The Developmental Risk and Cultural Resilience Laboratory
Harvard Medical School | Brigham and Women's Hospital
Meet the Team
Cindy H. Liu, PhD
Principal Investigator
Cindy H. Liu, Ph.D. is currently an Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. Her areas of investigation include the measurement and mechanisms of psychosocial stress, cultural differences in socio-emotional development, and developmental and culturally based interventions that reduce mental health disparities. She received her degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Oregon. After completing her clinical internship at McLean Hospital, following a postdoctoral fellowship at Boston Children's Hospital, she served as the Director of Multicultural Research at the Commonwealth Research Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center for six years prior to her current position as the Director of the Developmental Risk and Cultural Resilience Program within Pediatric Newborn Medicine and Psychiatry at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Candice Ma, BA
Research Assistant
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Candice received her B.A. in Psychology and minor in Chinese from the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed her undergraduate honors thesis on children's endorsement of myths. Before joining the DRCR lab, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant in a cognitive development lab and a sexual psychophysiology lab. She is currently interested in developing a culturally sensitive understanding of early childhood experiences, wellbeing, and resilience. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology with a focus on working with Asian immigrant families and children.
Cherice Chan, BA
Research Assistant
Cherice received her B.A. in Psychology and minor in Anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she completed her honors thesis on the association between change in numerical representation and intergroup attitudes among Asian American youth. Before joining the DRCR lab, she worked as the lab coordinator of UCLA Social Relations Lab, summer intern for Emory University Goizueta Business School, and undergraduate research assistant for the UCLA Middle & High School Diversity Project. She is currently interested in understanding how experiences with racial discrimination and racial socialization shape how Asian Americans identify and respond to instances of racial bias and inform their intergroup attitudes. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in social psychology and continue studying the racialized experiences of people of color.
Jamie Chan, BA
Research Assistant
Jamie is a first-generation graduate from UC Berkeley where she received her B.A. in Sociology. During her time at college, she dedicated herself to student services with her aspiration to empower underrepresented students to succeed in higher education. Her experience of immigrating to the US from Hong Kong allows her to connect to her identity when working with immigrant families as a Research Assistant in the Family and Culture Lab to support research on the language and socioemotional development of bilingual children. Before joining the DRCR Lab, her summer internship at Kaiser Permanente furthered her interest in pursuing a career in healthcare and finding solutions to health crises. She looks forward to expanding her understanding of the impacts of digital technology on social surveillance, interpersonal connectivity, and mental health in minority youth. To continue her passion for promoting health equity, she envisions herself pursuing a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology or a Master's in Public Health with a specialization in Healthcare Management.
Emma Clark, BA
Research Assistant
Emma received her B.A. in Psychology from Boston College. She is passionate about the mental health field with specific interest in child developmental psychology. Before joining the DRCR lab, Emma gained clinical experience working directly with children with obsessive compulsive disorder in a residential setting. Emma hopes to attend graduate school to further her studies in child development.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Ritika Rastogi, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ritika Rastogi earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles and her BA from Northwestern University. As a scholar, she is interested in applying Critical and multidisciplinary approaches to supporting marginalized (BIPoC and immigrant-origin) young people’s positive development and mental health. Her current research examines adolescents’ peer relationships, namely friendships as spaces for youth to develop resilience and resistance to school-based manifestations of structural oppression (e.g., discrimination, under-funding). She is also interested in unpacking the diversity within communities often viewed as homogeneous (e.g., Asians, Latino/a/x/es), with an emphasis on identifying young people's innate cultural strengths as targets for institutional support.
Abdelrahman ElTohamy, MD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Abdelrahman ElTohamy, MBChB is an MMSc in Clinical Investigation candidate at Harvard Medical School. He received his degree from Ain Shams University. Abdelrahman served as a teaching assistant at the Egyptian Center for Evidence-Based Medicine. Throughout the pandemic, he worked with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. He led multiple national and international health education projects. He provided mental health care for the underserved population. Abdelrahman’s research focus is on the mental health of adolescents and young adults. Specifically, he examines the delicate interplay of stress and post-traumatic growth. Abdelrahman plans to pursue a career in psychiatry research.
G. Alice Woolverton, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
G. Alice Woolverton earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Suffolk University and her BA in English from Amherst College. She completed her predoctoral clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital working with children and adolescents. As a scholar, Alice is focused on reducing and preventing the high costs of racism on youths’ mental wellbeing; her current work evaluates a caregiver-child antiracism program for white families. She is also interested in unpacking promotors of youth psychological health during periods of stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. She has particular expertise using qualitative and mixed research methods.
