Regina Brodell
Regina is a clinical psychology Ph.D. student. She earned her B.A. from UCLA. Upon graduating, she joined the team at the Nathanson Family Resilience Center and worked on two primary projects: CRRF (a school-based project centered on promoting the resilience and well-being of LAUSD staff, students, and families) and FOCUS-EC (a study assessing the effectiveness of a resilience-based program for military families with young children). She also worked with UCLA TIES for Families on a young-adult follow-up study of youth adopted from foster care.
Outside of research, Regina can be found running up the tallest peaks in Los Angeles, rolling on the mats in jiu-jitsu class, spending time with her siblings, birdwatching, or spending time at Homeboy Industries.
Representative Papers
Brodell, R., Lawsin, L., Nguyen, A., & Huey, S. J., Jr. (in press). Hoped-for, expected, and feared selves: Exploring possible selves of youth from gang-involved families. Chapter in Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Gangs. Springer Nature.
Adrelys Mateo Santana
Adrelys is a graduate student in the clinical science program at USC. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst (UMass). Upon graduating, she worked as a Laboratory Coordinator for the Self-regulation, Emotions, and Early Development (SEED Lab) at UMass. In her position as a Lab Coordinator, Adrelys managed a National Institute of Mental Health funded study examining the cross-diagnostic symptoms of early childhood psychopathology and emotional functioning via neurobiological and behavioral metrics.
Adrelys’ line of research has three primary aims: (1) understand the developmental consequences of early adverse experiences in racial-ethnic minoritized youth; (2) examine how structural inequities (e.g., structural racism) further exacerbate the harmful impact of early adverse experiences in youth’s development; and (3) elucidate culturally-responsive protective factors. She hopes to use this information to inform policy and bridge the gap in mental health access for historically marginalized communities.
Outside of work, Adrelys loves hiking, playing tennis, watching reality TV shows, and exploring trendy matcha and brunch spots!
Representative papers
Note: Due to differences across journals, one of my last names (Mateo) has sometimes been abbreviated, hence the name inconsistencies found below.
Galán, C.A., Polanco-Roman, L., Willis, H.A., Satinsky, E., Mateo Santana, A., Ebrahimi, C.T., Zhou, E., & Howard, L.Y. (2024). Is racism like other exposures?: Examining the unique mental health effects of racial/ethnic discrimination on PTSD, MDD, and GAD. The American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. VIEW
Mateo Santana, A., *Satinsky, E.N. (equal contribution), Galán, C.A. (2023). Reshaping the training landscape by addressing cultural taxation. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-2. VIEW
Santana, A.M., Rudrabhatla, A., & Galán, C.A. (2022). Moving towards intersectional, vicarious, and strengths-based conceptualizations of online racial discrimination. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 62(1), 22-24. VIEW
Mateo Santana, A., & Grabell, A.S. (2022). Incongruent affect in early childhood: Neurobiological markers and links to psychopathology. Emotion. Advance online publication. VIEW
Kalanadhabhatta, M., Santana, A.M., Zhang, Z., Ganesan, D., Grabell, A.S., & Rahman, T. (2022). EarlyScreen: Multi-scale instance fusion for predicting neural activation and psychopathology in preschool children. Proceedings of the ACM on Interactive, Mobile, Wearable and Ubiquitous Technologies. 6(2), 1-39. VIDEO
Emily Satinsky
Emily is a graduate student in the clinical science program at USC. Through her research, she aims to identify risk and protective factors for mental health and develop novel peer- delivered and social network interventions that harness positive social and cultural dynamics to increase access to evidence-based mental health care in low-resource settings. Emily incorporates community engagement and qualitative methods throughout her research.
Prior to starting at USC, Emily coordinated a population-based longitudinal social network study in rural Uganda with Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Global Health and researched peer-delivered interventions for substance use in Baltimore and South Africa with the University of Maryland’s Global Mental Health and Addiction Program. She also worked at a mental health non-profit in London and as an AmeriCorps volunteer at an elementary school in San Francisco. Emily graduated with a bachelor’s in Biology & Society from Cornell University and a master’s in Global Mental Health from King’s College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Outside of research, Emily enjoys staying active outside, drawing, and reading.
