People

Dr. Renee Thompson is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and a licensed clinical psychologist (California license #26195). She graduated with a B.S. in psychology with honors and a Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She completed a clinical psychology internship at the Charleston Consortium Psychology Training Program in South Carolina. Both UIUC and Charleston Consortium are American Psychological Association-approved and members of the Academy of Psychological Clinical Science, an alliance of programs committed to the training of clinical scientists. After internship, she completed a four-year National Institute of Health-funded  postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

Dr. Thompson’s research centers on understanding the everyday emotional experience in individuals with depressive psychopathology. She uses multi-method approaches, including ecological momentary assessment, to examine  temporal dynamics of emotional experience. She is also interested in how components of emotion regulation (e.g., emotional awareness) affect the emotional experience of depressed and healthy samples. Her research is currently funded by the National Institute of Aging (R01AG070139; Role: Co-PI).

Currently, she is an associate editor at the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science (previously Journal of Abnormal Psychology) and Affective Science. She also serves as a consulting editor at Emotion. She was the program chair for the 2019 Society for Affective Science Conference and co-chaired the SPSP Emotion Preconference (2016-2018). She was elected to the Executive Board of the Society for Research in Psychopathology (2019-2021 term) and the Wash U Arts & Sciences Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (2021-2024 term).

Matthew is a first-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests lie in understanding affective dynamics (e.g., emotional inertia and reactivity) in the context of internalizing psychopathology. He hopes to utilize multimodal measures (e.g., ecological momentary assessments, psychophysiological data) in this pursuit. Matthew graduated with a B.Socsc in Psychology from the Singapore Management University in 2021. Prior to joining the lab, Matthew was a research assistant supporting both the department of Psychiatry at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Rehabilitation Research Institute of Singapore. During his free time, Matthew keeps active at the gym and loves cooking.

Alison is a fourth-year graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Washington University in St. Louis. She is interested in the intersection between clinical and social sciences and in how these two domains interact to influence mood and emotion regulation, with a particular focus on Major Depression and anxiety disorders. Some of her specific interests include the influence of social networking sites on emotion and mental health and the role of interpersonal emotion regulation in the course and etiology of mood disorders. Alison graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Binghamton University in 2016. She spent one year working as a research assistant at Yale University followed by two years working as a project coordinator at UC Berkeley before joining Dr. Thompson’s lab at WashU.

Yiqin is a second-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. He is mainly interested in understanding transdiagnostic processes (e.g., repetitive negative thinking) underlying mood and anxiety disorders. In particular, he aims to delve deeper into these underlying mechanisms by leveraging computational methods and digital phenotyping (e.g., through smartphones and wearables). He has been named a McDonnell International Scholar in his pursuit of PhD at Wash U. He has also been appointed as the associated editor for the Clinical Psychologist (2022-2025), an official publication of the Society of Clinical Psychology (APA Div. 12). Yiqin holds an M.S. in Statistics from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Psychology from Peking University. Prior to joining Dr. Thompson’s lab, Yiqin spent two years working as a research assistant for an NIMH-funded LGBTQ+ suicide prevention trial and a MSRC-funded intensive daily assessment study on sleep and suicide at the University of Pennsylvania.

Olivia is a sophomore from Skokie, Illinois majoring in Biology with a minor in Psychological & Brain Sciences. She is interested in healthy aging, disability and chronic illness advocacy, and the prevention of mental health disorders. Olivia hopes to continue her studies to pursue a career in occupational therapy. During her free time she enjoys figure skating, crochet, and baking.

Talia is a first-year from Evanston, Illinois. She plans to study Psychological and Brain Sciences with a minor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She hopes to pursue a career in mental health as a therapist after graduating from WashU. Talia is interested in emotion regulation, anxiety and depressive disorders, and neurodivergence. In her free time, she loves to listen to music, spend time outside, and explore new restaurants.

Analise is a senior majoring in Psychological & Brain Sciences and minoring in French and Computer Science. She is interested in the intertwining relationships between emotion, depression, and anxiety. In the future she hopes to work in UX Research. In her free time she enjoys running, playing the flute, shuffle dancing, and drinking tea.

