Congratulations, Isaac!

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Isaac Mirzadegan, one of our recently-graduated DiSH RAs, just landed an awesome research job at the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic at UC Berkeley! Isaac has been a stellar research assistant in the DiSH Lab for over two years, and we are so proud of his accomplishments.

Here’s what Isaac has to say about his new position at UC Berkeley:

“I will be working as a project coordinator on a transdiagnostic sleep and circadian treatment to improve community Severe Mental Illness (SMI) outcomes, within the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic at UC Berkeley.

Working as a staff researcher in the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic with Dr. Allison Harvey is basically the dream job. The study that I’ll be working on in particular is a community treatment study, which targets sleep and circadian disruptions within people who meet criteria for SMI – community members with the greatest need for treatment.
I was fortunate enough to find this position by reaching out directly to Dr. Harvey at the right time. I had sent out quite a few email inquiries to professors whose research interests aligned with my own, and Dr. Harvey responded that her lab was actively accepting applications for a research associate! I plan to work in this fantastic lab for a year before applying to doctoral programs in clinical psychology.
I first became interested in research during my sophomore year as an R.A. in the DiSH Lab, gaining invaluable experience working on a multitude of DiSH studies. Additionally, I received an astounding amount of mentorship and support from Dr. T, Laura, Britt, and Angela. I also worked in the Anxiety and Depression Research Center, and completed an honors thesis through that lab. I believe it was a combination of my research experience at UCLA, the support of many awesome professors and grad students, and my persistence in looking for a position of the perfect fit that allowed me to land this stellar job. Huge thanks to everyone in the DiSH Lab!!!”
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Congratulations, again, Isaac! We’ll miss seeing you around our lab, but we know that you’ll be an incredible project coordinator up at Cal!

Dr. T won APA’s Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional Award!

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This past weekend, Dr. T traveled to Denver, CO to accept the Outstanding Contributions to Health Psychology by an Early Career Professional Award from the American Psychological Association!

The award recognizes an individual whose contributions to the fields of science and psychology have been innovative, courageous, and distinctive, and whose contributions have supported efforts to find new solutions to social issues, to make the practice and science of psychology more accessible to broad populations, and/or to integrate science and psychology in a way that advances social justice and human welfare. Dr. T also gave an invited address at the APA Convention, after being presented her award by UCLA Health Psychology’s very own Professor Annette Stanton.

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Dr. T and her award at the 2016 APA Annual Convention.

Big congratulations to Dr. T – we are so proud and grateful to conduct research with you!

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Dr. T giving her invited address at the 2016 APA Annual Convention.

Congratulations, Patricia!

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One of our most dedicated research assistants, Patricia Natalie, just accepted an offer of admission to the Social Design Master’s program at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore, Maryland! We couldn’t be prouder of Patricia for following her two passions – design and studying body dissatisfaction. Check out what Patricia has to say here:

“Enraged by the statistics that 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies in some way and that 54% would rather hit by a truck than be fat, I knew that this global epidemic of body dissatisfaction is a huge social issue I’d put my heart into fighting for. The Social Design program at MICA is one that perfectly aligns with my aspiration as it will allow me to use design, the platform I take the most pride in, to make social changes in the field I am most passionate about. It’s been a journey of self-exploration since the day I set foot in UCLA, so I’m beyond grateful and thrilled to pursue what I have always wanted to do deep down. One my biggest thank-you-s definitely goes to DiSH Lab for helping me discover my passions as well as the advisors and RAs for their unending support! And like what Steve Jobs had always emphasized, ‘If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.’” 🙂

We’ll miss you around the lab, Patricia, but we can’t wait to see the designs you come up with!

 

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Maryland Institute College of Art

Congratulations, Sophia!

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Congratulations to one of our incredible past study coordinators, Sophia Krakowiak, for getting accepted into Loyola Marymount University’s School Psychology Program!

