment and brain-behavior relationships. In his free time, he enjoys cycling, mountain biking, cooking and reading, when his dog permits.

Yinru Long, M.Ed. is a fifth-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program and works under Dr. Autumn Kujawa. She received a B.A. in Applied Psychology and Philosophy from Boston College and an M.Ed. in Prevention Science and Practice from Harvard. Yinru is interested in using multimodal approaches to advance personalized interventions for mood disorders in marginalized populations, specifically racial and sexual minority adolescents. She is particularly interested in identifying risk and resilience factors that are trans-diagnostic through understanding cognitive, emotional, and behavioral mechanisms involved in the development and maintenance of depression and anxiety. In her free time, Yinru enjoys spending time with her cats, collecting vintage cassettes, and producing hip-hop music.

Sarah Woronko is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2022 with a dual degree in Neuroscience and Medicine, Health, and Society. Following graduation, Sarah worked as a clinical research coordinator at the Laboratory for Affective and Translational Neuroscience at McLean Hospital for two years. Broadly, Sarah is interested in leveraging multimodal techniques (e.g., physiology, behavior) to understand the development and maintenance of internalizing symptoms. Specifically, she is interested in understanding the relationships between repetitive negative thinking, mind wandering, and resting state physiology. Outside of the lab, Sarah enjoys hiking, exploring the Nashville music scene, and playing her oboe with local groups.

Rachel Marlowe, M.Ed. is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science area. She worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Vanderbilt University Medical Center examining emotion regulation and suicidality in teens. She received her Master’s in Child Studies with a focus in Clinical and Developmental Research from Vanderbilt University in 2022 and her B.A. in Psychology and Human Health from Emory University in 2020. Her current research interests include cognitive and emotional vulnerabilities to depression and anxiety in teens. She is interested in learning how teens regulate emotions and cope with stress as well as using multiple methods to measure this. Outside of the lab, Rachel enjoys reading, learning how to bake, and exploring live music in Nashville!

Lindiwe Mayinja is a third-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Yale University in 2019. Following graduation, Lindiwe was a clinical postbac fellow at McLean Hospital, and then worked as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety. Her research is focused on understanding environmental and structural factors that contribute to suicide risk among adolescents, to identify key points for intervention and suicide prevention. In her free time, Lindiwe enjoys reading, watching reality TV, and singing with the Metro Nashville Chorus.

Georgia Moon is a second-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science area. She graduated in May 2023 from Temple University with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Cognitive Neuroscience. During her time at Temple, she served as a research assistant at the Child Health and Behavior Lab under Dr. Drabick, in which she aided in the facilitation of a school-based intervention designed to teach children anger-management and coping skills. Simultaneously, she worked as a research assistant for the Friend to Friend Project, an intervention designed to reduce relational aggression in school settings, at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She completed her honors thesis on whether peer processes moderate the relations between emotion processing and oppositional defiant disorder among children. Before starting her PhD program, Georgia was the project coordinator of the Happy Families Study in the MED Lab. In her free time, Georgia enjoys crocheting, reading on her Kindle, and playing the guitar.

Savannah Morgan, M.S. is a second-year doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. She earned both her B.A. in Psychology and M.S. in Behavioral and Brain Sciences from the University of South Alabama. Her research focuses broadly on community- and school-based prevention and intervention programs aimed at reducing youth violence and suicide, with a particular emphasis on marginalized populations. More specifically, she is interested in understanding the intersection of violence involvement and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among early adolescents, including the shared risk and protective factors that contribute to both outcomes. Her work seeks to identify developmental, social, and contextual mechanisms that link experiences of violence, whether as a victim, perpetrator, or witness, to suicide risk, with the goal of informing more effective prevention and intervention strategies. Outside of her research, Savannah enjoys spending time outdoors, creating art, and traveling.

Jiayu Lin is a second-year master’s student in the Child Studies program. She graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a B.S. degree in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience, and a minor in Data Sciences. Her research interests focus on the mechanisms underlying depression in children and adolescents. She is interested in exploring the role of emotion processes and parent-child interaction in the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology and the neurological risk factors. Outside the lab, she enjoys singing, playing the piano, and learning how to write songs.

Kseniia Voronkova is a second-year Child Studies master’s student with a B.A. in Psychology and a Minor in Special Education from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC, Canada. She is interested in how early stressors, emotion regulation, and reward responsiveness contribute to the development of mood disorders, and how understanding these processes can inform targeted prevention and intervention strategies. Kseniia aims to identify factors that shape resilience and vulnerability among neurodiverse children, youth and their families, particularly during key life transitions such as career exploration and the transition from school-based supports. In her free time, Kseniia enjoys listening to music, practicing yoga, and watching anime.

Jessica Johnson is a second-year master’s student in the Cognitive Psychology in Context program. She earned her B.S. in Psychology with minors in Biology and Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University. Her research interests broadly focus on how genetic vulnerability to mental illness and other psychopathologies influence cognitive and neural development in children. Outside of the lab, Jessica enjoys shopping, reading, weightlifting, attending concerts, and exploring the Nashville area.