Jill M. Hooley is a professor of psychology at Harvard University. She is also the head of the experimental psychopathology and clinical psychology program at Harvard. Dr. Hooley was born in England and received a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of Liverpool. This was followed by research work at Cambridge University. She then attended Magdalen College, Oxford, where she completed her D.Phil. After a move to the United States and additional training in clinical psychology at SUNY Stony Brook, Dr. Hooley took a position at Harvard, where she has been a faculty member since 1985.
Dr. Hooley has a long-standing interest in psychosocial predictors of psychiatric relapse in patients with severe psychopathology such as schizophrenia and depression. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and by the Borderline Personality Disorder Research Foundation. She is currently using fMRI to study emotion regulation in people who are vulnerable to depression and in people who are suffering from borderline personality disorder. Another area of research interest is non-suicidal self-harming behaviors such as skin cutting or burning.
In 2000, Dr Hooley received the Aaron T. Beck Award for Excellence in Psychopathology Research. In 2009 she was elected president of the Society for Research in Psychopathology. The author of many scholarly publications, Dr. Hooley is an Associate Editor for Applied and Preventive Psychology as well as Clinical Psychological Science. She also serves on the editorial boards of several journals including the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Psychological Science, Cognitive Therapy and Research, Journal of Family Psychology, Family Process, and Personality Disorders: Theory, Research and Treatment.
At Harvard, Dr Hooley has taught graduate and undergraduate classes in introductory psychology, abnormal psychology, schizophrenia, mood disorders, psychiatric diagnosis, and psychological treatment. Reflecting her commitment to the scientist-practitioner model, she also does clinical work specializing in the treatment of people with depression, anxiety disorders, and personality disorders.
Kenneth Allen is a second-year graduate student in the Clinical Science program at Harvard, under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. Kenneth graduated from Oberlin College in 2009 with a B.A. in Psychology. His undergraduate research focused on adolescent-maternal conflict (with Dr. Nancy Darling), young adult psychosocial stress (independent project), and environmental psychology (with Dr. Cynthia Frantz and Dr. Stephan Mayer). He spent the following two years as a research assistant to Dr. Frances Gabbay and Dr. Connie Duncan in the Clinical Psychophysiology and Psychopharmacology Laboratory at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, where he examined the moderating effect of negative emotionality on a pharmacological response endophenotype for substance abuse. His current research aims to a) determine whether emotional states modulate executive functioning among individuals who engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) and to b) identify physiological markers associated with NSSI. His clinical experience includes an observational practicum at Cambridge Health Alliance, and he presently works at the Obsessive Compulsive Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital.
Kenneth can be reached at kennethallen@fas.harvard.edu.
Tina Chou is a first-year graduate student in the Clinical Science program at Harvard under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. Tina graduated from Boston University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. During her undergraduate studies, she worked with Dr. Stefan Hofmann at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders on his D-cycloserine trials of augmented cognitive behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder. After graduation, she worked for three years as a clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital's Psychiatric Neuroimaging Department, Division of Neurotherapeutics. She worked with Dr. Darin Dougherty on his clinical trials of deep brain stimulation for intractable obsessive compulsive disorder and depression as well as vagal nerve stimulation for severe depression, Dr. Thilo Deckersbach on the neuroimaging components of treatment outcome studies for bipolar disorder and depression, and Dr. Karleyton Evans on investigating the neural circuitry of dyspnea in panic disorder. Tina is excited to continue using neuroimaging methods to investigate the process and course of mood disorders. She is especially interested in studying emotion processing and its interaction with resting state connectivity. She is also looking forward to working on the current studies of perceived criticism in mood disorder populations.
Tina can be reached at tinachou@fas.harvard.edu.
Sadie Cole is a fifth-year graduate student in the Clinical Science doctoral program at Harvard, under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. Sadie graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA in 2005, with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. While at Temple, Sadie studied in the honors program in psychology, conducting undergraduate research in executive function and mood disorders under Prof. Willis F. Overton, and worked as an office assistant for Prof. Nora Newcombe. Upon graduating, Sadie worked as a research assistant in the Pain and Analgesia Imaging and Neuroscience (P.A.I.N.) Group at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA, headed by Dr. David Borsook. The P.A.I.N. Group studies chronic pain conditions and analgesia using functional magnetic resonance imaging in neuropathy, fibromyalgia, and migraine, as well as the relationship between pain and psychiatric illnesses, such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.
In 2007, Sadie entered the Clinical Science program at Harvard, under Dr. Hooley, and has completed clinical work at the Obsessive Compulsive Disorders Institute at McLean Hospital, conducting exposure and response prevention with individuals diagnosed with severe OCD and OCD-spectrum disorders. Sadie returned to McLean in fall 2009 to work with Dr. Michael Hollander in the Adolescent DBT Program. In 2010, Sadie worked at the Klarman Center for Eating Disorders, again at McLean. Sadie had the opportunity to work as a teaching fellow in Abnormal Psychology at Harvard from fall 2008 through spring 2011, and was awarded a Bok Center Certificate of Distinction for Excellence in Teaching in 2010. This July, Sadie will begin her clinical predoctoral internship at McLean.
