Mollie Davis, MSW, LCSW-C (she/her/hers) 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 (she/her/hers) 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.

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

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301-827-6871

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Lisa M. Cullins is an Attending Physician in the Emotion and Development Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD. Dr. Cullins is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics at George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, DC. Dr. Cullins completed her Adult Psychiatry Residency at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in Los Angeles, CA and her Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, NY. Dr. Cullins has devoted most of her career to training and education, community psychiatry and systems of care, in particular, working with children and adolescents in the child welfare system and other underserved populations. Dr. Cullins has had the privilege of being a physician leader and clinician educator in multiple treatment settings ranging from research, academic, tertiary care hospital facilities to one of the largest child community mental health providers in California. Throughout her career, Dr. Cullins has been a staunch advocate for quality and access to care for children and families and has been an active participant in American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP).

Research Interests

Dr. Cullins is an Associate Investigator in the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience, Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience and the Neuroscience and Novel Therapeutics Unit. Dr. Cullins respectively studies children and adolescents with anxiety disorders, irritability, and severe mood dysregulation. Dr. Cullins has a special interest in health equity and justice.

Publications

Faculty development for Teaching Faculty in Psychiatry: Where We Are and What We Need. De Golia SG, Cagande CC, Ahn MS, Cullins LM, Walaszek A, Cowley DS. (2019) Acad Psychiatry. PMID: 29626292

Depression in African American and Black Caribbean Youth and the Intersection of Spirituality and Religion. Cullins L, Solages M, McKnight S. (2019) Child and Adolesc Clinics of North Am. PMID: 31076121

Depression in Latino and Immigrant Refugee Youth: Clinical Opportunities and Considerations. Fortuna L, Concepcion M, Cullins L. (2019) Child and Adolesc Clinics of North Am. PMID: 31076122

Textbook of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (3rd Ed.) Mina Dulcan (Pub) American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Washington DC 2021

Cultural Psychiatry With Children, Adolescents and Families (Pub) American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Washington DC 2021

Erin D. Berman, PhD (she/her/hers) 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 (she/her/hers) 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 (she/her/hers) 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 (she/her/hers) 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 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.

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301-402-4403

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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. He is a Senior Research Physician at NIH, where he has worked since 2001, and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at The George Washington University School of Medicine (GWUSM).

Dr. Towbin completed residency in general psychiatry at Yale Medical School and CAP fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC). He completed research fellowship at Yale under James Leckman and was Associate Training Director at YCSC. In 1993, he became Training Director in CAP at Children's National Medical Center, Washington, DC, and was Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics at GWUSM.

Dr. Towbin has studied and authored on children's psychiatric disorders, including Tourette Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Mood and Anxiety Disorders. He is currently working with Dr. Pine on treatment-resistant major depression in teens. ‬

He is a past Editorial Board member of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He has also been an advisor to the US FDA and past Chair of the Pediatric Advisory Committee to the FDA. ‬‬‬‬‬‬ Along with Dr. Pablo Vidal Ribas, he is the recipient of the 2020 Schlosser Award from AACAP.

Dr. Towbin is a Distinguished Fellow of the AACAP and a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, in both General Psychiatry and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Research Interests

Throughout his career, Dr. Towbin has maintained a major interest in serious psychopathology affecting children, exploring conditions such as Tourette Disorder, psychosis, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism spectrum disorders (ASD), pediatric mood disorders, and depression in adolescents. His particular expertise has been in balancing clinical and research demands in an academic setting. Specifically, he has deep experience and takes enjoyment in the assessment and treatment of serious psychiatric disorders in children and youth. Moreover, Dr. Towbin is particularly interested in diagnostic boundaries and the application of diagnostic criteria to complex clinical presentations and comorbidities. As an outgrowth of that interest, he has developed expertise in psychiatric nosology and its impact on clinical care. He has a long-held interest in the role of early neurodevelopmental problems on the expression of later psychopathology. Also, the extension of his work, along with others, has been to explore more effective treatments in clinical trials to benefit children with chronic irritability and teens with major depression. Finally, he has both considerable experience and an abiding interest in training and in ethical dilemmas that arise during pediatric and psychiatric care of children.

Selected Publications

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Computerized Interpretation Bias Training for Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder: A Fast-Fail Study. Haller SP, Stoddard J, Botz-Zapp C, Clayton M, MacGillivray C, Perhamus G, Stiles K, Kircanski K, Penton-Voak IS, Bar-Haim Y, Munafò M, Towbin KE, Brotman MA. (2022) J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. PMID: 34147585

Clinical utility of family history of depression for prognosis of adolescent depression severity and duration assessed with predictive modeling. Gorham LS, Sadeghi N, Eisner L, Taigman J, Haynes K, Qi K, Camp CC, Fors P, Rodriguez D, McGuire J, Garth E, Engel C, Davis M, Towbin K, Stringaris A, Nielson DM. (2021) J Child Psychol Psychiatry. PMID: 34847615

A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial of Citalopram Adjunctive to Stimulant Medication in Youth With Chronic Severe Irritability. Towbin K, Vidal-Ribas P, Brotman MA, Pickles A, Miller KV, Kaiser A, Vitale AD, Engel C, Overman GP, Davis M, Lee B, McNeil C, Wheeler W, Yokum CH, Haring CT, Roule A, Wambach CG, Sharif-Askary B, Pine DS, Leibenluft E, Stringaris A. (2020) J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. PMID: 31128268

The Clinician Affective Reactivity Index: Validity and Reliability of a Clinician-Rated Assessment of Irritability. Haller SP, Kircanski K, Stringaris A, Clayton M, Bui H, Agorsor C, Cardenas SI, Towbin KE, Pine DS, Leibenluft E, Brotman MA. (2020) Behav Ther. PMID: 32138938

Differentiating bipolar disorder-not otherwise specified and severe mood dysregulation. Towbin K, Axelson D, Leibenluft E, Birmaher B. (2013) J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. PMID: 23622848

Brenda Benson, PhD

Anderson Winkler

Parmis Khosravi, PhD (she/her/hers) 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.

