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 currently funded by awards from the NIH and private foundations.

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Mr. Romain (Ro) Decrop will earn his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the child clinical track of Bowling Green State University in the summer of 2026. His research has focused on identifying youth at risk of exhibiting externalizing behaviors (e.g., lying, substance use, aggression) and tracking which factors (e.g., trauma, peer delinquency, risk-reward perceptions, moral disengagement, callous-unemotional traits) impact their development in leading to serious problems (e.g., criminality, clinical disorders). Currently, he is investigating the etiologies of prolific and pathological lying to create assessment tools that help identify at-risk youth, as well as developing interventions that promote honesty and trust. Mr. Decrop will begin his position at UCSD in September 2026.

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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, empathy, and affect (e.g., anger/irritability), and their associations with parenting, trauma exposure, and youth behavior (e.g., substance misuse). Emily’s goal is to conduct research that ultimately affects improvements in assessment and intervention for youth with serious conduct problems. Emily is currently a postdoctoral fellow on the SDSU/UCSD NIAAA T32.

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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 NIDA-funded postdoctoral fellow (K99 DA060978) at the University of California San Diego, under the mentorship of Dr. William Pelham and Dr. Sandra Brown, he examines the intersection between trauma, substance use, and situational stressors among adolescents to elucidate the etiology of co-occurring trauma and substance use. He has previously been funded as a Vanier Banting Postdoctoral Fellow and as a PI from the California Department of Cannabis Control.  

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Ms. Blyth earned her B.A. in Psychology with a Minor in Ethnicity, Migration, and Rights from Harvard University, where she conducted research on adolescent substance use at the Recovery Research Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Emily Hennessy. Her independent research examined the perception of social network dynamics in adolescents receiving treatment for substance use. After graduation, she was a clinical research assistant in the Ward Lab at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she conducted research on neuromodulation for substance use and co-occurring severe mental illness in adults. Her interests lie in understanding the factors that influence substance use in adolescents and young adults.  Sophia is currently a predoctoral fellow on the SDSU/UCSD NIAAA T32.

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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 has a strong interest in adolescent mental health. 

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.

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Ms. Halkic earned her BA in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Michigan. At Michigan, she conducted research in the Michigan Neurogenetics and Developmental Psychopathology (MiND) Lab under Dr. Luke Hyde. Through her honors thesis, she explored whether combining reports from multiple informants provided a more valid assessment of adolescent externalizing behavior than single-informant reports. She has a strong interest in the development of youth externalizing psychopathology. 

Ms. Hazzard earned her B.A. in Psychology and Plan II Honors at the University of Texas at Austin. At Texas, she conducted research at Dell Medical School under Dr. Sean O’Sullivan, as well as in the Texas Behavioral Science & Policy Institute under Dr. David Yeager and in the TIES Lab under Dr. Adela Timmons. Through her honors thesis, she examined how chronic shame shapes self-concept and life story development. She has a strong interest in how adolescent psychopathology relates to family processes.

Ms. Lamberton earned her B.S. in Psychology with a micro-credential in Data-Informed Decisions and minors in Mathematics and Leadership Studies from the University of Denver. At DU, she conducted research in the Promoting Resilience in Offspring and Targeting Early Childhood Trajectories (PROTECT) Lab under Dr. Angela Narayan. Through her honors thesis, she explored mothers’ childhood maltreatment and developmentally appropriate attributions of 12-month-old infants. She also conducted research at Children’s Hospital Colorado under Dr. Ayelet Talmi and Dr. Jessica Kenny, investigating the association between adolescents’ reported experiences of childhood trauma and adversity and elevated depression scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9A). She has a strong interest in informing evidence-based parenting interventions, aiming to break intergenerational cycles of childhood trauma.

Ms. Scarlata earned her A.B. in Psychology with a minor in Data Science from Bryn Mawr college. Under the guidance of Dr. Dustin Albert, she completed an honors thesis utilizing data from the Parenting Across Cultures (PAC) dataset to examine the extent to which various forms of stress influence the female preponderance in adolescent internalizing conditions. In the PASSAGE lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Ms. Scarlata contributed to research on the transition to adulthood for teens and young adults with autism. She plans to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. 

Mr. Yin earned his B.S. in Psychology with specialization in Human Health and his minor in Biology from the University of California, San Diego. As an undergraduate, he researched how children think about and learn from digital devices as part of the Mind and Development (MAD) Lab. and explored how discouragement and cognition affect therapy dropout as part of the Pelham Lab. He also worked as a medical assistant in Sharp Healthcare and subsequently developed a taste for Celsius. 

Ray plans to apply to medical school in 2026 and is strongly interested in Psychiatry and Palliative/Hospice Care.