The Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) – which serves as the department of child psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine – welcomes and introduces new community members on an on-going basis. All new faculty, staff, and trainees are invited to share bios and photos upon joining the department, and those who wish to participate are announced approximately monthly.
This month, the department welcomes Nicola Hohensee, PhD, who joined the Cha Lab in mid-April, and Alix Hunter, who entered the department as the new chief of staff in the chair’s office as of May 12, 2025.
Nicola Hohensee, PhD, serves as a postdoctoral associate in the Cha Lab, led by Christine Cha, PhD. She earned a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Münster, Germany, under the supervision of Ulrike Buhlmann, PhD. Her primary research focuses on the multimodal assessment of cognitive-affective processes contributing to the genesis and maintenance of mental health problems. Her work emphasizes the use of intensive longitudinal study designs and analysis methods in order to better understand how cognitive-affective processes fluctuate and unfold in daily life.
Alix Hunter is the new chief of staff in the chair’s office, where she will serve as the main point person for meetings and communication with Linda Mayes, MD, while also facilitating departmental calendaring and events, and providing executive level support. Prior to joining the YCSC, Hunter supported the operations, volunteer engagement, and stewardship efforts of the cancer fundraising team within the Yale School of Medicine Office of Alumni Affairs and Development. Prior to that, she worked as a development coordinator for the Yale School of Public Health and supported faculty at the Yale School of Management. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in social work at Southern Connecticut State University.