Gabi is a junior from San Diego, California double majoring in Psychology and Music and minoring in Writing. She is interested in mental health, specifically depression and anxiety, in teenagers and young adults and is considering going into a career in therapy or mental health nonprofit work. She is extremely excited to be a part of the teen social media study and looks forward to learning about the effects social media has on the mental health of teenagers. Outside of the lab, Gabi plays the trumpet in WashU’s orchestra, wind ensemble, pep band, and pit orchestra, as well as being a part of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, the club softball team, and working at the Gaylord music library. In her limited free time, she enjoys listening to music, watching Padres games, reading, and spending time with friends.

Mythili is a rising junior at WashU hoping to go into medicine, and is interested in exploring how mental wellness affects physical wellness. Outside of lab, she is a part of Uncle Joe’s, a peer counseling organization. She also loves spending time outside (especially with her dog) and drawing with henna.

Bianca is a senior from Chicago, IL that is majoring in Psychological and Brain Sciences. Her current interests include mental health in Black communities and emotion regulation, specifically how nutrition and exercise affect both of these facets. In the future, Bianca hopes to start her own private therapy practice in which she helps clients live healthier lifestyles by addressing the emotional aspects of their food and activity choices. Outside of academia, she enjoys binge watching crime documentaries, lifting weights, and singing.

Arden is a junior from Chicago, Illinois majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience and minoring in Biology. She is interested in studying the environmental contributions to the development of mental health disorders in adolescents. She is also interested in comorbidities between mental health disorders and why they may occur. She is looking forward to dive into these interests while helping with the teen social media study. In the future, she hopes to attend medical school where she is interested in pursuing psychiatry. In her free time, Arden enjoys reading, cooking, and volunteering as an EMT.

Rayanna is a sophomore from Long Island, New York. She is double majoring in Psychology and Creative Writing with a minor in Legal Studies. She is interested in mental health awareness and studying the relationship between internal and external perceptions of mental health disorders. She joined the lab to learn more about how different feelings and emotions towards mental health impact the development of these disorders, and is excited to research this through the lens of social media. In the future, she hopes to attend law school. In her free time, Rayanna is involved in Active Minds and enjoys photography.

Gautham is a sophomore at WashU and is from the Bay Area. He is a Research Assistant in the Emotion and Mental Health Lab, and is pursuing a double major in Neuroscience and Philosophy as well as a minor in Psychological and Brain Sciences. His research interests include neurodegenerative disorders involving axon regeneration as well as brain development. At WashU, Gautham enjoys being an EMT and being a part of the Mock Trial team.

Gigi is a sophomore from Chicago, Illinois majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience and minoring in Drama, with a focus in technical theatre and design. She is broadly interested in how mental illness impacts developing brains. She would also like to connect her previous research on criticality in the brain to the development and impact of depression on everyday life. In the future, she plans to pursue a Ph.D. or Psy.D. in clinical psychology in the pursuit of bettering mental health diagnosis and care for children and teenagers. Outside of the lab, Gigi enjoys creating sound and effect designs for live shows in the Edison Theatre, building puzzles and hiking with her family, and reading murder mysteries.

Anvita is a junior from Bangalore, India majoring in Cognitive Neuroscience. Her current research interests include the biological and neural basis of mental disorders, and how cognitive therapy and emotional regulation can be developed further to treat more severe mental disorders. In the future, she intends to pursue a Ph.D or Psy.D in clinical psychology to further explore these interests. Outside of research, Anvita spends her time singing with her acapella group, volunteering as a part of the national service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega, and enjoys spending her time reading, listening to music, and spending time with friends and family.

Ankitha is a junior from Hyderabad, India. She is studying biology and psychology with a minor in WGSS. She has a passion for mental health advocacy and is keen to get involved with research that studies mental health & it’s impact. In the future, she plans to apply to medical school. She loves photography, travelling and spending time with her family.

Sophie is a rising junior from St. Louis, double majoring in Film & Media Studies and Psychological & Brain Sciences and minoring in Human-Computer Interaction. She is interested in mental health, personality, and HCI research. The intersection of film and psychology and how we process visual information fascinates her as well. She has previously worked in the Attention & Performance psychology lab and an astrophysics lab at WashU and is excited to continue being an RA. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in HCI where she can combine her passion for film and psychology.

