Research Foci

My research focuses on three core areas:

  • Identifying at-risk groups (e.g., LGBTQ+ populations, perinatal and postpartum women, adolescents and young adults, brides), risk factors (e.g., social media use), and protective factors (e.g., positive body image, social media literacy) for eating and body image concerns.

  • Building more effective and efficient interventions, particularly using digital techologies, that can help prevent emergence or worsening of mental disorders.

  • Exploring factors that contribute to mental health disparities and developing initatives to increase cultural openness and humility, diversity and diversity appreciation, and representation within the psychological science and applied psychology.

You can view my publications and presentations here.

Research Experience

Undergraduate Volunteer Research Assistant, APPEAR Research Lab, Northeastern University

April 2017 - July 2020

PI: Rachel Rodgers, PhD, FAED

I began working in the APPEAR lab as a volunteer undergraduate research assistant in my junior year at Simmons. I began my work with APPEAR assisting ongoing studies with recruitment before launching my own study, a systematic review of the literature on body image among LGB+ and queer men. The systematic review was published in the journal Body Image in 2021.


Student Researcher, Research in Personality Course, Simmons University

Sept. 2019 - Dec. 2019

PI: Gregory Feldman, PhD

My peers and I designed a research study with the support of our professor to evaluate the effects of one of three different leisure activities (music listening, mobile phone use, meditation) on self-report (e.g., mood, self-esteem) and physiological outcomes (e.g., heart rate variability).

Undergraduate Research Intern, Atopic Dermatitis Multidisciplinary Center

Sept. 2019 - Mar. 2020

PI: Jennifer Lebovidge, PhD

I participated in a field-based research internship (unfortunately interrupted by the 2020 pandemic) at Boston Children’s Hospital’s Atopic Dematitis Multidisciplinary Center, assisting with data collection, cleaning, and preparaton for an experimental study exploring the effectiveness of a parent handbook internvention on symptom severity and quality of life for children with atopic dermatitis.

Clinical Research Assistant II, Laboratory for Affective and Translational Neurosciencem McLean Hospital

June 2020 - July 2021

PI: Diego Pizzagalli, PhD

I collaborated with the PI, postdoctoral fellows, and research assistants to manage two NIH-funded, multi-site neuroimaging studies (P50MH119467, UH3 MH109334) examining approach-avoidance decision-making (fMRI, EMA) and cross-species neurophysiological markers of reward and cognitive control (EEG). My duties included participant recruitment, consent, EKGs, EEG and biological sample collection, equipment troubleshooting, protocol management, and IRB compliance, alongside administrative tasks such as scheduling, expense tracking, medication ordering, and training new personnel. I also co-led the lab’s DEI initiatives, developing outreach and recruitment strategies and facilitating monthly meetings that advanced lab-wide diversity and inclusion efforts.

Graduate Research Assistant, APPEAR Research Lab, Northeastern University

Sept. 2021 - August 2022

PI: Rachel Rodgers, PhD, FAED

I returned to Northeastern as a master’s student in 2021, collaborating with the PI to launch two studies. The first was a longitudinal investigation of wedding-related disordered eating and body image, collecting monthly surveys up to 12 months pre-wedding and one month post-wedding. The second was an experimental study where undergraduates were randomized to follow body-positive, appearance-focused, or travel Instagram accounts for six weeks. We collected daily mood and body image assessments and analyzed explore page algorithm shifts using screenshot data.

Doctoral Student Research Assistant, APPEAR Research Lab

Sept. 2022- Present

PI: Rachel Rodgers, PhD, FAED

I began the PhD in Counseling Psychology program in Fall 2022 and continued working with the APPEAR team. As a doctoral student, my primary research has focused on developing and testing digital single-session interventions (SSIs) for eating and body image concerns, with an emphasis on tailoring these interventions for specific at-risk populations. Together with external collaborators, undergraduates, and my PI, I developed and piloted a digital intuitive eating SSI. I assisted another doctoral student as she adapted the intuitive eating SSI for college athletes and tested its efficacy. I also mentored a lab volunteer as she worked to develop and evaluate a body image SSI for postpartum women. I am currently helping to lead a team of undergraduate and master’s students to develop and test a social media literacy SSI for college women.

I lived in multiple countries with my family as a child, which gave me a deep appreciation for other cultures. Traveling to academic conferences, learning about the vast world around me, and meeting new colleagues from different countries is one of my favorite things about being a research scientist.

My ultimate goal would be to have my research take me to every inhabited continent, and I hope to add new pins to the map on the left each year.