Mollie Davis, MSW, LCSW-C is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Staff Clinician in the Emotion and Development Branch (EDB) in NIMH. She received her Master’s Degree in Social Work, with a specialization in clinical care and mental health, from the University of Maryland at Baltimore and her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. Mollie has worked in EDB since 2010, conducting diagnostic assessments of children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders, administering clinical research measures, and delivering evidence-based inpatient and outpatient psychotherapy. Mollie’s experience prior to coming to NIMH includes supervising the clinical care of adolescents in a long-term psychiatric residential treatment unit, providing psychotherapy to active-duty personnel in the Department of Defense, and facilitating international adoptions. She enjoys working in a research setting, where she feels privileged to treat and support adolescents and their families who come to NIH to advance the treatment and understanding of these disorders.

Chana Engel, CRNP is a Psychiatric and Mental Health Nurse Practitioner who completed her BS/MS in nursing with a focus on Child, Adolescent, and Family Mental Health at Columbia University and her undergraduate degree in Studies in Neuroscience, from Boston University. Chana has worked within the Emotion and Development Branch (EDB) of the NIMH since 2010. Her work in the Branch has included screening and diagnostic assessments of children and adolescents, coordinating and conducting inpatient and outpatient research treatment for patients and families, facilitating clinical training across the Branch, and mentoring research assistants. She has diverse expertise in pediatric mental health, particularly in bipolar spectrum disorders, depression, anxiety, chronic irritability, developmental disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Her research interests include identifying treatment mechanisms and novel treatments for depression and anxiety in youth.

Lisa M. Cullins, MD

Dr. Lisa M. Cullins is an Attending Physician in the Emotion and Development Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD.

Email Dr. Cullins   
301-827-6871

Erin D. Berman, PhD Dr. Erin D. Berman is a Clinical Psychologist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. She received her clinical psychology doctoral degree from Rosalind Franklin University / The Chicago Medical School. Her clinical training continued with attending the Boston Consortium of Clinical Psychology where she was a Harvard Medical School Fellowship recipient. She completed post-doctoral re-specialization in child and adolescent Anxiety Disorders at Temple University. Her main area of interest continues to be in cognitive behavioral interventions for children, adolescents, and adults with anxiety disorders.

Krystal M. Lewis, PhD Dr. Krystal Lewis is a licensed clinical psychologist within SDAN. She has extensive training and experience in pediatric anxiety. She provides evidence-based treatments and preventative interventions to youth and families and collaborates with schools to promote youth mental wellness. Her research interests include self-efficacy and identifying treatment mechanisms of cognitive behavioral therapy with youth. Dr. Lewis is an active member with the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).

Chantal Gerrard, MS, RN Chantal is a Senior Clinical Research Nurse/Clinician working with SDAN at the NIH. She received her Masters of Science Degree from UMB and has expertise in clinical assessments of mood disorders and various research data measures for adult and pediatric populations. She has experience as a Case Manager, Utilization Reviewer and HIV Counselor. She is a member of the Nursing Informatics Committee and Global Health Interest Group. Chantal has worked for the NHS and managed community projects in the U.K. Belize and Zambia. She is interested in health care disparities and improving global health care through quality scientific research, education, improved informatics and vital communication and collaborations.

Lucy Justement, MA, RN, P Lucy Justement is the Clinical Manager of the NIH Clinical Center Outpatient Behavioral Health Clinic. She supervises the Clinical Research Nurses assigned to the clinic and works with the team to provide excellent care for the research participants. As a Clinical Research Nurse she supports patient care as a primary nurse, study coordinator, and screening and intake coordinator.

Kenneth Towbin, MD

Kenneth E. Towbin, MD, is Chief of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (CAP) in the Emotion and Development Branch in the Intramural Research Program (IRP) at NIMH.

Email Dr. Towbin;
301-402-4403

Brenda Benson, PhD

Anderson Winkler

Parmis Khosravi, PhD Parmis received her doctorate in applied experimental and cognitive sciences from The Catholic University of America in 2021. Her main research interest is exploring neural circuits that explain the heterogeneities of affective disorders such as anxiety disorders.

Meghan Byrne, PhD Meghan Byrne received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Uniformed Services University in 2022 after completing her clinical internship at Harvard Medical School/Boston Children's Hospital. Her research to date has primarily focused on the neural underpinnings of anxiety and neuropsychological facets of executive functioning as it relates to disordered eating behaviors among youth.

André Zugman, MD, PhD André is a post-doc visiting fellow working at SDAN since December, 2019. He graduated in medicine and completed his psychiatry training in Brazil. His main research interest is in using neuroimaging measures to understand why some people develop a mental health problem whereas others do not.

Peter Kirk, PhD Peter joined SDAN after receiving his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience and working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at University College London. His primary research focus is on applying naturalistic neuroimaging methods to understand the neurobiology of mental health.