Adam is a Sophomore from Woodside, California majoring in Biomedical Engineering. His research interests include the relationship between aging and brain development, and mood disorders. After graduating he hopes to practice medicine or pursue a career in the biotech industry. At WashU Adam is a PLTL leader for general chemistry, and in his free time he enjoys playing the guitar, playing basketball, cooking, and hiking.

Natasha is in her sixth year in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently on clinical internship at University of Chicago Medicine. She is interested in the role of emotion dysregulation in psychopathology, and has a particular interest in the negative reactions that people often have to their own emotional experiences. She graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Pomona College in 2012, after which she spent three years working as a research assistant at Brown University/Butler Hospital.

Jordan was the Emotion and Psychopathology Lab’s lab manager (2013-2015). She is interested in the diagnosis and treatment of Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety disorders. She believes that understanding the emotional experience of individuals with these disorders is critical to the process of diagnosis and treatment.  She is currently a graduate student in the clinical psychology at Temple University (mentor: Dr. Philip Kendall). She would like to use this degree towards a career as a practicing clinician, specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of MDD and anxiety disorders. 

Nate Eckland was a postdoctoral researcher on the MARCER study (2021-2022). Nate received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research has gone on to examine affective processes in relation to psychopathology and aging. Since leaving the lab he has pursued a career in clinical practice and research consultation. 

Beatris was a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research centers around the study of the transdiagnostic features of mood and anxiety disorders in daily life. She is currently interested in exploring how perseverative thinking (e.g., worry, rumination) influences an individual’s emotion regulatory behaviors (e.g, strategy selection and flexibility). At WashU, she worked to expand this program of research to study the phenomenological experience of these transdiagnostic mechanisms of psychopathology. Beatris graduated with a B.S. in psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. She then spent two years as a postgraduate research associate at Yale University followed by one year as research associate at the UPMC Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic before joining the Emotion and Mental Health Lab.

Haijing is an alumni of the lab, earning her doctoral in clinical psychology in 2020. During graduate school, Haijing researched the role of emotion in decision-making difficulty, particularly in individuals with depressive psychopathology. She completed her clinical internship at Palo Alto VA (2019-2020).  She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Center for PTSD at Palo Alto VA, studying the development and efficacy of mobile app technology in treating PTSD and co-occurring depression. Prior to joining Dr. Thompson’s lab, she received a BA in psychology from Vanderbilt University and worked as a lab manager at University of Pennsylvania.

Hee Yeon was the Lab Manager for the Emotion & Mental Health Lab (2017-2018). She is interested studying emotion from both social and clinical perspectives and using multi-method approaches. She graduated with a B.S. in Psychology from University of California, San Diego in 2017 and worked as a research assistant in labs under Drs. Christopher Oveis and Nicholas Christenfeld.

Mary was the Project Coordinator for our MARCER study (2021-2023). She received her BA in Psychology from the University of South Florida, where she worked in the Mood and Emotion Lab and later for the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy. She is interested in the interpersonal context of emotion regulation and how it relates to social and emotional well-being more broadly. Mary is currently getting her Master’s degree in psychology at the College of William & Mary and later plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology.

Daphne was a graduate student in the clinical psychology doctoral program at Washington University in St. Louis. She is currently completing her predoctoral internship at Emory University School of Medicine. Daphne’s research centers around emotion regulation, psychopathology, and interpersonal relationships. Specifically, Daphne is interested in investigating how individuals with mood and anxiety disorders regulate emotions differently from those without psychopathologies. She also conducts research in interpersonal emotion regulation, how people regulate their own and others’ emotions in social settings (e.g., how spouses regulate each other’s emotions), in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. Daphne received a B.S. in psychology from UC San Diego in 2015 and worked as a clinical research assistant at the VA in San Diego before moving to St.Louis. For more information, please visit her website.

Mert was an honors student in the lab 2019-2020. He double-majored in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Music, graduating in August 2020. He hopes to pursue an academic career in research on alternative therapies for mood and anxiety disorders. He was drawn to clinical research by his fascination with the fragility and malleability of mood.

Seth was an honor student in the lab from 2019 to 2020, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2020. He majored in Psychology and Brain Sciences and minored in General Economics.  His honors thesis examined how emotional awareness influences people’s judgements when they are in a negative mood. In fall of 2020, Seth will begin the clinical psychology doctoral program at Miami University in Ohio (mentor: Terri L. Messman-Moore, Ph.D.).