The "LEED"-ERS

Johanna Bick, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Director, Laboratory of Early Experience and Development (LEED)
Clinical Psychology
Developmental, Cognitive, & Behavioral Neuroscience
Ph.D., University of Delaware
jrbick@uh.edu

Dr. Johanna Bick is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Houston. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delaware in 2011. She then completed research fellowships at the Yale Child Study Center and the Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, prior to coming to UH in the fall of 2016.

Kelly Barry

Graduate Student

Kelly is a fourth-year child clinical doctoral student in the lab. Her research focuses on understanding how experiences of stress impact brain development during sensitive developmental periods. She is particularly interested in identifying neural and socio-cognitive processes that confer risk for psychopathology.

Jordan Denaver-Thabit

Graduate Student

Jordan is a doctoral student in the Child Clinical Psychology program. Her research interests include understanding how early parent–child relationships shape children’s cognitive development. She hopes to translate this knowledge into clinically informed interventions that strengthen parent–child relationships and promote healthy developmental trajectories.

Marguerite Knudston

Graduate Student

Marguerite is a doctoral student on the Clinical Psychology research interests include examining the effects of early life adversity on children’s emotion regulation and behavioral outcomes through effects on neurodevelopment, and identifying family environmental factors that contribute to resiliency.

Haley Laughlin

Graduate Student

Haley is a doctoral student in the DCBN program. Her research interests include investigating the sources of individual variability of outcomes in children who experience stress and adversity.

Josh Litwin

Graduate Student

Josh is a doctoral student in the Child Clinical Psychology program. He spent a year researching neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with congenital heart disease at Boston Children’s Hospital. Josh’s research interests involve using neuroimaging methods to better understand the relationships between environmental risk factors and cognitive outcomes.

Sarah Martinez

Graduate Student

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah is a doctoral student in the DCBN program. Her research interests center on how early environments shape children’s emotional, regulatory, and academic development. She is particularly interested in understanding how these early experiences contribute to pathways of risk and resilience through the use of neuroimaging techniques.

 

Brookelyn Mayfield

Graduate Student

Brookelyn is a doctoral student in the DCBN program. Her research interests include the use of neuroimaging to understand risk factors’ manifestations in behavior. She hopes to later apply what she learns to trauma and developmentally originating disorders while simultaneously applying grit, resilience, and beneficial experiences.

Current UH research assistants

• Jonas Amaya
• Drew Cash
• Leslie Gonzalez
• Jana Saidy
• Xiomara Barahona

Alumni & Former Students

Former Graduate Students:

• Livia Merrill, Ph.D.
• Xinge Li, Ph.D.
• Shutian Shen, MA
• Rebecca Lipshutz, Ph.D.
• Brian Biekman, MA
• Parsa Taheri, MA