Graduate Students

Research Coordinators

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Recent Lab Graduates

David Johnson, MA
I was raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania (made famous by Billy Joel) and spent my weekends at the Jersey Shore. While attending the University of CA, San Diego I studied ERPs in a Cognitive Psych lab at Scripps Research Institute under Dr. John Polich. After graduating I worked with Dr. Eric Granholm and his wonderful crew at the San Diego Veterans Hospital doing assessments of neurocognition (using pupillometry and neuropsych tests) and clinical symptoms. My thesis was a study of client characteristics that predicted group alliance in group therapy for schizophrenia. Currently I am conducting a treatment outcome study of a pilot intervention, loving-kindness meditation, aimed at improving the negative symptoms and psychological recovery of individuals with schizophrenia. I'm also involved in treatment research in Moshi, Tanzania with collaborators at Duke University (our hated basketball rivals) studying an implementation of Illness Management and Recovery at KCMC Hospital. In my copious spare time I enjoy a Sunday morning at church, Sunday afternoon spent playing basketball and watching the Philadelphia Eagles, and Sunday night dancing to hot beats at a Salsa Club....all in the company of my beautiful wife Katie.

During the 2009-2010 academic year, Dave is completing his clinical internship at the Seattle VA/Puget Sound Health Care System.

Sarah Uzenoff, MA
Sarah was born and raised in Connecticut, and earned her BA in psychology from Princeton University in 2003. After graduation, she worked in New York City as a case worker in foster care and adoption, and then as a clinical research associate in the department of psychiatry at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY. Currently Sarah’s research interests include treatment for first-episode psychosis. At UNC she has co-facilitated a first-episode psychoeducation group as well as SCIT therapy groups. Her master’s thesis evaluated a preliminary trial of Adherence-Coping-Education (ACE) therapy, a cognitively-oriented therapy developed by Dr. Penn and colleagues at UNC aimed at improving attitudes towards medication in individuals with first-episode psychosis. Her dissertation will evaluate clinical and functional outcome data from UNC's OASIS clinic, which is dedicated to providing specialized services to adolescents and young adults who are experiencing early psychosis. In her spare time, she enjoys the Carolina sunshine, good barbecue, caring for homeless animals, and searching for quality dance spots.

Tim Perry, MA
A UNC alumnus, Tim spent several years working in the autism and developmental disabilities fields before returning for graduate school in the fall of 2005.  He is currently involved in a pilot study which seeks to adapt the manualized Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) for use with adults and adolescents with high-functioning autism.  This intervention was originally developed by Dr. Penn and Dave Roberts for use with individuals with schizophrenia.  Tim hopes to extend this intervention by examining the relationship between social impairment and psychological distress in individuals with autism and whether improvements in social functioning result in lower rates of reported distress.  He is working on this project under the guidance of Dr. Penn and Dr. Gary Mesibov at Division TEACCH.  In his spare time Tim may be found checking out the local music scene (at record stores or concerts), playing guitar, exercising or watching college athletics and rooting for his UNC Tarheels.

Clare Marks, MA
Clare was raised in Rockaway Beach, NY. She graduated from Binghamton University with a BA in Psychology. While at Binghamton, she worked with Dr. Mark Lenzenweger studying the neurobiological bases of schizophrenia and schizotypy. After graduating in 2004, she was a Research Support Assistant at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) where she assisted in trials sponsored by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. While working at NYSPI, she was a Volunteer Research Assistant for Dr. Barbara Cornblatt at the Recognition and Prevention Program affiliated with Zucker-Hillside Hospital. Clare’s current research interests are in early disease detection and prevention, factors that contribute to disease onset, as well as the recurrence of episodes and risk factors in first-degree relatives. In her free time, she runs with the Trailheads, a local running group, and enjoys going out dancing with Sarah.

Allison Bassett
Allison was born and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended the Catholic University of America, where she studied psychology and education studies. During her time at CUA, Allison also worked as a research assistant at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development on a project studying interpersonal therapy as an intervention for adolescent girls with binge eating disorder. Allison has also worked clinically with children with autism for several years, most notably as a Floortime therapist at the BRIDGES preschool of Texas Children's Hosptial. Following her graduation, Allison was accepted as a graduate student in the UNC Clinical Psychology Program. Her current research interests are in the areas of social skills and early identification and intervention within the field of autism spectrum disorders. At this time, Allison is working on her master's thesis under the supervision of Dr. David Penn and Dr. Gary Mesibov of Division TEACCH. This project will develop a peer-based role play measure of social skills for adolescents and young adults with autism spectrum disorders.

