I am a sixth-year graduate student in clinical psychology at Yale University working with Alan Kazdin. I am also currently completing my doctoral internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

My research focuses on human-animal interaction (HAI), with a particular emphasis on understanding the benefits of interactions with animals for human mental health. Much of my recent work has focused on establishing the influence of brief, unstructured interactions with dogs on human stress, as well as the circumstances under which those effects are most potent. Other current projects are looking at possible mechanisms of action for the effects of dogs on human stress, the influence of pet dogs on maternal-child interactions, the role of pet ownership in the lives of individuals with borderline personality disorder, and what it means for someone to be a “dog person.” For more information, please visit the Innovative Interactions Lab web page at iilab.yale.edu.

Before beginning graduate school I earned my B.A. in Child Development and Psychology at Tufts University in Medford, MA. At Tufts I worked with Dr. Ann Easterbrooks and Dr. Richard Lerner.