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Our Team

Staff

Leslie Horton, PhD

Director/ PI - YETI Lab
Assistant Professor - Department of Psychiatry

Dr. Leslie Horton is the Lab Director/ PI of the YETI Lab. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. She is also Director of the HOPE TEAM, a UPMC treatment clinic serving young people at risk for psychosis, and a licensed clinical psychologist. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2010 and completed a pre-doctoral clinical internship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship, Dr. Horton joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in 2013. She is the recipient of research grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study risk for psychosis in adolescents. Specifically, her work examines affective, social, and psychophysiological contributors to risk for psychosis.

 

Julianne Griffith, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

"Julianne"

Julianne graduated with a BS in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. Following graduation, she worked as a full-time research coordinator for two years before enrolling in a PhD Program in Clinical-Community Psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Julianne's research applies a developmental psychopathology framework to understand how social and emotional factors interplay with one another across adolescence to contribute to risk for psychiatric illness. Julianne is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar working with both the YETI lab and the FEND Lab (PI: Dr. Jennifer Silk), and is continuing her research on interpersonal risk factors for transdiagnostic emotional dysfunction during adolescence.

Megan Deam, MA

Lab Manager

Megan earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from Pennsylvania State University. As an undergraduate at Penn State, she assisted with research in child emotion reactivity and regulation. Following graduation, Megan worked as a Behavioral Health Technician at Matilda Theiss Therapeutic Nursery and Preschool, where she engaged with infants, toddlers, and young children with histories of adversity in evidence-based treatments. Megan joined the YETI Lab in 2021 as a Research Specialist and contributed to multiple projects while concurrently completing her master’s degree in psychology at Chatham University. Her work at YETI Lab has deepened her interests in stress exposure, stress sensitivity, and social experiences in young people. Together, these experiences have shaped her research interests in understanding how social and emotional experiences in daily life may influence trajectories of psychopathology. Megan plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology.

Essence Leslie, BA

Research Staff"Essence Leslie"

Essence Leslie graduated from Case Western Reserve University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and cognitive science. Essence was an NIH Diversity Supplement recipient, where she was supported as a research assistant at the Cleveland Clinic Center for Neurological Restoration researching patients' understandings of invasiveness and risk in the context of neurosurgical decision making regarding neuromodulatory devices such as Deep-Brain-Stimulation (DBS) and MRI Guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS). After her time at the Cleveland Clinic, she worked as a clinical research assistant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center where she was the lead coordinator of a longitudinal study exploring the cognitive mechanisms of delusions in inpatients with chronic schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.  Essence is currently interested in exploring the neurological correlates of emotion to investigate if targeted emotion-regulation therapy can lead to brain-behavior improvements in individuals with psychosis. In the future, she plans on obtaining her doctoral degree in clinical psychology. 

Charise Peters, MA

Research Staff

Charise serves as Research Staff for the ProNET study. She recently graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and earned her Masters in Forensic Psychology. Prior to this position at John Jay, she served as a research assistant for the Youth Law & Psychology lab, bridging policy work and the integration of psychological research to assist legal actors in making decisions for youth. As a part of her program, she completed her master's thesis examining how juvenile defense attorneys make decisions for traumatized youth clients and if their decisions differed based on youth race. In the future, she plans on obtaining a doctoral degree in clinical psychology, ideally with a forensic concentration. 

"Jennifer Yu"

Jennifer Yu, BA

Research Staff

Jennifer Yu serves as research staff for the YETI Lab. She graduated from Barnard College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She has previously assisted with mood disorder and suicide risk research at Columbia University, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the University of California Berkeley, and the University of Colorado Boulder. Jennifer is passionate about understanding how interpersonal relationships may protect against acute mental health crises associated with early-onset mood disorders using multimodal research methods. In the future, she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology.

 

 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

"Ariana"Ariana Santiago

Ariana Santiago joined the YETI lab as an undergraduate research assistant in Fall 2025. She is currently a senior Psychology major, with minors in Sociology and English Literature. Her research interests include social psychology, particularly within interpersonal relationships and digital media. After graduating, she aims to pursue a PhD in social psychology.

"Pyper"Pyper Grindo

Pyper Grindo joined the YETI Lab as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Spring of 2026. She is currently a junior at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Applied Developmental Psychology. Pyper plans to continue her education in Clinical and Developmental Psychology, in hopes of pursuing a doctoral degree.

"Briana"Briana Traca

Briana joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant in the Summer of 2026. She is currently a senior psychology major with a sociology minor and an American Sign Language Certificate. Outside of classes, labs, and work, Briana enjoys reading, baking, and going to Pitt sporting events with her friends. After graduating, she would like to pursue a clinical psychology PhD.

Collaborating Faculty

Lab Alumni

Postdoctoral Scholars

Tina Gupta, PhD, Postdoctoral Scholar

  • Current Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the CARE Lab at the University of Oregon.

Research Staff

Helena Her, BA

  • Current Recruitment Manager at the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School

Rebecca McIlhenny, MS

  • Current Vocational Specialist at UPMC.

Hannah Kirsch, MS

  • Recently completed her master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Emma Headley, MA

  • Current PhD student in Developmental Psychology at Cornell University.

Sydney Barlow, BS

  • Sydney worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as a recipient of a Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (Postbac IRTA) and is currently a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Christian Porter, MSW

  • Christian is currently a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.

Salsabil Gehan, MS

  • Salsabil is currently a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Undergraduate Student Research Assistants

Jada Oguntomi, BS

  • Current Behavioral Technician at FamilyLinks.

Su bin An, BS

  • Current master’s student in Psychology at Villanova University.

William Barglow, BS

  • Current master’s student in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Rutgers University.

Daniel Frie

Shane Monaghan

Jasmine Forrest, BS

  • Current research assistant at UPMC.

Anya Benedict, BS

  • Current Medical Assistant at UPMC.

Elizabeth Haudrich, BPhil

  • Current PhD student in Experimental Psychology at Ohio University.

Sabrina Messineo, BS

John “Gus” Falbo, BS

Bingyan Wang

Haiden Edminson, BS

Cristina Rodriguez, BS