Mission Statement

The University of Houston Center for Relationship Studies was founded to provide state- of-the-art services for couples in committed relationships. Our approach draws upon the latest scientific information about the ingredients to relationship success. The services are appropriate for couples who are experiencing specific relationship difficulties as well as those who want to make an already good relationship even better. All services are made available to any couple including cohabitating, separated, and gay and lesbian couples.

Faculty & Staff

Dr. Julia Babcock

My research interests center around couples’ relationships, couples therapy, and domestic violence. I am specifically interested in the role of emotion in functional as well as violent relationships. My students and I have built a psychophysiology and observational lab to assess emotional reactions during interpersonal situations. We assess autonomic responding and code facial affect displayed during couples’ naturalistic conflict discussions and experimental tasks. Recently, we received a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to assess psychophysiological reactivity during interpersonal tasks as it differentiates borderline from antisocial/psychopathic personality features. Our research team also collaborates with police, courts, treatment providers, and victims’ advocates to evaluate coordinated community interventions to domestic violence. We also frequently train treatment providers on the research on intimate partner violence. The ultimate goal of our research is to develop new interventions that might improve the efficacy of domestic violence treatment programs.

Dr. John Vincent

John P. Vincent, Ph.D., ABPP received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Oregon in 1972. Dr. Vincent is Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston. In addition to his role as Department Chairman, for sixteen years he has served as Director of Clinical Psychology, which is among the top 15% of clinical psychology programs nationally and the top rated program in Texas. He also holds a clinical faculty appointment at Baylor College of Medicine. He has maintained a practice in clinical and forensic psychology for over 30 years. He has been a licensed clinical psychologist in the State of Texas since 1974 and is board certified as a clinical psychologist with the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has edited six books in the area of Family Psychology, served on the editorial boards of numerous professional journals, and has authored over 120 research articles, chapters, books and conference presentations. He has received over 30 research grants from private, state, and federal agencies, including funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Health, and the U. S. Department of Justice. He has also served as a consultant to major law firms, corporations and governmental agencies regarding forensic psychology in the context of labor and employment law, family law and other civil law arenas.

Deanna Pollard

Deanna Pollard is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Master of Arts in Experimental Psychology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and a Master of Arts in Psychology from the University of Houston. Deanna is a practicum student at Heights Couples Therapy, where she works with couples and individuals experiencing relationship concerns. Deanna’s clinical and research interests are in couples therapy and examining factors that impact intimate relationship functioning. Her master’s thesis examined the interaction effect between attachment avoidance in men and anxious attachment in women on physical IPV perpetration in a predominantly Hispanic college student sample. Deanna’s dissertation will be a three-part study examining the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a self-report questionnaire designed to assess Negative Sentiment Override (NSO) in adults involved in committed relationships. Email

Tanya Shah

Tanya Shah is a third year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral program, on the Adult track. She got her B.A. in Psychology from Pomona College in California, and then spent two years as a full-time research assistant at the University of Pittsburgh studying decision making processes in depression and borderline personality disorder. Her research interests currently focus on using ecologically valid experimental paradigms to study interpersonal conflict and intimate partner violence in close relationships. Email

Charlotte Zell

Charlotte Zell is a second-year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego. Before starting graduate school, she conducted research on intimate partner violence interventions, PTSD, and mental health stigma. Charlotte’s current research is focused on the role of personality impairment and mentalizing in romantic relationships. She is also interested in the application of mentalization-based treatment approaches to couples, including to potentially augment existing evidence-based couples interventions. Her master’s thesis will investigate dyadic effects of personality functioning in couples.  Email

Emma Heidelberg

Emma Heidelberg is a first-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Florida. Her research and clinical interests center on romantic relationships and couples therapy, with a particular focus on how substance use (especially alcohol) and sexuality intersect to influence relationship satisfaction, conflict, and success. Prior to beginning her doctoral studies, she conducted research on transgender relationships, specifically examining the experiences of partners of transgender men. Email