Welcome to the Penn Lab website!

I am a Professor of Psychology at UNC-Chapel Hill and the Associate Director of Clinical Training.  I have been at UNC since 1999.

Previously, I was on the faculty at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and LSU. I received my Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, under the mentorship of Will Spaulding, Ph.D., and completed my internship at the Medical College of Pennsylvania, at the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, under the mentorship of Kim Mueser, Ph.D..

Link to Curriculum Vitae
 

Personally, I was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Great Neck LI.  My mother and younger brother still live in Great Neck.  My wife, Leah, is from Madison, WI.  We live in Durham and enjoy travel, restaurants, good films, and living in this area.

My primary research interests are in two areas: Social cognition and psychosocial treatment for schizophrenia.  In regard to social cognition, I am interested in how social cognition (i.e., emotion perception, attributional style, and theory of mind) changes across the course of schizophrenia (e.g., prior to illness onset, prodromal, first episode, and chronic), its neural basis, and how social cognition relates to social functioning.

Over the past few years, my research has had a particular emphasis on psychosocial treatment for schizophrenia.  Specifically, we have conducted studies examining individual CBT for schizophrenia, group CBT for individuals with medication-resistant auditory hallucinations, illness management and recovery, CBT for first episode psychosis, and Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) (for both schizophrenia and high functioning autism).

I have also conducted research in the area of stigma, particularly in ways to reduce it. Although this has not been an active research area for me over the past 5 years, I remain very interested in it.  Thus, I encourage students (both current and new) to consider research on methods for reducing stigma toward individuals with schizophrenia.

If you are interested in being a member of my lab, you should note that there a number of rich research and training opportunities in this area. These include two outpatient clinics affiliated with UNC hospitals: the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program (STEP) which serves individuals with chronic schizophrenia, and the Outreach and Support Intervention Services (OASIS) program, which serves individuals with first episode psychosis.  In addition, there is a new state hospital in Butner, NC (about 30 minutes from Chapel Hill) and research programs that focus on individuals with prodromal symptoms (i.e, the NAPLS Study and the Conte Center).

Lab meetings (both individual and group) are held every two weeks.  Students are expected to be involved in research throughout their UNC careers, and are encouraged to publish their thesis and dissertation.  I also encourage students to attend the annual meeting of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT), as well as to present their work there.

You should apply to work with me if you have interest in social cognition in schizophrenia and/or psychosocial treatment for schizophrenia.  Our lab has an excellent reputation; students from my lab have won the “Wallach Award,” given to the top graduate student in the clinical program, the past four years!  We seek students who are not only outstanding academically and intellectually, but are also, nice, down-to-earth people (which we consider very important to our lab group).  During the interview process, I take the opinions of my lab very seriously, as we want to create as fun and supportive atmosphere as possible.

Thank you for visiting my website!

back to top

site last updated 9/29/2009