Representative papers
Huey, S.J., Jr., & Satinsky, E.N. (2025). Culturally responsive clinical interventions for youth violence. In P. Boxer and R. Travis (Eds.) The future of youth violence prevention: A mixtape for practice, policy, and research (pp. 69-80). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. VIEW
Satinsky, E. N., Kleinman, M. B., Jack, H. E., Tralka, H. M., & Magidson, J. F. (2021). Peer-delivered services for substance use in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review. International Journal of Drug Policy, 95(Suppl 8), 103252.VIEW
Satinsky E.N., Kakuhikire, B., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J.D., Ashaba, S., Cooper-Vince, C.E., Perkins, J.M., Kiconco, A., Namara, E., Bangsberg, D.R., & Tsai, A.C. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences, adult depression, and suicidal ideation in rural Uganda: A cross-sectional, population-based study. PLoS Medicine, 18(5), e1003642. VIEW
Kakuhikire, B., Satinsky, E.N., Baguma, C., Rasmussen, J.D., Perkins, J.M., Gumisiriza, P., Juliet, M., Ayebare, P., Mushavi, R.C., Burns, B.F.O, Siedner, M.J., Bangsberg, D.R., & Tsai, A.C. (2021) Correlates of attendance at community engagement meetings held in advance of bio-behavioral research studies: A longitudinal, sociocentric social network study in rural Uganda. PLoS Medicine, 18(7), e1003705. VIEW
Satinsky, E.N., Doran, K., Felton, J.W., Kleinman, M., Dean, D., & Magidson, J.F. (2020). Adapting a peer recovery coach-delivered behavioral activation intervention for problematic substance use in a medically underserved community in Baltimore City. PLoS One, 15(1), e0228084. VIEW
Elayne Zhou
Elayne is a Ph.D. student in the Clinical Science program. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Oberlin College in 2018. Post-graduation, she worked as a lab manager at UC Riverside on projects involving cultural experiences and family systems. Then, she worked at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine as a clinical research coordinator on an RCT testing the efficacy and accessibility of a mindfulness intervention for low-income women of color.
Elayne is passionate about using community-based participatory methods and strengths-based approaches to advance health equity. With a specific focus on communities of color, she studies the influence of social, cultural, and structural factors on mental health outcomes and access to care. She also works to promote the accessibility and responsivity of evidence-based treatments to the needs of minoritized groups.
In her free time, Elayne is a serial hobbyist. She is currently trying out muy thai and stop motion film. She also loves to sing, read, practice yoga, and go cloud watching.
Representative papers
Li, F. H., Zhou, E., Oh, H., Borelli, J. L. (in press). Systemic intervention through relational savoring: Cultural considerations when working with Asian American families. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy.
Borelli, J. L., Zhou, E., Russo, L. N., Li, F. H., Tironi, M., Yamashita, K. S., Smiley, P. A., & Campos, B. (2024). Culturally adapting relational savoring: A therapeutic approach to improve relationship quality. Family Process. VIEW
Clark, T. R., Brown, A., Zhou, E., McKenny, M., Patterson, A., Ha, E., Metzger, I. W., Galán, C., & Anderson, R. E. (2023). Therapeutic use of racial socialization for families of color and clinicians. In: Witherspoon, D.P., McHale, S.M., King, V. (eds) Family Socialization, Race, and Inequality in the United States. National Symposium on Family Issues, vol 14. Springer, Cham. VIEW
Janus Wong
Janus is a Ph.D. student in the clinical science program. She received her B.A. in Psychological Science (correlate/minor in International Economics) from Vassar College in 2023. During her undergraduate years, Janus also spent a semester studying Human Sciences at St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford. Upon graduating, she worked as a Research Associate at The New School Center for Global Mental Health. In her position, she co-led the adaptation and implementation of a World Health Organisation mental health intervention for ethnic minority caregivers and youth in New York City. She also coordinated a National Institute of Mental Health-funded study on the effectiveness of a task-sharing mental health intervention for adults.
Janus’ research focuses on community-based mental health interventions, cultural tailoring, and implementation science, with a commitment to empowering underserved groups and improving mental health accessibility. She is also interested in the development of adolescent identity through intergenerational storytelling, collective history, and social norms.
Janus is proud to call Hong Kong home. Outside of research, Janus loves outdoor activities, cooking, long book discussions in coffee shops, and spontaneous solo travelling.
Representative papers
Wong, J.*, Xu, T., Shah, C., Miccoli, L., Chauhan, J., Garbuno, Iñigo N., Pfeffer, K., Slachevsky, D., Holman, A., Wong, A., Day, H., Ganesh, K., Assoudeh, E., Kohrt, B., & Brown, A. (2025). Community-based adaptation of early adolescent skills for emotions for urban adolescents and caregivers in New York City. Cambridge Prisms: Global Mental Health.
Kohrt, B. A., Sangraula, M., Turner, E. L., Pfeffer, K., Best, C., Caracoglia, J., Cid‐Vega, A., Gwaikolo, W., McEneaney, C., Platt, A., Shah, C., Sun, S., Wong, J.*, Ganesh, K., Assoudeh, E., Wong, E., van Heerden, A., & Brown, A. D. (2025). Expanding the non-clinical mental health workforce: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention delivered by community‐based organizations in New York City (RECOUP‐NY). Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, n/a-n/a. VIEW
Cid-Vega, A., Best, C., Pfeffer, K., Sangraula, M., Wong, J.*, Gwaikolo, W., Caracoglia J., Rai, S., Brown, A. D., & Kohrt, B. A. (2025). Assessment of key interviewing factors for research assistants (AKIRA): Development of a novel training and evaluation competency-based tool for mental health data collection in community settings. Front. Educ.