Here’s what she had to say about her time in the DiSH Lab:

“Joining the DiSH lab was one of the best decisions I made in my academic career at UCLA. Dr. Tomiyama and her great graduate students gave me experiences that I don’t believe I would have gotten in any other setting at UCLA.  Through working in the DiSH lab and taking courses with Dr. Tomiyama I was able to gain important skills and knowledge about the field of psychology and research. I loved the friendly, professional and caring environment provided by Dr. Tomiyama and her graduate students. Dr. Tomiyama is an amazing mentor and professor and I suggest that anyone who has a chance to work with her or take her classes jump at that opportunity. Dr. Tomiyama and the DiSH lab showed me that research is really fun and exciting! If I hadn’t gone into an applied career path in school psychology, health psychology research would have definitely been my route! A big thank you to Dr. Tomiyama, her team and to the members of the DiSH lab!”

We’ll miss seeing you around UCLA, Sophia, but we’re so proud of all you’ve accomplished! Best of luck as you begin your next chapter!

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Congratulations to Angela, who just won the 2016 Health Psychology Research Paper Award!

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One of our incredible DiSH grad students, Angela Incollingo Rodriguez, just won the 2016 Health Psychology Research Paper Award for her systematic review “Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation and cortisol activity in obesity: A systematic review! In the paper, Angela delves into the link between cortisol and obesity, finding that while certain trends seem to emerge, the literature is inconsistent overall. Moreover, this systematic review came out of an incredible effort from Angela, and we’re so proud of her for familiarizing herself with an entire body of work on the HPA axis and adipocyte cortisol metabolism – and for doing it so well!

Congratulations to you, Angela – you are so deserving of this award!

Here, see a figure summarizing adipocyte cortisol metabolism in the context of HPA Axis activity from the paper:

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Congratulations to Dr. T for Winning the Departmental Teaching Award!

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We’re so proud of Dr. T for winning this year’s Psychology Departmental Teaching Award – any of us who have been mentored or taught by Dr. Tomiyama know just how incredible she is! Whether it’s in a big lecture hall or a small seminar, in a lab meeting or a one-on-one meeting, Dr. T makes sure her students strive to be critical, creative thinkers, and she pushes us to be our best!

Dr. T, we appreciate you so much for all that you do for us, and we’re all delighted that you won this much-deserved award!

Dr. T and our awesome research assistants

Dr. T and some of our awesome research assistants!

DiSH RAs representing at UCLA’s Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference!

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This past Friday, UCLA hosted its 25th annual Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference, and three of our DiSH Lab Research Assistants – Cristina, Brandon, and Kevin – presented posters!

Check out what they had to say about their experience here:

Cristina González
Poster Title: Are Food Addiction and Alcohol Abuse Two Branches of Pathology from the Same Vulnerable Tree?

“This year was my first time participating at PURC. It was nice to what other students are interested in and the work that they are involved with. The environment was really supportive and overall a great first experience presenting a poster!”

Here's Cristina presenting her poster!

Here’s Cristina presenting her poster!

Brandon Chao & Kevin Dong 
Poster Title: The Effects of Healthy and Unhealthy Comfort Eating on Self-Efficacy

Brandon:

“I had a lot of fun at PURC, what more can I say? 🙂 With our study “The Effects of Comfort Eating on Self-Efficacy,” Kevin Dong and I had the opportunity to share our findings (with the help of our amazing graduate student Laura Finch) to others and discuss its implications. It was really cool to come across fellow researchers who were studying the same questions as we were and just talk about our studies. This collaborative element was certainly one of my favorite parts of the entire event; we were so into discussing our conclusions that we didn’t notice our one-hour slot was already almost over. By its end, PURC really made me realize and appreciate all of the work that others put into their own projects and the exciting prospect that comes with sharing whatever we may find with like-minded individuals. For those interested in participating in another event like this, I would highly recommend it!”

Brandon presenting his poster.

Brandon presenting his poster.