Marta Korom, PhD Broadly, Marta studies how evidence-based interventions shape the brain during sensitive periods of development. She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delaware in 2024, where she examined the long-term effects of an attachment-based early parenting program on the neurobiological development and mental health outcomes of children involved with Child Protective Services. At NIMH, she is investigating how the Unified Protocol affects the neurobiological correlates of affective disorders, such as depression, during adolescence.

Kyunghun Lee, PhD Kyunghun Lee, PhD is a scientist in the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience (SDAN) at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Lee researched machine learning, software/hardware optimization, and automatic detection and classification system development while completing his PhD at the University of Maryland. Dr. Lee worked as a postdoctoral fellow (Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and focused on leveraging machine learning and computational modeling to understand the relationship between brain and behavior, leading to novel therapeutic concepts for brain disorders and brain-inspired A.I. Now, as part of the SDAN, Dr. Lee is working on computational analysis and software design in the lab and helping SDAN researchers in every phase of the automated software workflow to use neuroscience to identify treatment targets. Also, Dr. Lee is working on software/algorithm development based on real-time information from wearable devices.

Lili Massac, BA Lili graduated with a BA in Psychology and Neuroscience from Williams College in 2023. At Williams, she conducted an independent project under the advisement of Dr. Shivon Robinson that used a mouse model to investigate the effects of adolescent oxycodone exposure on the HPA-axis-mediated stress response in adulthood. After graduating from Williams, she worked at the Translational Research on Affective Disorders and Suicide Laboratory lab at the New York Psychiatric Institute on a project related to social processing in adolescents with and without a current or past history of depression. She hopes to use her research experiences to influence mental health care access.

Annabelle Ross, BS Annabelle received her BS in Psychology from Davidson College. Her senior year thesis focused on font types and reading anxiety among individuals with ADHD and Dyslexia. Her prior research focused on how microaggressions impact students with invisible and visible disabilities. After her time in SDAN Annabelle plans to pursue a doctorate degree in clinical psychology.

Jacob Lentz, BA Jacob graduated from the University of Michigan in 2024 with highest honors with a degree in Psychology. His prior research examined developmental associations with white matter, and his current research focuses on large-scale developmental neuroscience analyses. After his time at NIH, Jacob hopes to pursue a PhD in psychology to continue researching developmental affective neuroscience.

Evie Chen, BS Evie received her B.S. in Neurobiology from Stanford University. Her research experience and interests are primarily in mood disorders, particularly novel interventions and treatment options for children and adolescents. At Stanford, she conducted independent research on encoding memory in healthy adults under the mentoring of Dr. Anthony Wagner in the memory lab, which inspired her interest in clinical research. After training in SDAN for two years, she hopes to pursue an MD to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist. In her free time, Evie enjoys running, going on walks, and exploring new restaurants.

Tahjanee Givens, BA Tahjanee graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in International Affairs and Psychology. As an undergraduate Tahjanee explored several areas of research including ethnic-racial identity, dyadic analyses in families, and methodological interests like ecological momentary assessments. After her time in SDAN, Tahjanee plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. In her free time, Tahjanee likes cooking, walking, and spending time with animals.

Seth Cutler, BA Seth received his BA from the University of Rochester in Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Linguistics, and Spanish. As an undergraduate, Seth conducted research on the receptive prosody of autistic children and completed his honors thesis on the psycholinguistics of accent adaptation. Seth plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology to investigate assessment and intervention relating to social communication abilities in autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Vicky Kim, BA Vicky graduated with Highest Honors from the University of Virginia in 2023, where she studied cognitive science. Her undergraduate research explored the effects of COVID-19 on structural plasticity in the brain. Prior to joining SDAN, she worked as a medical assistant and as an Intramural Research Training Award fellow in the Neurodevelopmental and Behavior Phenotyping Service in the NIMH. Vicky is planning to pursue medical school, with interests in psychiatry and palliative care. Outside of work, she enjoys spending time with her friends, family, and her dog, Socks.

Alex Dhima, BS, BA Alex graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2024 with degrees in Computer Science and Psychology. At UMass, Alex completed an honors thesis on predicting affective cognition and therapy engagement in young children using fNIRS and machine learning. After graduation, he joined the Division of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, where he worked on digital phenotyping projects aimed at clustering and predicting outcomes for depression, anxiety, and psychosis using daily symptoms and ecological behaviors (e.g., sleep, mobility). Alex hopes to investigate the longitudinal interplay between ecological measures of symptoms and behaviors, collected via EMA and digital technologies, and their neurobiological correlates, to advance a more comprehensive and mechanistic understanding of psychopathology. Following his time in SDAN, Alex plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

Olivia Milne, BA Olivia earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Maryland. Her undergraduate research explored how neurobiological and behavioral development in infancy shapes childhood temperament and anxiety. She is particularly interested in how early environments and relationships influence the onset and presentation of anxiety disorders. Following her time in SDAN, she plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. In her free time, Olivia enjoys creative writing, listening to music, and spending time with her dog.

