Last Thursday, our wonderful grad student Laura officially became Dr. Laura Finch! She successfully defended her dissertation on comfort eating, earning her Ph.D.

Here’s what she had to say: “It was exciting to finally share the results of my dissertation with my committee members! They each gave insightful feedback that I can incorporate before submitting these studies for publication. I’m also glad that I got to share the results with the DiSH lab—including some of the many research assistants who worked tirelessly to make these studies happen. It’s a great feeling to see the fruits of your labor! Congratulations to Angela for her defense and all the best to Jenna for her upcoming defense this week!”

This is a huge milestone in Dr. Finch’s career, and we are all incredibly proud to call her one of our own! We wish her the best and can’t want to see what she does in the future. Congratulations again, Dr. Finch!

Our postdoc, Jeff Hunger, recently published a study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. It was the subject of a Reuters article published today, titled “Being called ‘fat’ in early teens tied to later eating disorders for girls.” In the article, Jeff discusses the implications of their findings and offers suggestions to counteract weight stigma and promote health. He says, “Quit the negative ‘fat talk,’ chronic dieting, and body shame. Recognize and appreciate all that your body can do for you and find eating and exercise habits that are sustainable and enjoyable.”

One of our awesome RAs, Nancy Gomez, presented a poster on an independent project she’s been working hard on for the past year with Dr. T. Nancy previously attended Cerritos College before transferring to UCLA, and she also participated in our first-ever NSF Summer Intensive program in 2016!

Here’s what she had to say: “The annual Psychology Day Conference at Cerritos College was a big success! This day couldn’t have been done without the support of the psychology club members, former alumni, and faculty, as well as our keynote speakers: Dr. Tomiyama (UCLA) and Dr. Cortea-Chavez (CSULB). This big event is an opportunity to network with professors and alumni from different psychology fields during the research poster sessions, alumni panels, guest speakers, and social hour at a community college. I’ve had the opportunity to present twice (my Cerritos College research and current UCLA research project) and enjoy every minute of it because of the students’ enthusiasm. Students were curious about my research from a prestigious university and they felt motivated to pursue a research project of their own! Also, Dr. Tomiyama’s presentation was a success! Her talk about the negative consequences of weight stigma was interesting and engaging (I thought I knew most of the topic, but I was wrong, I keep learning something new). After her presentation, students came to me because most were shy to talk to her. Many seemed interested in the DiSH Summer Intensive Program and were asking for advice and information in applying. We hope to continue this in the near future as it is a great learning experience for all and helps you be prepared for the big conferences (APA and WPA).”

As Nancy mentioned, Dr. T was also a keynote speaker at the conference. We’re so happy that many of the students were excited by the research we do here, and we hope to see some of them in our summer intensive program this year!

Last weekend, the DiSH Lab traveled to Louisville, KY to attend the American Psychosomatic Society’s 76th Annual Scientific Meeting. The American Psychosomatic Society (APS) aims to “advance and integrate the scientific study of biological, psychological, behavioral and social factors in health and disease,” which makes it a perfect fit with DiSH research. One of our grad students, Angela Incollingo Rodriguez, presented a talk on her dissertation study.

Here’s what she had to say: “APS is my favorite conference because it’s jam-packed with high-quality science conducted by the leaders of the field of Health Psychology from around the globe. It’s an event where you actually want to go to every single session, and it’s a great opportunity to meet and network with other researchers with similar interests to yours. This year, the theme was resilience, which is especially timely and relevant to the world we live in. And, as a member of the DiSH Lab, I of course was thrilled to see the program included an invited symposium on how health behaviors can be resilience factors!”

Dr. T attended the conference as well and presented a talk titled “Stress-induced eating: Helpful or Harmful?”

In between the awards talks, Dr. T also led the first-ever stretch break! It was quite successful.

Isaac Mirzadegan, a former DiSH RA, has accepted an offer to attend Florida State University for graduate school! Isaac was a dedicated RA in our lab for over 2 years, and he was promoted to a study coordinator position in his last year. After taking some time off to work as a lab manager at UC Berkeley, he will begin his Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program with Dr. Alexandria Meyer in the fall. Here’s what Isaac has to say:

“At FSU, I’ll be working with Dr. Meyer to develop neurally informed parenting interventions for children with anxiety. I am so grateful for my time in the DiSH Lab and for the support I’ve received from my many mentors! Though I will be far away, I know that Cashew Monday posts will keep me deeply connected to California.”

We’re so proud of you Isaac and wish you the best in grad school!