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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.

 

Megan Deam, MA

Lab Manager

Megan Deam serves as Research Staff for the YETI Lab. She earned a bachelor's degree at the Pennsylvania State University in Psychology and recently obtained a Master’s in Psychology at Chatham University. Prior to this position, Megan served as a Behavioral Health Technician at Matilda Theiss Therapeutic Nursery and Preschool, where she worked with infants, toddlers, and young children who have experienced trauma and adverse events. Megan one day plans to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology and Research.

 

Emma Headley, BS

Research Staff

Emma Headley is a Research Staff for the YETI Lab, primarily on the YETI Phone Study. They earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. Prior to this position, they worked as a Research Assistant in a sleep lab focusing on the impact of sleep and inflammation, particularly in people with HIV at the University of Pittsburgh. Emma plans to one day pursue a career in psychometrics.

 

 

Tina Gupta, PhD

Postdoctoral Scholar

Tina graduated with a B.A. in Sociology and Psychology from the University of Colorado Boulder. After working as a research coordinator for several years, she went on to attend a PhD Program in Clinical Psychology at Northwestern University studying vulnerability markers contributing to the onset of psychotic disorders. While in graduate school, Tina’s research focused on emotional processes in those at risk for psychosis. Tina is now a Postdoctoral Scholar working with both the YETI lab and the ANDP Lab (PI: Dr. Erika Forbes) continuing her research on emotional processes across psychiatric illnesses.

 

 

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 Masters 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. 

Rebecca McIlhenny, MS

Research Staff

Rebecca McIlhenny works as a Research Staff for the YETI Lab’s ProNET study. She recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Master’s in Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling. As a part of her program, Rebecca completed clinical internship experiences at Carnegie Mellon University and the Sally and Howard Levin Clubhouse. After gaining some additional experience in the research field, Rebecca intends to pursue a doctoral degree in either psychology or sociology.

 

"Hannah"

Hannah Kirsch, BPhil

Research Staff

Hannah Kirsch is a research coordinator for the YETI Lab’s ProNET study. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Philosophy degree in Psychology in 2022 and is currently applying to master's programs for Speech-Language Pathology. Hannah has worked on a variety of research projects including studies about aphasia and verb retrieval, women's cardiovascular health and cognition, and her thesis study about the processing of they/them pronouns.

 


Elizabeth Haudrich, BPhil

Summer Research Assistant 

Elizabeth Haudrich joined the YETI Lab in Fall 2022 as an undergraduate research assistant. She recently graduated with her from the University of Pittsburgh with a double major in Psychology and Statistics as well as a Joint Honors Degree with the Fredrick Honors College. She will be serving as a Research Assistant in the YETI lab during the summer of 2024 before pursing Doctoral training in Psychology in the fall of 2024 at Ohio University.




 

"Julianne Griffith"Julianne Griffith, MS

Doctoral Clinical Psychology Intern

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

"Helena Her"Helena Her, BA

Research Staff

Helena Her serves as Research Staff for the YETI Lab. She earned her bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of California, Davis. Prior to this position, she worked on a variety of research projects at UC Davis and Penn State studying topics such as parent-child relationships, emotion regulation, and trauma. In the future, Helena hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology

 

 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

"Anya"Anya Benedict

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Anya Benedict joined the YETI lab as an undergraduate research assistant in Spring 2023. She is currently a junior Neuroscience major at the University of Pittsburgh. Along with her studies and working for the YETI lab, she is the captain of the Pitt Women’s Ice Hockey team.

 

Su bin An

Undergraduate Research Assistant

"Su bin"Su bin joined the YETI Lab as an undergraduate research assistant in Spring 2024. She recently completed her junior year at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in Psychology. She will be completing a Brackenridge Fellowship in the YETI Lab during the summer of 2024. After graduating, she would like to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical and Developmental Psychology.

 

 

Collaborating Faculty


Lab Alumni

  • Sydney Barlow, BS, Research Staff
    • Sydney recently worked at the National Institute of Health (NIH) as a recipient of a Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (Postbac IRTA).
  • Haiden Edminson, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • John “Gus” Falbo, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Jasmine Forrest, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Salsabil Gehan, MS, Research Staff
    • Salsabil is currently a medical student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
  • Sabrina Messineo, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Christian Porter, MSW, Research Staff
    • Christian is currently a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work.
  • Cristina Rodriguez, BA, Undergraduate Research Assistant
  • Bingyan Wang, Undergraduate Research Assistant