People 1

Lab Members

 

Julienne Bower, Ph.D. (Director)
Dr. Bower’s research focuses broadly on mind-body interactions among individuals confronting stressful life events, particularly diagnosis with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer. One area of her research examines how positive psychological factors, such as benefit finding, positive affect, and goal engagement, influence physical health, with a focus on the biological pathways that link positive psychological states and health outcomes.
Another line of research examines immune effects on mood and behavior, including fatigue, depression, and sleep disturbance. Dr. Bower also conducts mind-body interventions (i.e., yoga, Tai Chi, and mindfulness meditation) with a focus on how these treatments influence immune and neuroendocrine function. Dr. Bower is associated with the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology and the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control Research at UCLA and provides trainees with didactic and research training in these areas.
Marcie Haydon, M.A.
Marcie Haydon is a sixth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. Broadly, she is interested in factors that affect resilience following a life-threatening illness, particularly in young adult cancer survivors. Her research examines stress and coping, mind-body interactions, and the protective effects of positive psychological states, with an emphasis on developmental transitions and modifiable targets for intervention. Outside of school, Marcie enjoys running, baking, and growing vegetables in her garden.
Arielle Radin
Arielle Radin is a fourth-year student in Health Psychology. She investigates the interplay between the immune system, cognitive processes and emotion regulation and how the connections between them impact psychological adjustment to chronic diseases. She is particularly interested in the role of inflammation in cancer-related cognitive impairment and coping. Outside of school, Arielle enjoys yoga, going to the beach, and traveling.
Yrvane Pageot
Yrvane Pageot is a third year student in Health Psychology. Ms. Pageot’s research is focused on the intersections between physical and mental health, specifically the influence of psychological factors on chronic disease. She is also interested in assessing how socioeconomic and racial/ethnic health disparities can influence health outcomes. In her free time, Yrvane enjoys traveling to new places and learning about different cultures, trying new foods, and watching movies.

Sasha Reed

Sasha Reed is a sixth year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology program with a minor in Health Psychology. Broadly, Sasha is interested in research that determines how and for whom behavioral health interventions work. Her ongoing dissertation research evaluates vagal-immune pathways in first-episode psychosis and behavioral interventions for late life insomnia, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I) and Tai Chi. Outside of school Sasha enjoys hiking with her dog, yoga, and gluten-free, experimental baking.

Danny Rahal

Danny Rahal is a fifth-year graduate student in Developmental Psychology. He is interested in how both feeling of low status and being treated as low status can negatively impact well-being and exacerbate existing status-based disparities in health. He is particularly interested in how low status can impact emotional and physiological responses to stress. When not in the lab, Danny is likely either hiking, running, or watching a musical.

Andrew Manigault, Ph.D.

Dr. Andrew Manigault studies pathways linking stressors to physical and mental health. His research examines stress management strategies, population-specific processes (e.g., sexual minority identity disclosure), cognitive tendencies, and social factors as they relate to biological stress-response systems. In addition, Dr. Andrew Manigault is interested in factors that facilitate or hinder adaptation to repeated stressors. During his postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Manigault will examine biological processes underlying depression, with a focus on inflammation.  His work will interrogate links between inflammation and depression in the aftermath of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment, as well as individual difference factors that confer risk or resilience.

 

Chloe Boyle, Ph.D.

Boyle received her Ph.D in Health Psychology from UCLA in 2018, with Dr. Julie Bower as her primary mentor, and is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Norman Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, with Dr. Michael Irwin as her primary mentor. Her research aims to characterize psychobiological mechanisms underlying risk and resilience to onset and recurrence of depressive disorders. She is particularly interested in how inflammatory signaling can induce dysregulation in the reward system to cause the symptom of anhedonia, or loss of interest or pleasure. As a UCLA PNI Fellow, she is using an experimental model to examine effects of inflammation on anhedonic symptoms in pre- and post-menopausal women to better understand sex and age differences in depression prevalence. In support of this project she has received a Cousins Center Seed Grant Award and an NIH/ORWH administrative supplement. She is currently expanding her research program to study effects of inflammation on anhedonia in individuals with anxiety, with support from the Friends of the Semel Institute Research Scholar Award. When not in the lab she enjoys hiking with her dog, Toast. Toast enjoys being carried whilst hiking.

Kelly Rentscher, Ph.D.

Dr. Kelly Rentscher completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Arizona and Postdoctoral Fellowship at the UCLA Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and faculty member in the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA. Her research examines the biological mechanisms that link experiences of social and health-related adversity to increased risk for accelerated aging and age-related disease, and how close relationship processes may serve as protective buffers against the deleterious effects of adversity on health. She recently received an NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development Award in support of this research, for which Dr. Bower is a primary mentor. She also enjoys being outdoors, yoga, cooking, traveling, and spending time with family.

 


Lab Alumni


Kate Ryan Kuhlman, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Psychological Science, UC Irvine

Chloe Boyle, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Cousins Center for PNI, UCLA

Larissa Dooley, Ph.D.

Research Associate, See Change Institute


Alexandra Dupont Crosswell, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UC San Francisco


Elizabeth Raposa, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Fordham University


Patricia I. Moreno, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University


Jessica Chiang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Georgetown University


Joshua Wiley, Ph.D.

Lecturer, Department of Psychology, Monash University School of Psychological sciences


Carissa A. Low, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Departments of Medicine, Psychology, and Biomedical-Informatics, University of Pittsburg


Michael Hoyt, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Public Health, UC Irvine


Collaborators

Andrew Fuligni, Ph.D.

Patricia Ganz, Ph.D.

Michael Irwin, M.D.

Steve Cole, Ph.D.

Naomi Eisenberger, Ph.D.