Song Qi, PhD (he/him/his) Song joined SDAN at NIMH as a research fellow in 2021. He earned his Ph.D. in Social and Decision Neuroscience from Caltech, where he studied neural mechanisms underlying fear and anxiety. With a background in engineering and information science, Song is broadly interested in human cognition and decision-making. ​​In particular, he explores how decision-making behaviors are optimized under threat/social influence with ecologically inspired paradigms, BOLD fMRI, and computational modeling. Outside of research, he enjoys reading history and building Gunpla models.

Meghan Byrne, PhD (she/her/hers) 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 (he/him/his) 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.

Kyunghun Lee, PhD (he/him/his) 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.

Alexandra Koller, MA (she/her/hers) Alex received her M.A. in Psychology from New York University in 2021, and her dual B.S. in Industrial and Management Engineering & Psychological Sciences from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 2018. Her research interests include identifying risk factors for developing mood disorders, and the comorbidity of depression and anxiety. After her fellowship with SDAN, she will pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Outside of work, Alex can be found reading and exploring National Parks.

Anjali Poe, BA (she/her/hers) Anjali graduated from Williams College in 2022 with a degree in Psychology and Biology. Her honors thesis focused on the predictive effects of the cortisol awakening response and acute interpersonal stress on depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following her time in SDAN, she plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, Anjali enjoys running, being with friends, and practicing yoga.

David Quezada, BA (he/him/his) David graduated from the University of Southern California (USC) earning a BA in psychology. At USC he discovered a passion for psychological research investigating strategies to improve medication adherence among adolescents with chronic health conditions as well as the psychological impacts of racial discrimination. During his time at SDAN, David hopes to gain valuable clinical and research experiences that will prepare him for a career as a physician.

Sam Frank, AB (he/him/his) Before joining the group, Sam graduated from Princeton University where he studied Molecular Biology and Computer Science. His prior research focused on understanding the connectivity of neural circuits in the cerebellum and developing computational tools to analyze large neuro imaging datasets. He is interested in helping people who struggle with mental health through basic science, medicine, and policy. After his time at the NIH he hopes to get a MD-PhD degree. Outside of lab he loves cooking, running, and being in nature.

Sara Kirschner, BA (she/her/hers) Sara graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2022 with degrees in Cognitive Studies and Neuroscience. At Vanderbilt, she completed her honors thesis on coping and emotion regulation in adolescents exposed to early childhood trauma. After her IRTAship, Sara plans to pursue a doctorate degree in clinical psychology. Outside of the lab, Sara is a yoga teacher and enjoys spending time with her friends and dog.

Chase Antonacci, MPhil (he/him/his) Before joining the group, Chase completed his MPhil in Cognition and Brain Sciences at the University of Cambridge and his BA at Washington University in St. Louis. His prior research explored differences in memory encoding and adolescent neurobiology related to risk differentials for major depression. He is interested in the mechanisms by which social and environmental factors shape risk and resiliency for mental health, especially during early development.

Paia Amelio, BS (she/her/hers) Paia is a Northwestern University graduate who majored in Theatre and Neuroscience while studying on the pre-med track. Prior to SDAN, she worked in a psychiatry lab researching adolescent anxiety in mice and a Northwestern lab studying adolescent psychosis. She also produced theater in college, finding passion for creating theater for young audiences. She is excited to translate her prior research and theater experience to her work at SDAN!

Rachel Bernstein, BA (she/her/hers) Rachel is a graduate from the University of Michigan with a degree in Biopsychology, Cognition and Neuroscience, and minors in creative writing and social work. After her IRTAship, she plans to attend a Clinical Psychology PhD program, and to eventually perform both clinical and research work that helps children and adolescents who struggle with anxiety disorders and other internalizing problems. In her free time, Rachel enjoys reading, spending time with her friends and dogs, and doing yoga.

Laura Jett, BS (she/her/hers) Laura, a UGSP Scholar, graduated with highest honors from UC Davis in 2021. She designed and conducted an independent honors thesis, for which she received recognition as one of two Outstanding Seniors in Cognitive Science. She is interested in studying the clinical applications of cognitive neuroscience, such as the impacts of pediatric psychopathology on cognitive development.

Philip Newsome, MPS (he/him/his) Phil, St. Mary's College of Maryland and University of Maryland, College Park alum, joined the group in the summer of 2021. His work aims to better understand the pathophysiology and maintenance of anxiety, specifically focusing on mechanisms involved in dealing with threat and motivational conflict. In his free time, Phil enjoys playing piano, reading, and trying out new restaurants in the DC area. In the near future, Phil plans to apply to doctoral programs where he can continue to learn and grow as a scientist.

Olivia Siegal, BA (she/her/hers) Olivia graduated from Wesleyan University in 2021 with a double major in Psychology and Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. At Wesleyan, she conducted her senior thesis research on the impact of rumination and emotional context on memory. Her research also focused on the explanatory roles of anxiety, depression, and COVID-related posttraumatic stress on cognition. In the future, Olivia hopes to pursue a graduate degree in clinical psychology.

Ssence J Peterson (she/her/hers) 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.

Dianna Pico Dianna has worked at the NIH for the past 5 years and joined SDAN as a Clinical Operations Manager in 2020.