Kevin:

“I really enjoyed my time at PURC. It was great being in an environment where everyone was excited about research. I shared our findings with many undergraduates and graduate students from different fields of psychology as well as with members from another food lab that came up from UCSD! The process of preparing for PURC was eye-opening as it brought what we do in the lab everyday into perspective. I highly recommend presenting at these conferences as it really makes you think and analyze the research on a much deeper level. Shoutout to Laura for helping us and guiding us along the way!”

Kevin presenting his poster.

 Kevin presenting his poster.
We’re so proud of you all for participating in PURC – the applicant pool was competitive this year, and you all represented us so well!

 

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Kevin explaining his poster to an interested group of PURC attendees!

Congratulations to Laura, for passing her dissertation preliminary orals!

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Laura Finch, one of our talented DiSH graduate students – just passed her dissertation preliminary orals! We’re excited to announce that she is now officially a Doctoral Candidate in the department of Health Psychology, and will be able to move forward with completing her dissertation!

We can’t wait to see what you’ll accomplish, Laura!

Jenna’s Visit to Capitol Hill

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DiSH Grad Student Jenna Cummings just got back from a trip to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C., where she got to speak with congressional representatives and staff about the importance of funding for social & behavioral research! She went on the trip with the American Psychological Association’s Science Student Council, and we’re ecstatic that she was able to represent the DiSH lab & psychological research as a whole so well!

 

Check out what Jenna had to say about her experience:

 

“I’ve been a part of the American Psychological Association’s Science Student Council for about two years now. One of the missions of this student council is to advocate for psychological science. This past week I had the opportunity to visit Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. and have one-on-one visits with congressional representatives and staff. I met with Tyler Lorig – staff in California Senator Diane Feinstein’s office, Kentucky Representative Andy Barr, and Megan Price – staff in California Representative Ted Lieu’s office (the Representative for UCLA’s district).

I described to them my research on alcohol use and eating behavior, and how my National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship critically supports me in carrying out that research. I explained how Dr. T , Laura, and I are writing a grant proposal to receive funds for development of a new intervention for stress eating, and how without those funds, potential new solutions for problematic eating can’t be tested. I asked for these members of congress to strongly and persistently support federal funding for the social and behavioral sciences. I also asked for these members of congress to oppose cuts to this federal funding, and to oppose the social and behavioral sciences being singled out from other sciences. Responses were positive, with most offices explicitly stating their support for NIH and NSF!

 

Here's Jenna, along with Jenna, along with Representative Andy Barr and fellow SSC member Justin Strickland.

I am extremely grateful for these visits. It brought me insight to how psychological researchers can have effects beyond the lab, classroom, or an academic journal. I urge other psychological scientists to get involved in advocacy, this way our science can continue to flourish.”

It sounds like a really eye-opening and valuable weekend; we’re so proud that Jenna has made such important strides toward progressing our science!

Jenna and   Jenna, along with Megan Price and fellow SSC member Justin Strickland.

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 Jenna with Tyler Lorig.

Congratulations to Peter, for accepting an offer to UCLA’s Health Psychology Program!

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For the past few months, DiSH Lab RA Peter Nooteboom has been applying to various Ph.D. programs in health and clinical psychology. We could not be more pleased to report that he has accepted an offer to UCLA’s Health Psychology program to work with Dr. Ted Robles!

Here’s what Peter had to say:

“Through my journey as an undergraduate at UCLA, I was exposed to a wide range of fields in psychology. I had the opportunity to explore research in behavioral neuroscience, clinical psychology, social psychology, and health psychology. UCLA has been the perfect place to explore my research ideas and refine my interests. My time working in the DiSH Lab has ultimately been the most formative in establishing Health Psychology as my primary interest moving forward. Having seen first hand what the program has to offer, I am excited to begin pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Psychology at UCLA.”

Peter has been an excellent RA and study coordinator for the DiSH Lab for the past two years, and we’re glad we’ll still get to see him around Franz Hall!

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