Graduate Student & Staff Alumnae
Y. Irina Li, Ph.D.
Dr. Li (Ph.D., 2021, University of Rochester) is clinical psychologist at the VA Puget Sound in Seattle, WA, where she also completed her predoctoral internship and MIRECC postdoctoral fellowship. Irina’s graduate research focused on the interplay between sleep, reward processing, and depression, and she received an F31 NRSA from the National Institute of Mental Health to support her dissertation work. At the Seattle VA, she is focused on pain management and insomnia in veterans.
Zoey A. Shaw, Ph.D.
Dr. Shaw (Ph.D., 2021, University of Rochester) is an instructor of psychology and psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, where she also completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship. A primary focus of Zoey’s graduate research explored the developmental origins and consequences of rumination in adolescence. At Boston Children’s Hospital, she is based in the Primary Care Center.
Meghan Huang, Ph.D.
Dr. Huang (Ph.D., 2022, University of Rochester) is a psychologist at the Durham VA, where she also completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowships. For Meghan’s dissertation, she developed and validated a novel measure of co-rumination that better differentiates between adaptive and non-adaptive elements of this construct, and used it to explore dyadic associations in co-rumination, mood, and relationship functioning in romantic couples.
Angela Santee, Ph.D.
Dr. Santee (University of Rochester, 2025) is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Angela’s research explores the complex interplay of social, cognitive, and affective processes that impact well-being across the spectrum of psychological functioning. She is particularly interested in examining basic processes underlying the reciprocal relationship between breakdowns in interpersonal functioning and the development of internalizing symptoms. More information about Angela can be found here. Twitter @AngelaSantee
Fanny Mlawer, Ph.D. (Staff alum)
Dr. Mlawer (Ph.D., 2022, University of Delaware) served as lab manager for the IDEA Lab from 2014-2016 and managed the SEED Study during its first wave and the planning/ initiation of its second wave. While a member of the IDEA Lab, she applied for and received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. She then attended the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of Delaware, where she studied the stability of self-esteem in adolescents. She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Wex Huang, Cat.D.
Wex (short for Wechsler, as in the IQ test) served as lab mascot through 2021, when he followed his human Meghan Huang to Durham, NC, where he now resides. During his time in the lab, he was a frequent and welcome attendee (i.e., Zoom bomber) at virtual meetings during the covid pandemic.