Current members

Dr. Pelham is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a clinical child/adolescent psychologist licensed in the State of California (#33091). Dr. Pelham's research focuses on externalizing spectrum psychopathology in children and adolescents. His current emphasis is on developing new paradigms for studying parenting and its links to problem behavior. Dr. Pelham's work is funded by 5 active awards as PI or Co-PI from the National Institutes of Health, state government, and private foundations.

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Dr. Emily Kemp earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology (clinical child emphasis) from Louisiana State University where she developed her research program on childhood behavior problems and lifespan-persistent antisocial behavior, with a particular emphasis on callous-unemotional (CU) traits. While at UCSD, Emily extends this body of work by further examining causal mechanisms, including developmental components of conscience and empathy along with bidirectional effects between parenting and youth behavior, for externalizing psychopathology and their downstream impacts on improvements in assessment and intervention techniques for youth with conduct problems and varying temperamental traits. 

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Dr. Herry Patel earned his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McMaster University where he characterized symptom associations between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUDs) among differing clinical and community samples. As a Vanier Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California San Diego, he is mentored by Dr. William Pelham and Dr. Susan Tapert to elucidate the etiology of co-occurring trauma and substance use among adolescents. 

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Dr. Waddell earned his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Arizona State University where his program of research examined the etiology of alcohol and cannabis use disorders, with a focus on the dynamic interplay among cognition, personality, and subjective experience in predicting alcohol and cannabis use problems. While at UC San Diego, Dr. Waddell continues this line of work, focusing on transitions into and out of high-risk alcohol and cannabis use patterns, while integrating ecological momentary assessments, biosensor technology, and longitudinal data. Dr. Waddell’s research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Health, the Research Society on Alcohol, and the Arizona Institute on Mental Health Research. 

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Ms. Aks earned her B.S. in Cognitive Science with a Specialization in Computing from the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, she conducted research on schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders in the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience Lab (CCNL) under the mentorship of Dr. Katherine Karlsgodt. Through her independent research project, she examined the implications of early-life adversity on prosocial behavior. As a Research Coordinator in the Pelham Lab, Isabel leverages data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to characterize the relationship between mental illness and substance use among adolescents.

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Ms. Chitty earned her B.S. in Psychology from Yale University, where she conducted research in the Affect Regulation and Cognition (ARC) Lab under Dr. Jutta Joormann and Ms. Jessica Duda. In her senior thesis, she used data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to explore the relationship between sports participation and body image dissatisfaction in youth. She is originally from Australia and has a strong interest in adolescent mental health. 

Ms. Davis earned her B.S. in Psychology and Human Development from Cornell University where she conducted research in the Person and Context (PAC) Lab under Dr. Vivian Zayas as well as the Memory and Neuroscience Lab under Dr. Charles Brainerd.  As a Research Coordinator in the Pelham Lab, her work focuses on causal processes linking parental monitoring to externalizing behavior disorders among adolescents.

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Ms. Dontha earned her BAH in Psychology with minors in Biology and Data Science from Stanford University. At Stanford, she conducted research in the Social Learning Lab under Dr. Hyowon Gweon, as well as the Language and Cognition Lab under Dr. Michael C. Frank. Through her honors thesis, she explored how children's emotional reactivity in response to reliable or unreliable help predicted their help-seeking behavior during learning tasks. As a Research Coordinator at the Pelham Lab, Meghan utilizes data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to identify predictors of substance use initiation in adolescents.

Ms. Ralston earned her B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience from the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, she conducted research for both the National Consortium on Alcohol & Neurodevelopment in Adolescence - Adulthood (NCANDA-A) Study and the Discreet Wearable Device for Continuous Real-time Monitoring of Alcohol Study under Dr. Susan Tapert. As a Lab Assistant in the Pelham Lab, Fiona works with Dr. Herry Patel to investigate co-occurring trauma and substance use during adolescent development.

Ms. Schulze earned her B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Child Development from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. At Cal Poly, she conducted research in the Bennion & Antony Memory lab under Dr. Bennion and Dr. Antony, as well as the Relationships Lab under Dr. Jovanovic.  As a Research Coordinator in the Pelham Lab, Emily's work focuses on the links between parenting and substance use among adolescents.

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