Psychiatrists
Natalie Feldman, MD
Psychiatry Resident
Natalie Feldman, M.D., is a BWH Women's Mental Health Fellow who received an HMS Dupont Warren to study perinatal anxiety. Originally from Northern California, she completed her undergraduate degree at Harvard University and medical school training at the University of Chicago. Her interests include women's mental health as well as digital mental health. She is a Leadership Fellow through the APA/APAF Leadership Fellowship, as well as a Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Fellow. Natalie co-writes a monthly advice column on digital psychiatry for the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society. She plans to pursue a fellowship in Women's Mental Health.
Scott Lee, M.D.
Psychiatry Resident
Scott Lee, M.D. is a resident physician at Harvard South Shore Psychiatry. A native Marylander, he completed college and medical school at Baylor University & Baylor College of Medicine. His interests have ranged from studying the intersection between medical ethics and psychiatry to now exploring the cultural and psychosocial factors that affect mental health outcomes in minority populations. In addition to his work with the DRCR lab, Scott serves as an Assistant Editor at the Harvard Review of Psychiatry. He plans to pursue a Child & Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship following completion of his Adult Psychiatry training.
Amanda Koire, MD, PhD
Psychiatry Resident
Amanda Koire, M.D., Ph.D. is a PGY-3 Research Track Psychiatry resident at Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School. She received her degrees from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, where she completed a Ph.D. in Quantitative and Computational Biosciences. She is a co-founder of the National Reproductive Psychiatry Trainee Interest Group (www.repropsychtrainees.com) and has published research on perinatal mental health in the Archives of Women’s Mental health and BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. Amanda plans to pursue a career as a perinatal psychiatrist and researcher.
Medical Students
Jessica Wang, BS
Medical Student
Jessica Wang is a medical student at Harvard Medical School interested in the intersections of social justice, mental health, and marginalized identities. She received her BS in Public Health with highest distinction from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where she was a Morehead-Cain Scholar. At UNC, Jessica worked as a case manager for community members experiencing homelessness and poverty and as a Mandarin Interpreter for the uninsured at a free clinic. Jessica’s work with underserved populations has inspired her to further explore how systemic oppression impacts the physical and psychosocial health of people in marginalized communities.
Jason Li, BS
Medical Student
Jason Li is a medical student at Harvard Medical School interested in the mental health disparities of traditionally marginalized communities—particularly in immigrant populations. He holds a BS in Human Biology with honors from Stanford and was a U.S. Fulbright Fellow at Shaanxi Normal University in China, where he conducted research on healthcare quality, access, and reform in rural China. During his time at Stanford, Jason worked on community mental health interventions locally and globally through Stanford CHIPAO, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, and Peking University.
Ivo Cerda, MSE
Medical Student
Ivo Hector Cerda is a medical student at Harvard Medical School and a Walter Byers Scholar interested in mental health inequities and the use of technology to improve the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of neuropsychiatric conditions. Originally from Santiago, Chile, Ivo attended the University of Michigan, where he received a BS in Cellular & Molecular Biology and Biomedical Engineering, and a MSE in Biomedical Engineering. As a graduate student, he developed a novel digital phenotyping system to predict antidepressant responses in animal models of depression. He has held teaching positions both at UofM and Harvard College. He now plans to investigate mental health inequities affecting traditionally marginalized populations that he hopes to serve as a clinician in the future, particularly Black, Latinx, and immigrant communities.
Andrew Chang, MM
Medical Student
Andrew Chang is an MD student at Harvard Medical School interested in health systems innovation, particularly as it relates to childhood health and mental health. Born in Taipei and raised in Shanghai, Andrew came to the United States for high school. Andrew studied Biology and Health Policy at Harvard College and Public Policy for his Master’s at Tsinghua University as a Schwarzman Scholar. Interested in global health, he has worked as the chief executive of a global nonprofit, a project lead in the slums of Peru, a case manager at an LGBTQ+ center in Taiwan, and a health advocate with Partners in Health in rural Mexico. Andrew aspires to deliver interventions that care for vulnerable children.