Katy Harper, MA
Katy was born and raised outside of Vancouver, Canada. Katy earned a B.A. from McGill University in Psychology before moving to New York City to pursue a M.A. in Counselling Psychology from Columbia University. After completing her Masters she worked for two years as a Research Coordinator at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, working on several projects including a study of treatment refractory schizophrenia and a study of hypochondriasis. Her current interests involve working with people suffering from medication resistent psychotic illnesses, chronically ill inpatient populations and the therapeutic factors that may influence treatment outcome in group CBT. Outside of school she spends a great deal of time collecting records and vintage metal band shirts.

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Piper Meyer, PhD
Piper Meyer is the Research Coordinator for the Penn Lab.  She was born in Joplin, Missouri and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  She is married and has two sons, ages 5 and 8.  She is currently a project coordinator for the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) project and the Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) study.  The goal of RAISE is to improve the long-term trajectory of schizophrenia and reduce disability by providing rapid, comprehensive, effective identification and treatment at the first episode of psychosis. The SCIT study is comparing a group to improve social cognition to a group receiving treatment as usual.  She has ten years of clinical experience working with people with schizophrenia.  Dr. Meyer graduated from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis with a doctorate in Clinical Rehabilitation Psychology.  She was a postdoctoral fellow in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Systems and Services Research at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2003-2005.  She has specialized in psychiatric rehabilitation and has worked on projects that examined the implementation of Assertive Community Treatment across the state of North Carolina, Forensic Assertive Community Treatment teams across the nation, and a study of comparing group CBT to group supportive counseling for treatment resistant auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia.  She has received extensive training in ACT, social skills training, cognitive behavior therapy, and Illness Management and Recovery.  She co-developed the advanced cognitive behavioral treatment training for Illness Management training and the Minnesota Clinical Competency Scale for Illness Management and Recovery.  She is currently a national trainer and consultant for Illness Management and Recovery.

Betty Rupp, BS
Betty Rupp is the Project Coordinator for the Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) study and the Social Cognition & Interaction Training study for adolescents and young adults with High Functioning Autism (SCIT-A). She obtained her Bachelor's in Psychology from the University of Alabama in Birmingham and has over 5 years of field experience working with people with schizophrenia.

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Abigail Judge, PhD
Post-doctoral fellowship in Child Forensic Psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital's Children and the Law Program/Clinical Fellow, Harvard Medical School

Abigail completed her clinical internship at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Hospital in Child and Adult Psychiatry in July 2009.

Evan Waldheter, PhD
Staff Psychologist, Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical Schoo

Evan graduated from the UNC Clinical Ph.D. Program in 2008, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at the Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School in August, 2009. Currently, he is working as a staff psychologist at Commonwealth Psychology Associates, a multi-specialty group practice in Boston, MA. He also is an adjunct psychology instructor at Boston College, where he teaches undergraduate abnormal psychology.

David Roberts, PhD
NIMH Post-doctoral Fellow, Yale University School of Medicine

Amy Pinkham, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain Behavior Laboratory, University of Pennsylvania Medical School

After receiving her doctorate in clinical psychology from UNC in August of 2006, Amy began work as a postdoctoral fellow in the Brain Behavior Laboratory (BBL) of the Neuropsychiatry Department at the University of Pennsylvania.  Since arriving at the BBL, she has continued her research program which links the fields of clinical psychology and neuroscience in an effort to address fundamental questions regarding the behavioral characteristics and neural basis of social cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia.  In her functional neuroimaging (fMRI) work, she is currently collecting data that will be used to investigate neural functioning (using Blood Oxygen Level Dependent or BOLD contrast) in response to facial emotion identification and facial recognition memory in individuals with schizophrenia and their first-degree relatives.  As part of this effort, Amy is also collecting and analyzing fMRI data based on perfusion contrasts, a variety of arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI methods designed to visualize and quantify cerebral blood flow during various states of brain function.  In addition to these projects, she is also developing behavioral paradigms that should help in determining the nature of social cognitive deficits in schizophrenia (i.e. a generalized vs. specific deficit) and that she also plans to use in her comparison of social cognitive abilities in individuals with schizophrenia and individuals with autism.

Shannon Couture, PhD
Assistant Research Professor, University of Maryland College Park

I joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in August 2008. My research interests focus on understanding psychological factors which may contribute to the development and maintenance of symptoms, and to poor functioning in individuals with psychosis. Previous work has considered how important constructs such as social cognition, personality characteristics, and a jumping to conclusions response tendency impact symptoms and functioning. Current research involves exploration of how self and world beliefs may impact negative symptoms, whether jumping to conclusions is related to neurocognitive and functioning skills, and the use of new measures to further investigate social cognitive skills in schizophrenia. I maintain collaborative relationships with colleagues all over, including Dr. Eric Granholm, Dr. Jack Blanchard, Prof Tony Morrison, Dr. Paul Grant, Dr. Aaron T. Beck, and of course, Dr. David Penn. In my spare time, I enjoy living in and exploring Washington DC and traveling as often as I can.

Dennis Combs, PhD
Associate Professor, University of Texas at Tyler

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