Joy Zou, BE Joy received her bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Vanderbilt University. While there, she worked at the Vanderbilt Institute of Imaging Science under Dr. Adam Anderson on a project using diffusion-weighted MRI to investigate neuroplasticity. Her primary research interests involve the use of neuroimaging methodology to better understand the brain, mood, and anxiety disorders, and neurodevelopment. After her time in SDAN, she hopes to pursue an MD to become a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

Bijan Tabrizian, BA Bijan received his bachelor's degree in psychology from Georgetown University in 2025. At Georgetown, he completed an independent honors thesis under the advisement of Dr. Ian Lyons, exploring the role of paralinguistic affect as a potential transmission pathway for math anxiety transference. His present research interests lie in the application of neuropsychological research towards the early identification, treatment, and prevention of eating disorders and comorbid psychopathologies. Following his time in SDAN, Bijan hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. When not traversing the halls of the NIH, Bijan enjoys baking, tending to his houseplants, and doing the Macarena.

Ssence J Peterson Ssence started with the Emotion and Development group in September 2009. She supports the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience group with onboarding and off-boarding for staffing, facilities management, purchasing, travel, etc.

Researchers in the Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award fellowship program (Postbac IRTAs) in SDAN serve a vital role in the lab, coordinating between all arms of the work so that clinical activities, data collection, and data analysis run smoothly. With extensive clinical exposure and mentorship, Postbac IRTAs enhance their knowledge and cultivate unique research and clinical skills facilitating their next educational endeavors. Our Postbac IRTAs have typically gone on to Clinical Psychology PhD Programs or Medical School. We are very proud of all our Postbac IRTAs and their accomplishments in SDAN and beyond! For information on applying to be a Postbac IRTA in SDAN, look at our Join the Lab page and the NIH Postbac IRTA Program  website.

Postbaccalaureate Fellows

2023 – 2025 Purnima Qamar, Eugenia Giampetruzzi, Yannie Darin Lee

2022 – 2024 Ellie Malone, Caroline Miller, Safa Rahman, Anjali Poe, David Quezada, Sam Frank, Sara Kirschner

2021 – 2023 Rachel Bernstein, James Rozsypal, Olivia Siegal, Paia Amelio, Alexandra Koller, Chase Antonacci, Laura Jett, Phil Newsome

2020 – 2022 Isaac Morales, Isabella Spaulding, Jordan Galbraith, Grace Ringlein, Marisa Meyer, Devi Lakhlani

2019 – 2021 Gwyn Delap, Sonia Ruiz, Jessica Bezek

2018 – 2020 Gabrielle Freitag, Emily Jones, Elizabeth Kitt, Mira Bajaj

2017 – 2019 Anni Subar, Dominique Phillips, Hannah Zweibel

2016 – 2018 Brigid Behrens, Caroline Swetlitz, Chika Matsumoto, Quyen Do, Daniel Coppersmith

2015 - 2017 Julia Feldman, Adina Heckleman, Jessica Sachs

2014 - 2016 Madeline Farber, Brent Rappaport, Stefanie Sequeira, Elizabeth Steuber

2013 – 2015 Elizabeth Ivie, Anastasia McGlade, Laurie Russell

2012 – 2014 Emily Ronkin, Dana Rosen, Stuart Wong

2011 – 2013 Jamie Mash, Adrienne Romer, Carolyn Spiro

2010 – 2013 Christina Carlisi

2010 – 2012 Michelle Clementi, Teresa Daniele, Jeremy Kruger, Rista Plate

Postdoctoral Fellows

SDAN has also been home to many postdoctoral researchers over the years, who often go on to become professors. For information about becoming a postdoc in SDAN, email Dr. Pine at pined@mail.nih.gov and look at the NIH Postdoctoral Research Training Awards and Visiting Fellows  website.

2017 – 2022 Elise Cardinale, Assistant Professor, Psychology Department, The Catholic University of America

2016 – 2022 Rany Abend, Assistant Professor, School of Psychology, Reichman University, Israel

2017 – 2021 Anita Harrewijn, Post-doctoral researcher, Department of Psychology, Education & Child Studies, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam, Netherlands

2015 – 2021 Ashley Smith, Program Officer, Individual Fellowship Opportunities Programs, National Institute of Mental Health

2015 – 2017 David Pagliaccio, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Neurobiology, Columbia University

2013 – 2017 Andrea Gold, Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University Alpert Warren School of Medicine

2013 – 2016 Lauren White, Research Associate, Lifespan Brain Institute, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

2012 – 2016 Kalina Michalska, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of California, Riverside

2011 – 2016 Johanna Jarcho, Assistant Professor of Psychology with a joint appointment in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Social Psychology at Temple University

2010 – 2013 Tomer Shechner, Senior Lecturer, Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, Israel

2008 – 2012 Jennifer Britton, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Miami