Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) announces two award recipients from TU’s Clinical Psychology department.
Ashley N. Clausen, MA
Laureate Institute for Brain Research, University of Tulsa
Clausen is currently a fifth-year doctoral candidate at The University of Tulsa and Laureate Institute for Brain Research under the mentorship of Dr. Robin Aupperle. During her graduate career using clinical, behavioral, and neurobiological methods, she developed a specific research focus that aims to enhance our understanding of how PTSD impacts physical health. Given the growing prevalence of combat-PTSD and the correlation between PTSD and physical health, Clausen believes this is an important niche that she can help fill within the research field. Through her training, she has been exposed to research conducted in academic and medical settings, and has had the opportunity to be involved in all aspects of research from conception to comprising protocols and grant applications, data collection and analysis, as well as preparing presentations and publishing manuscripts related to her research projects. Following graduate training, her long-term goal is to secure a position that allows her to serve in both research and clinical capacities. She hopes to continue investigating the relationship between combat-related PTSD and comorbid health problems to optimize psychological treatment to reduce the impact of physical health comorbidities for veterans.
Namik Kirlic, PhD
Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Kirlic is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, under the mentorship of Dr. Robin Aupperle. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, and his Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology at The University of Tulsa under the mentorship of Dr. Elana Newman and Dr. Ruben Alvarez. Notably, Kirlic’s past research has examined the HPA-axis reactivity in children prenatally exposed to methamphetamine, the impact of war and post-war stress in young adults and physiological and brain signatures of fear and anxiety in healthy, at-risk adults with anxiety and depressive disorders. Under the current mentorship of Aupperle, Kirlic is using multiple approaches to examine predictors of treatment response in depressed and anxious individuals aiming to improve individual outcomes. His long-term interests center on the development of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for individuals who experienced early life adversity, aiming to reverse or compensate for the known neurobiological abnormalities. Throughout his clinical training, Kirlic has delivered psychological services in inpatient, residential and outpatient settings and with a diverse patient population. While on clinical internship at the Southwest Consortium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he developed a particular interest in treating patients with significant emotion dysregulation and psychosocial difficulties, complicated by early life adversity and adult stress/trauma exposure and substance abuse.
ALIES MUSKIN CAREER DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP PROGRAM
The Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program (CDLP) is an intensive mentoring and professional development opportunity for early career clinicians and researchers renamed to honor Muskin after her death in 2015. Alies Muskin began her career at ADAA in 2001, serving as chief operating officer before being named executive director in 2010. She worked tirelessly to offer hope and to improve the quality of life for the millions of children and adults who suffer from anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, bipolar, and related disorders.
Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program Participants: Basic Neuroscience
Marcelo Camargo Batistuzzo, PhD; Emily Belleau, PhD; Stefanie Russman Block, MS; Ashley N. Clausen, MA; Bharathi Gadad, PhD; Sohye Kim, PhD; Namik Kirlic, PhD; Natalie Matosin, PhD; Juliana Negreiros, PhD; Shariful Syed, MD; and Katherine Young, DPhil