James Leckman and Elena Grigorenko have led the faculty of the T32 Postdoctoral Faculty in selecting the three newest trainees that will start in July 2013. It was a very competitive field of candidates and the three selected will certainly enhance the fellowship with their depth and breadth of research experience.
Jessica Lennington completed her Ph.D. in Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Connecticut in 2012, evaluating regulatory features of adult neurogenesis in the laboratory of Dr. Joanne C. Conover. Interested in neurodevelopment, and in the potential of human tissue and neuroimaging studies to yield insights into childhood-onset psychiatric disorders, she joined the Child Study Center in 2012. Under the mentorship of Flora M. Vaccarino, she is investigating transcriptional changes that occur in regions of the brain that have been implicated in Tourette syndrome. Outside of lab, Jessica studies traditional harp with Echo Uganda, a folk orchestra that performs widely throughout Connecticut, for United Nations functions, and in educational programs for children.
Angela Maupin completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Vermont where she majored in psychology with a minor in special education. After graduation, she moved to Denver, CO and worked as a research assistant for the Infant Program at the Kempe Children’s Center in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Medical School evaluating developmental outcomes of infants living in foster or kinship care. Thereafter, she began her doctoral training in school psychology at Michigan State University where her research examined social and emotional development in infants and young children from high-risk and low-income families and how best to disseminate treatments to community-based programs (e.g. Early Head Start). She was appointed research supervisor of a National Head Start grant and was awarded a four year Office of Special Education Training Grant Fellowship where she received extensive training on the transportability of evidence-based interventions to young child populations. Her dissertation investigated the influence of parenting on social-emotional outcomes in children born preterm. Angela completed her predoctoral clinical training at the Yale Child Study Center, specializing in early childhood mental health. She is currently completing her postdoctoral clinical fellowship at Yale. She hopes to continue to examine how young children develop in the context of early risk and ways to improve mental health outcomes via high-quality early intervention.
Stephanie D. Smith completed her Bachelor of Arts degrees in psychology and anthropology at Brandeis University. After the completion of these degrees, she worked at the Pediatric Psychopharmacology Department at Massachusetts General Hospital as a Research Coordinator of medication trials for Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. In 2005, she began her graduate training in clinical psychology at the Florida State University where she conducted research exploring social cognitive factors that contribute to the development of disruptive behavior in children and adolescents for the purpose of informing intervention efforts. During graduate school, she received awards from the university in recognition and support of her research. In fulfillment of her doctoral degree, Stephanie completed a pre-doctoral internship at the Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Stephanie is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Yale Child Study Center and her research interests are focused on cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial interventions for children with disruptive behavior disorders and ADHD.