Graduate Research Assistants
Emily Zhang, MA
Graduate Research Assistant
Emily received her bachelor’s degree in Community Health and Child Development and her Master's degree in Clinical Developmental Health and Psychology from Tufts University. She is the study coordinator for several community based studies within the DRCR lab. She is interested in culturally-sensitive and community-based research with children and families regarding mental health prevention, education, and interventions. In her spare time, Emily also does community prevention work as a volunteer with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center. She is hopes to pursue a doctorate in clinical psychology.
Yu-Tien Hsu, MD, MPH
Graduate Research Assistant
Yu-Tien is a second-year PhD student in Population Health Sciences/Social & Behavioral Sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. Yu-Tien's research interest is the health disparities in cognitive health and psychiatric diseases. Yu-Tien was born and received her medical education in Taiwan. Her experience as an international student in the United States inspires her interests in improving immigrants' wellbeing and mental wellness.
Sylvie Wong, BA, EdM
Graduate Research Assistant
Sylvie Wong is a fourth year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology PhD program at Teachers College, Columbia University. She was born and raised in Hong Kong, and completed her B.A in Psychology and Sociology at Bates College and her Ed.M. in Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her research broadly examines how familial and cultural factors shape the identity development and mental health of racial/ethnic minority and immigrant youth (with a particular focus on Asian youth and families). Ultimately, she hopes to improve access to culturally sensitive, trauma-informed care for underserved youth and families through her research and clinical work.
Ava (Weiran) Lu, BS
Graduate Research Assistant
Ava received her B.S. in Psychology from Trinity College where she completed her honors thesis on autobiographical memory and body image. She is currently pursuing her master's degree in Child Study and Human Development from Tufts University. She is currently a research assistant at Tufts Medical Center, conducting interviews with patients whose primary language is Mandarin. Her experience with Chinese populations has strengthened her belief in the importance of cultural sensitivity in research and health care practices within psychology. Ava’s interest in understanding childhood adversity and trauma in the context of family motivated her to join to the DRCR lab. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD/PsyD in clinical or counseling psychology and focus on parent-child relations in families with diverse backgrounds.
Gabriela Taslitsky, BA
Graduate Research Assistant
Gabriela is a current graduate student at Boston University and has been with the DRCR lab for over four years. Over the course of the past four years, Gabriela has had the pleasure of meeting many wonderful participants that fuel her passion for developmental psychology and women's mental health research. In the future she hopes to be a pediatrician that can help guide parents through the rewarding, yet sometimes stressful task of raising a happy and healthy child.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Maddie Bradley
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Maddie is a fourth-year student at Emmanuel College pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Counseling and Health Psychology, double minoring in Sociology and Gender & Women’s Studies. She has been a Research Assistant with Dr. Helen MacDonald at Emmanuel since October 2020 where she has been working on a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Intervention study with college students. The focus has been on the effectiveness of MBSR as an online intervention as well as the effects of mindfulness on differing levels of awareness (i.e. self-awareness, relational awareness). Maddie is currently working on this project as her senior honors thesis as well as working within the DRCR Lab to pursue her passion for developmental well-being, resilience, and perseverance.
Anjeli Macaranas
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Anjeli Macaranas is currently a second-year at Harvard College studying Neuroscience and History of Science. She is passionate about utilizing psychiatric research to combat mental health stigma within the Asian-American community. She serves as the Education Director of the Harvard Philippine Forum and works to stimulate conversation surrounding mental health advocacy among Filipino youth. She is also a violinist in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra and hopes to use her artistic background to enhance her ability to connect with patients as a medical professional in the future.
Michael Zhang
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Michael Zhang is currently a fourth-year student at Harvard College studying Chemical and Physical Biology. He is passionate about the intersection of mental health and underserved populations and plans on applying to medical school after graduating college. Before joining the DRCR lab, Michael interned at the nonprofit Doc Wayne, where he led sports based mental health therapy for youths in the Boston area and furthered his interest in promoting mental health awareness in his community.
Ema Noonan
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Ema is a third-year student at Northeastern University pursuing a degree in Human Services and Psychology. She is interested in the physical health outcomes of poor mental health and the biology of stress. Ema has worked as a social worker at Walker Inc. a group home for children and learned many trauma-based counseling techniques. In the future, she hopes to attend medical school and use her background in psychology to be able to provide comprehensive treatment.
Research Trainees
Vivian Wang
Research Trainee
Vivian is a junior at Lexington High School. She is passionate about studying mental health among Asian American youth and finding ways to engage the Asian American community with research. Besides working in the lab, she is also an editor for her school's cultural and political review and a competitive figure skater.