Director:
Tiffany Ho, Ph.D.
Dr. Tiffany Ho is the director of the CANDY Lab and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and faculty member in the Brain Research Institute and the Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Neuroscience at UCLA. Dr. Ho studied Cognitive Science as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley before earning her Ph.D. in Psychology at UC San Diego. Dr. Ho completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuroscience at UC San Francisco in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences followed by postdoctoral training in affective science and developmental psychology at Stanford University in the Department of Psychology. From 2018-2019, Dr. Ho was an Instructor at Stanford University in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and from 2019-2022, Dr. Ho was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UC San Francisco before moving to UCLA at the end of 2022.
Current Lab Members (UCLA):
Sara Wong
Sara completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology from American University and a master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Emory University in 2023. She is interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and becoming a pediatric neuropsychologist.
Former Lab Members:
Zia Bajwa
Zia graduated from University of California, Berkeley in Cognitive Science in 2023. She is currently a research assistant at Columbia University in the Translational Research on Affective Disorders and Suicide Laboratory. Zia’s general interests include understanding the neural correlates of psychiatric disorders, such as mood disorders, psychosis, and personality disorders. She hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology after graduation. Outside of the lab, Zia enjoys playing lacrosse, skateboarding, reading, and spending time with her dog Marco.
Saché Coury
Bio here.
Jordan Garcia
Bio here.
Samuel Gingrich
Sam is a 3rd-year cognitive science major at Berkeley minoring in data science. He works on the TIGER study, helping with recruitment and data analysis. Outside of school, Sam enjoys baking, playing basketball, and exploring the outdoors.
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Rutvik Shah
Rutvik graduated summa cum laude in Information and Communications Technology with minors in Computational Science. Hailing from a pharmaceutical-entrepreneurial family, he has been mindful of the healthcare sector's life-transforming technological and research breakthroughs. Hence, he has always endeavored to apply technology for pragmatic solutions to real-life problems in healthcare. Rutvik co-authored his first paper titled "Impact of Childhood Trauma on Executive Function in Adolescence - Mediating Functional Brain Networks and Prediction of High-Risk Drinking" under Dr. Mishra at the Neural Engineering and Translational Labs, UC San Diego Health. He is currently leading analysis in personalizing mental health assessments and therapeutics for mood-related disorders there. Rutvik has also been developing cutting-edge AI models for various longitudinal studies on Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study under Dr. Ho's supervision. Their latest research was on finding multi-level predictors of depression symptoms. He recently presented a poster at the Society of Biological Psychiatry's 75th Anniversary Meeting, New York. Rutvik seeks to amalgamate his interest in engineering, entrepreneurship, and healthcare in the long run as he foresees tremendous growth and scope for innovation in this sphere. He will join the Yale School of Management in Fall 2021 for their MBA program.
Alison White
Alison graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2021 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science and minors in Data Science and Journalism. She currently works as an MR Research Coordinator in Dr. Ian Gotlib's Stanford Neurodevelopment, Affect, and Psychopathology Lab with the Early Life Stress Study. She also serves as a volunteer research assistant for Dr. Ho’s TIGER study at the CANDY Lab. As an undergraduate, Alison volunteered as a Research Assistant in Dr. Sonia Bishop’s Computational Psychiatry and Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab and worked as a Data Science Researcher at UC Berkeley's DLab in partnership with the Digital Health Equity and Access Lab on a digital health social justice project. Her general research interests include precision medicine, AI in medicine and health, developmental psychopathology, and neurodegeneration. Alison grew up in San Jose, California, and spends much of her free time gardening, cooking, and eating with family and friends.
Vanessa López
Bio here.
Jillian Segarra
Jillian is an MR Research Coordinator at Stanford University, and has been assisting with Dr. Ho's TIGER study since 2018. Jill received her B.A. in Neuroscience & Behavior from Columbia University in 2018, and plans to continue her studies by pursuing a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. Her research interests focus on neurobiological mechanisms, correlates, and predictors of psychiatric disorders, particularly in a developmental context. Outside the lab, Jill loves baking, spending time outside, and buying more candles than a reasonable person should.
Giana Teresi
Giana grew up in Irvine, California, and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Psychology in 2019. During her undergraduate career, Giana worked as a research assistant in Dr. Harvey’s Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic where she worked on two non-medication treatment studies for depression and teen sleep. She also worked as a research assistant in Dr. Keltner’s Social Interaction Lab where she wrote her honors thesis on cross-cultural differences in emotion. After graduating, Giana became a full-time research coordinator for Dr. Ho's Teen Inflammation Glutamate Emotion Research (TIGER) study. Giana’s research interests broadly include transdiagnostic, multi-systems, and mechanism-focused approaches to psychopathology. She hopes to pursue a Clinical Psychology Ph.D. in treatment development, implementation, and dissemination for youth with internalizing disorders. Outside the lab, Giana enjoys writing music and re-reading Harry Potter.
Johanna Walker
Johanna grew up in San Diego, California and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. in Cognitive Science in 2017. During her time at UC Berkeley, Johanna worked as a research assistant in Dr. Alison Gopnik’s Cognitive Development and Learning Lab in the Department of Psychology. After graduating, Johanna spent two years as the lead coordinator of the Teen Inflammation, Glutamate, Emotion Research study under Dr. Tiffany Ho in Dr. Ian Gotlib’s SNAP Lab. She then spent six months as a research coordinator and assessor for the Behavioral Health Tracking of Depression and Perinatal Mood and Behavioral Tracking studies under Dr. Nelson Friemer with the UCLA Depression Grand Challenge. Johanna has since returned to the SNAP lab as lab manager and research coordinator for the Early Life Stress, Puberty, and Neural Trajectories study. Her research interests include neurobiological underpinnings of the cognition biases and emotion dysregulation seen in mood disorders. She aims to examine how these mechanisms explain the manifestations of issues such as changes in attention, memory, and information processing, that contribute to the experience of affective disorders and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. In the future, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. When Johanna is not in the lab, you can find her hiking, trying new restaurants, or fostering animals alongside her cat Ivy.
Rachel Weisenburger
Rachel grew up in The Woodlands, Texas and graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle, with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in the Comparative History of Ideas in 2017. During her time at UW, Rachel worked as a research assistant in Dr. Katie McLaughlin's Stress and Development Lab and in the Department of Psychiatry's Division of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy. After graduating, Rachel spent a year serving as an AmeriCorps Volunteer in Nashville, TN, where she worked as a college access counselor. At SNAP, Rachel is a lab manager and the lead research coordinator for the Early Life Stress, Puberty, and Neural Trajectories study. Rachel's research interests broadly include examining the effects of cognitive biases on emotion regulation and reward sensitivity and how disruptions in those domains confer risk for the development of depressive symptoms. She is also interested in leveraging technology and ambulatory assessments to improve the prediction and treatment of depression. She's passionate about the intersection of clinical psychology and public health. In the future, she hopes to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. When Rachel's not in the lab, you can find her traveling, searching for the best guacamole in the Bay Area, or attempting to get through her ever-growing "To Read" list.