Research Team

Lab Director

Dr. Naomi Sadeh joined the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at University of Delaware in 2016. She was previously Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Medicine and a principal investigator in the National Center for PTSD at VA Boston Healthcare System. She received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004 and her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. She completed a clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. She is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist.

Impaired impulse control contributes to major public health problems, including crime, suicide, violence, and addiction. Dr. Sadeh’s program of research focuses on understanding the causes of impulsive behavior, and the complex interplay of factors that contribute to impulsivity and related health problems. The foundation of her research is based on the idea that individuals who struggle with self-control do so for different reasons. To capture this variability in the causes of impulsive behavior, she examines the interplay of a wide range of risk factors and causal mechanisms along a continuum of severity from normative to pathological. She uses a multilevel framework in her conceptualization and analysis of impulsive behavior and related public health problems that spans biological (genetics, neurobiology), psychological (clinical symptoms, cognition-emotion interactions), and environmental (trauma, sociostructural forces) units of analysis. This approach informs complexity in the foundations of human behavior and how core regulatory processes go awry in mental illness.

Doctoral Students

Dr. Nadia Bounoua graduated from the Clinical Science program at the University of Delaware in 2023, following completion of Clinical Internship at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She is now an Assistant Research Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Maryland at College Park. Her program of research centers on the interplay of environmental, neurobiological and affective mechanisms underlying risk-taking behaviors across the lifespan.

 

Wendy Huerta is a Clinical Science graduate student in the PD Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, where she conducted and assisted in research in Dr. Mark D’Esposito and Dr. Allison Harvey’s Lab. Following graduation, she worked as a research coordinator in the Anxiety and Depression Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. Broadly, Wendy is interested in cognitive (e.g., working memory, inhibitory control) and emotion interactions, which may lead to psychopathology, and utilizing multi-method approaches to understand underlying mechanisms. She is currently supported by a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Email: whuerta@udel.edu

 

 

Rickie Miglin

 

 

Ana Sheehan is a Clinical Science graduate student in the PD Lab. She received her B.A. in Cognitive Science and French from Vassar College in 2017. After graduating she joined the Mood and Behavior Lab at Brown University, where she worked on studies examining underlying mechanisms of risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors among adolescents. Ana’s current research aims to better understand how environmental, neurocognitive, and affective mechanisms confer risk for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. She is currently supported by a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation.

  • Email: ansheeha@udel.edu 
  • Google Scholar webpage
  • Anna Stumps is a Clinical Science graduate student in the PD Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Kansas in 2017. After graduation, she worked as a research assistant at the VA Boston Healthcare System where she used functional neuroimaging to examine the neurocognitive correlates of PTSD and suicidal behavior. Her primary research interests are focused on utilizing multiple methods of analysis to understand the interplay between stress exposure, cognitive-affective systems, and psychopathology across the lifespan. 

    Research Associates

    Paula Salvador is a full-time Research Associate in the PD lab. She graduated with a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Delaware in 2019 and furthered her education at UD to complete her M.S. degree in Human Development and Family Sciences obtained in 2021. Paula’s primary focus lies in examining the effects of childhood trauma on cognitive and behavioral development, specifically exploring the role of environmental and social factors in shaping this connection. Her aspiration is to continue her research path and eventually pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

    Isabella Napoletano is a full-time Research Associate in the PD Lab. She received her B.A. in Psychology and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University in 2021, where she conducted research in Dr. Teresa Leyro’s Affective and Biological Underpinnings of Substance Abuse Lab and Dr. Elizabeth Torres’ Sensory-Motor Integration Lab. She is broadly interested in exploring how environmental, cognitive and neural factors affect impulsive behavior and has a specific interest in individuals experiencing symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder. She plans to continue her career in a research setting and pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

    Research Assistants

    • Sophia DiPrima
    • Kezia Sebuabe
    • Braheem Edwards
    • Wheattina Goodman

    Undergraduate Graduates of the PD Lab

    • Sabrina Sueiro (Class of 2023) 
    • Sara Rocchino (Class of 2023) 
    • Samantha Haas (Class of 2023)
    • Autumn Gourley (Class of 2022)
    • Maddison Alt (Class of 2022)
    • Michael Rodriguez (Class of 2022)
    • Manali Zope (Class of 2022)
    • Emily Gotkiewicz (Class of 2022)
    • Jasmine Newton (Class of 2021)
    • Julian Urbina (Class of 2021)
    • Ryan Gibson (Class of 2020)
    • Pelu Osunkoya (Class of 2020)
    • Jennifer Storm (Class of 2019)
    • Kimberly Yap (Class of 2019)
    • Matthew Weilep (Class of 2018)
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