Yale Child Study Center Welcomes Sixteen New Fellows

A leader in understanding psychiatric disorders, child development, and the social, behavioral, and emotional adjustment of children, the Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) welcomes new trainees to its world-renowned fellowships each summer. YCSC training programs share a common goal of providing a deep understanding adaptive and maladaptive development in children and their families. This is gained through supervised clinical intervention delivery, didactic experiences, and involvement in research initiatives designed to increase knowledge and inform clinical decision-making.

The following outstanding trainees are joining the Center this year. Abbreviated bios are included below, with additional details and accompanying photos available in the linked listings for each fellowship type.

Matthew Johnson, MD received his medical degree from Creighton University School of Medicine and concurrently completed additional Graduate School studies in Bioethics. For residency, he attended The Beth Israel Deaconess Harvard Psychiatry Program. Matt is interested in bioethics as well as mentalizing and dynamic modalities of psychotherapy. His research interests include the role of neuroinflammation in childhood psychiatric disease primarily in thought, perception, and cognition.

Allison Lawler, MD began her Master of Education in Teaching in 2007 and transitioned from being a high school math teacher to a learning center director before leaving for Chicago Medical School in 2014. She stayed at Chicago Medical School for residency, where, as chief resident, she advocated for residents and organized/participated in multiple activities involving members of the community Her past and current research endeavors include CBPAR with youth.

Maria Motlagh, MD was born and raised in Tehran, Iran, where she completed medical school and developed an interest in neurodevelopmental disorders. During her Psychiatry residency in Tehran University, she joined a cross-national project between Iran, Turkey, and Yale Child Study Center (YCSC). Maria completed her residency program at Yale Department of Psychiatry and took a one-year fellowship in Public Psychiatry Young Adult Services at Yale. After completing the fellowship, she was selected to be the Chief of Behavioral Health Department for Connecticut Institute for Communities (CIFC).

Onyi Okeke, MD recently graduated from Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale University. She completed her first three years of general psychiatry residency training at Georgetown University. She was awarded a Clinical Research Fellowship at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) for her 4th year of residency. While at NIMH, she served on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center Ethics Committee and the NIMH Disparities Team. She completed her undergraduate training at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and then attended Rutgers, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital for medical school. Her career mission is to improve access to high-quality mental health care and reduce behavioral health disparities, across the life span, through effective system’s-based practice.

Sherab Tsheringla, MBBS, MD was a clinician and researcher in child and adolescent psychiatry and neurodevelopmental disorders in South Asia before coming to the United States. With additional training in child abuse at UCSF and the Child Advocacy Center/ Trauma Rape Recovery Center in San Francisco, he has worked extensively on developing trauma informed systems for child sexual abuse in India. At the University of Minnesota, he was able to appreciate the lifespan nature of conditions like ADHD and Borderline Personality Disorder, proposing changes in treatment approaches.

Brittany Atuahene Robinson, MD is a Ghanaian American who was born and raised in South Jersey. She attended the University of Pennsylvania as a Psychology major, where she found her passion for mental health. After completing a post-bac and working as a clinic research coordinator, Brittany attended the University of Pittsburgh for medical school, with the intent of becoming a psychiatrist. In residency, she pursued her interests by joining the department’s wellness task force and spending her PGY-3 outpatient year at Yale University’s counseling center. In addition, Brittany was awarded the APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship award and is working on a project which focuses on mental health supports for Black undergraduate students attending predominantly white institutions.

Jamila Cutliff Hokanson, MD, MBA, MHA is a native of Saginaw, MI and a Program-wide Chief Psychiatry Resident at Yale. She has a background in medicine, business management, and quality improvement. Her clinical interests include working with adolescents and young adults healing from trauma, supporting research in psychedelic assisted psychotherapy with a particular focus on people of color and young adults, and leveraging integrative psychiatry treatment modalities. She is a 2021 fellow of the integrative psychiatry institute, a trainee for MAPS-sponsored MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD, and a Yale research study psychiatrist for Psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of OCD and Depression.

Joseph Knoble, MD has had an educational journey spanning from Charlottesville, Chicago and back to Roanoke in his home state, Virginia. Throughout, these stops have been bound by a common thread: to pursue meaningful, academic ventures that push the boundaries of my comfort zone. Now, starting his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center, he will look to continue exploring the intersection of policy and psychiatry as well as the relationship between metabolic health and mental health.

