Current Members

Dr. Wan-Ling Tseng is an Assistant Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. She received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota and completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Tseng is committed to a long-term career as a developmental affective neuroscientist conducting innovative and collaborative research focused on irritability and related symptoms. Her research program, currently funded by her NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2), aims to delineate mechanisms and predictors of chronic irritability across multiple levels of analysis from neural circuits, physiology, behaviors, social experiences (e.g., peer interactions), to familial and environmental factors and across development. In addition to the New Innovator Award, Dr. Tseng’s work has been recognized by other prestigious awards and organizations including the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), Society of Biological Psychiatry Travel Award, Career Development Institute for Bipolar Disorder, NIH Fellows Award for Research Excellence, NIMH OFT Trainee Travel Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Travel Award, Doris Duke Fund to Retain Clinical Scientists, and Charles H. Hood Foundation Child Health Research Award.

Kelsey recently graduated from the University of New Haven with a degree in psychology and a minor in criminal justice. She has been part of the YAY Lab for 2 years, assisting in a meta-analysis with a former postgraduate associate. After her time at the YAY Lab, she has plans to obtain her Master’s in Developmental Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh.

Abena Opoku is an undergraduate student at Yale planning to major in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology or History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health on the premedical track. Abena’s research interests include how biological and neural mechanisms are influenced by external factors such as socioeconomic background, opportunities, and experiences, and how these factors affect treatment outcomes particularly among marginalized communities. She joined the YAY Lab in June 2025, and her current project is focused on how access to neighborhood resources influences amygdala reactivity in frustrated youth.

Angelique graduated from Columbia University in 2023 with an MA in Clinical Psychology, and from NYU in 2021 with a BA in English and American Literature. At Columbia, she worked as a research assistant in the Laboratory for Clinical and Developmental Studies studying cognitive risk factors for suicide among adolescence. There, she completed her master's thesis, Death Conceptualizations: How do suicidal adolescents presenting to a pediatric psychiatric emergency department view the end of their lives? Her research interests include anxiety and irritability in youth and their potential link to later suicidality. In addition to working with the YAY lab, Angelique is also working as a research assistant at the Montefiore Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic. She hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and continue to work with children and families.

After graduating from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in 2025 with a bachelor’s of science in psychology and a minor in education, Alexa joined the YAY Lab as a postgraduate associate, studying the neurological and behavioral indices of youth irritability. At UCR, she was involved in multiple research labs and fellowships, with a specific focus of empathy, climate anxiety, and future-oriented cognition. Her research interests remain consistent, with a desire to translate her previous research experiences and skills to the YAY lab.