Sadie's dissertation research explores the relationship between psychopathology, personality, and problematic Internet use (or Internet addiction), specifically with individuals who utilize online role-playing games. Current research examines the causal role that anxiety, mood, and personality characteristics, as well as executive function, may play in problematic Internet use. The purpose of this work is to predict problematic Internet use in gamers, with the goal of informing prevention and treatment methods.
Sadie can be reached at scole@fas.harvard.edu.
Stephanie Gironde is a sixth-year graduate student in the Clinical Science program at Harvard under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. She is currently completing a predoctoral internship at McLean Hospital. Stephanie graduated from Swarthmore College in 2004, after which she spent two years as a clinical research coordinator at the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital. Stephanie entered the Clinical Science program in 2007. Her research focuses on using novel methods to investigate how self-injurious behaviors develop and are maintained. Stephanie's master's thesis research explored how virtual worlds and avatars may be used to understand self-concept among people who engage in self-injurious behavior. She received her M.A. from Harvard in 2009. As part of her doctoral dissertation research, Stephanie is using functional neuroimaging to examine cognitive and affective processing in people who engage in self-injurious behavior. Stephanie also serves as an undergraduate psychology concentration advisor and resident tutor in Pforzheimer House.
Stephanie can be reached at sgironde@fas.harvard.edu.
Dianne Hezel is a third-year graduate student in Harvard’s Clinical Science Doctoral program under the primary mentorship of Dr. Richard McNally. She has been fortunate to also enjoy the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley, with whom she is currently conducting research that examines personality factors in non-clinical hoarding. Dianne’s other research examines theory of mind in Social Anxiety Disorder and the relationship between emotional distress and physical pain tolerance in OCD. Prior to entering the Clinical Science program, Dianne graduated from Georgetown University, where she majored in psychology and English. After graduating, she worked for a short time in developmental psychology and then later at Massachusetts General and McLean Hospitals, where she was a project coordinator for a number of studies on the treatment, long-term outcome, and genetic underpinnings of OCD and related anxiety disorders. Dianne is currently completing a practicum placement at McLean’s Child and Adolescent Program, where she is involved in the Intensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy program for teens and young adults with impulsive and self-endangering behaviors.
Sara Afienko Masland is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Science doctoral program at Harvard University under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. Sara is originally from Maine and graduated from Bowdoin College in 2008 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. While at Bowdoin Sara worked with Dr. Barbara S. Held in the area of philosophical psychology. After graduating, Sara joined Dr. John Weisz's research lab at Judge Baker Children's Center, where she was a research assistant and project coordinator for several large-scale randomized clinical trials investigating the use of evidence-based treatments for youth psychopathology. Sara entered the Clinical Science program in 2010. Sara is currently training with the clinical team at McLean's Gunderson Residence, a residential treatment facility for women with Borderline Personality Disorder, as a practicum student. She is excited to continue her training in the neuropsychology program at the V.A. next year. Sara is conducting research to examine cognitive processing differences in individuals who perceive high levels of criticism in their social environments. More broadly, she is interested in social cognitive processing in depression and personality disorders. Sara can be reached at afienko@fas.harvard.edu
Crockett (pictured with Sara Masland) is originally from Tennessee. He joined Dr. Hooley's lab in 2012 and must have slipped through the cracks because he has no interest in research. However, he does have an interest in clinical work and will happily let you pet him to relieve stress.
Sarah St. Germain is currently a fifth-year graduate student in the Clinical Science program at Harvard working with Dr. Jill Hooley. Sarah graduated from Trinity College in 2003 with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Following her graduation, Sarah accepted a position as a clinical research assistant at the Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center--part of the Institute of Living (Hartford, CT). At the Olin NRC, Sarah collaborated with Dr. Robert Astur on projects involving functional imaging, mental disorders, and virtual environments. She worked with various clinical populations (including individuals with Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, PTSD, and Eating Disorders) as well as healthy controls.
Sarah entered the clinical science doctoral program at Harvard in the fall of 2005, under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Hooley. Sarah has completed clinical placements at the Klarman Center (residential eating disorder treatment- McLean Hospital), Cambridge Hospital, the OCD Institute (McLean), and the Behavioral Health Partial Program (mood and personality disorders- McLean). Currently she is involved in a neuropsychological testing practicum at the Department of Veteran's Affairs (VA). Additionally, Sarah has served as a teaching fellow for Abnormal Psychology and as the instructor for PSY 971: Intensive Cross Level Analyses: Sophomore Tutorial in Psychology for three terms. She received her M.A. from Harvard in June of 2007.
Sarah is currently involved in research examining the psychological and behavioral clinical correlates of self-injurious behaviors. Her masters thesis and doctoral dissertation research investigate whether the current conceptualization of self-injurious behaviors (e.g., cutting and burning) should be broadened to include more indirect methods of self-injury such as substance use, engagement in eating disordered behavior, continued involvement in abusive relationships, and performing risky/reckless behaviors.
Sarah can be reached at: sstgerm@fas.harvard.edu.