Health Psychology Graduate Students
Athena Cisneroz
Advisors: Professors A. Janet Tomiyama and Patrick Wilson
Karissa Tran
Karissa Tran (she/her/hers) is a second-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. She is interested in how HIV and substance use intersect among sexual and gender minority young adults. Currently, Karissa’s research focuses on comprehensively examining substance use profiles to develop a new measurement model that considers nuanced and ecologically valid indicators for operationalizing substance use.
Advisors: Professors Patrick Wilson and A. Janet Tomiyama
David G. Figueroa
David G. Figueroa (he/him/his) is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Health Psychology program. His research examines socioeconomic health disparities, with a focus on how social class stigma affects health through stress-related processes. He also studies the health consequences of food insecurity.
Advisors: Professors A. Janet Tomiyama and Patrick Wilson
Eric Cortez
Eric Cortez is a third-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. His research uses an intersectionality framework to address social and health disparities among ethnic and sexual minority populations. Specifically, Eric is interested in the relationship between mental health and safe sex practices among the LGBTQ+ Latine community.
Advisors: Professors Patrick Wilson and Ted Robles
Enya Daang
Enya Daang is a third-year graduate student in Health Psychology. Her research investigates emotion regulation through a biopsychosocial lens. She is particularly interested in how social experiences across the lifespan influence emotion regulation and consequences for mental and physical health, with a focus on chronic pain. Her work also examines the role of inflammation in the development and persistence of pain and interactions with psychosocial processes.
Advisor: Professors Julie Bower and Ted Robles
Manuel Ramirez
Manuel Ramirez is a fourth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. He is interested in how identity, stigma, and discrimination intersect to differentially affect health outcomes among minority individuals. He is particularly interested in how these forces affect the health and well-being of sexual and gender minorities who also identify as racial/ethnic minorities.
Advisors: Professors Patrick Wilson and A. Janet Tomiyama
Leah Cha
Leah Cha is a fourth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. Her research focuses on exploring the biobehavioral pathways through which traumatic experiences shape mental and physical health across the lifespan. She is particularly interested in how these experiences influence fear-related processes and contribute to accelerated biological aging.
Advisors: Professors Jennifer Sumner and Chris Dunkel Schetter
Robin Blades
Robin Blades is a fourth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. She is interested in how chronic stress impacts health outcomes, particularly through inflammatory pathways. Her research focuses on understanding neuroimmune interactions and developing mind-body interventions that promote resilience.
Advisor: Professors Julie Bower and Naomi Eisenberger
Maha Al-Suwaidi
Maha Al-Suwaidi (she/her) is in her fifth-year in the Health Psychology program. Her research interests focus on how to improve holistic health (i.e. mental and physical health) among those experiencing systemic disadvantage, including supportive factors (healing/coping practices) and inhibiting factors (structural harm).
Advisor: Professors Patrick Wilson and Denise Chavira
Sarah Alonzi
Sarah Alonzi is a fifth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. Her research focuses on the role of patients’ emotions and cognitions in medical decision-making. She is particularly interested in how understanding these factors can lead to the development of interventions to increase uptake of treatments and health services that are often misunderstood and feared.
Advisors: Professors Annette Stanton and Amy Waterman
Tyrus Korecki
Tyrus Korecki is a fifth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. His primary research interests include health and resilience among individuals in difficult life circumstances, mindfulness-based interventions for stress management, and psychological factors that impact inflammatory biology, resilience, and thriving in the face of difficulty.
Advisors: Professors Julie Bower and Jennifer Sumner
Corinne Meinhausen
Corinne Meinhausen is a sixth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. Her research focuses on the psychological impact of medical trauma and the biological and behavioral forces related to resiliency and pathological fear learning. She is particularly interested in how these mechanisms can lead to the development of early interventions for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Advisors: Professors Jennifer Sumner and Ted Robles
Jordan Parker
Jordan Parker is a sixth-year graduate student in the Health Psychology program. Her research focuses on how discrimination influences psychophysiological health outcomes among Black women. She is specifically interested in examining pathways through which discrimination affects body image, disordered eating, and related health disparities across the lifespan.
Advisors: Professors A. Janet Tomiyama and Patrick Wilson