Emily Behling, MD grew up in rural northeastern Connecticut. She received her B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Connecticut and her M.D. from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Prior to entering medical school, Emily worked as a mental health worker on the inpatient adolescent psychiatry unit at Natchaug Hospital. Her research interests involve using advanced meta-analytic techniques and clinical trials to improve the understanding and pharmacological treatments of conditions affecting children and adults including Tourette syndrome, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and anxiety disorders.

Jacob Lister, MD, PhD attended college in Middlebury, Vermont and lived at various points in Istanbul, Boston, Colorado, Montreal, New York, and Dallas before returning to New Haven in 2012. In medical school, he did his graduate research in the laboratory of Michael Crair, PhD, using in vivo wide-field imaging to study genes involved in cortical circuit development and neuropsychiatric disorders. During residency, he plans to apply analytic approaches for assessing large-scale brain dynamics to pediatric psychiatry, especially in the context of schizophrenia, depression, and suicidality. He is particularly interested in “interventional” treatments, including ketamine, rTMS, and ECT, and how these approaches can be integrated with psychotherapeutic techniques to maximize their potential and sustain clinical response.

Saja Almusawi, MA a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM). Saja received her B.A. in psychology from the University of Michigan-Dearborn with high distinction. During her graduate training, Saja provided outpatient therapeutic and assessment services to children, adolescents, and adults at the UDM Clinic and Oakland University Counseling Center. She furthered her training at Hawthorn Center, an inpatient child and adolescent psychiatric facility. Saja’s research investigates the applicability of well-established psychological theories in the realms of family and trauma, and whether they converge or diverge based upon racial, cultural, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds. She aims to further contribute to research on parenting in ethnic and immigrant populations, as well as child development.

Danielle “Dani” Novick, MS is a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). Dani completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology and Neuroscience at UMD. After graduation, Dani spent 2 years as a research coordinator at UMD coordinating an NIH-funded R01 grant examining early interventions for preschoolers at risk for later anxiety and their parents. During her graduate training, Dani received specialized training in the assessment and treatment of youth with autism spectrum disorders as well as interventions for pediatric chronic pain through Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC. She also co-facilitated groups for neurodiverse and gender-diverse youth in the Gender and Autism Program at Children’s National. She is certified in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and has received training in adaptations of PCIT for children with anxiety and emotion dysregulation.

Teal Raffaele, MA is a Ph.D. candidate at the Catholic University of America. Prior to pursuing her doctorate, Teal earned her master’s degree in psychology from the College of William & Mary and worked as the Research Associate and Program Coordinator for the Autism Program at Eastern Virginia Medical School. Throughout her doctoral training, she has held clinical positions at Children’s National Hospital and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Her research interests include the development of more personalized intervention recommendations through investigations into the relationship between cognitive processes and clinical outcomes within the context of neurodevelopmental diagnoses, as well as evaluating how best to support neurodiverse individuals as they transition to adulthood.

Cara Tomaso, MA is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She completed her undergraduate studies at Smith College, where she majored in psychology and applied statistics and became interested in health behaviors and substance use among adolescents. Her Master’s thesis investigated how preschool sleep problems affect executive function development in childhood. Clinically, she has worked in a variety of medical and community-based settings, including a pediatric rehabilitation hospital, a child advocacy center, and outpatient clinics. Anchored in biopsychosocial and systems-based perspectives, she most enjoys working with children and families as they adjust to challenging medical diagnoses and collaborating with interdisciplinary care teams to optimize children’s medical care.

Christian Edwards, MSW received his master’s in social work at the University of Michigan with a concentration in Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, & Substance Abuse. Christian also received a bachelor’s in psychology from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. During his graduate training, he completed an internship at Southfield Mental Health Associates, where he primarily worked with black male youth and adolescents.

Stephanie (Steph) Salazar, MSW currently attends Columbia School of Social Work. Her ethnic background is Mexican and she was born and raised in Houston, TX. She is interested in working with children who struggle with processing abuse and grief/loss. She is fascinated by the socialization of children and the development of their social/emotional understanding.