Supervisor Directory

Dr. Bauer has authored over 80 professional papers and has received extramural support from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, the National Institutes of Communicative Disorders and Stroke, the Health Resources and Services Administration, and the National Institutes of Mental Health. He currently has a funded project in collaboration with the UF Clinical & Translational Science Institute (CTSI) to establish a practice-based concussion/traumatic brain injury research network among Florida health practitioners. Additional ongoing research projects examine the differential diagnosis and preclinical detection of dementia, hippocampal contributions to spatial memory, and structure-function relationships in memory disorders using structural brain imaging techniques. Areas of interest are: Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, Traumatic Brain Injury and Concussion, Brain Health Memory Disorders and Neuropsychology.

Current research focuses on psychophysiological and behavioral signatures of cognitive/emotional change associated with normal aging and  Parkinson disease  and novel treatment approaches for apathy and executive dysfunction.  Her laboratory uses a variety of different tools to investigate hypothesis driven research ranging from transcranial magnetic stimulation, psychophysiology/electrophysiology (ERP), face digitizing, computational modeling, to experimental cognitive probes.  

Current funding

NIH/NINDS, T32-NS082168-06,  Interdisciplinary Training in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration. MPI:  D. Bowers & D. Vaillancourt

NIH/NIA  R01-AG064587, Revitalizing Cognition in Older Adults at Risk for Alzheimer’s disease with Near Infrared Photobiomodulation. MPI: D. Bowers, A. Woods, & G. Alexander.

Parkinson Foundation Impact Award IMP-1938, Revitalizing cognition and motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson disease, PI: D. Bowers

NIH/NIA R21-AG057200, Determining plasticity of brain-regulatory mechanisms related to emotion processing: A Neurofeedback Approach in Aging and Parkinson Disease. MPI: D. Bowers & N. Ebner

Florida Department of Health Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Program (Grant #20A15), Determining Plasticity of Brain-Regulatory Mechanisms Related to Emotion Processing: A Neurofeedback Approach in Older Adults with Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment. PI: Ebner; Bowers Co-I

NIH/NIA R01-AG12802177, Uncovering and Surveilling Financial Deception Risk in Aging, Supplement. PI: Ebner Co-I Bowers

NIH/NINSA-1UH3NS109845, Dual Lead Thalamic DBR-DBS Interface for Closed Loop Control of Severe Essential Tremor. MPI: Oweiss & Foote; Co-I Bowers

McKnight Brain Research Foundation. A Pilot Multi-Site Intervention with Near Infrared Stimulation. MPI: D. Bowers, G. Alexander, A. Woods

NIH R01 HD091658-01. Mechanisms of airway protection dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease. PI: K. Hegland, Co-I: D. Bowers

NIH/NINDS R01-NS096008, The Human Thalamocortical Network in Tourette. MPI: A. Gunduz & M.S. Okun, Co-I Bowers

NIH/NINDS UH3-NS095553, Closing the Loop on Tremor: A Responsive Deep Brain Stimulator for the Treatment. MPI: G. Gunduz & K. Foote, Co-I Bowers.

Recently Completed Funding

Fogarty Foundation, Dose Response Relationship between Near Infrared Stimulation and Brain Activity using Neuroimaging. PI: P. Sinha & Bowers (Mentor).

NIH/NINDS R21NS079767, Emotion Regulation, Executive Function, and Parkinson Disease, PI: D. Bowers

NIH/ NINDS R01-NS50633, Masked Faces in Parkinson Disease: Mechanism and Treatment. PI: D. Bowers

NIH/NIA R21-AG033284, Language and Executive Function in Parkinson’s Disease: Effects of dual task and exercise. MPI: L. Altmann & C. Hass; Bowers Co-I.

NIH/NIMH R01 MH62458, Priming, TMS, and Hemispheric Asymmetries. PI: D. Bowers.

Michael J. Fox Foundation, Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for theTreatment of Apathy in Parkinson’s Disease (The Restore Study). MPI: H.Fernandez & D. Bowers

Dr. Durning has been a collaborator on externally-funded research projects in health promotion, working as a data coordinator for two NIH-funded grants examining lifestyle intervention for obesity (PI: Michael G. Perri, Ph.D.). Dr. Durning has also been interested in gaining a better understanding of adjustment to medical conditions. To this end, she has participated in unfunded research in both infertility and psycho-oncology.

Dr. Hamlet works closely with Dr. Catherine Price and the Department of Anesthesiology, collaborating on research initiatives to improve perioperative care and outcomes for older adults.

Dr. Fedele’s research broadly focuses on family adjustment to pediatric chronic illness. He is particularly interested in the psychosocial aspects of pediatric chronic illnesses including how health behaviors, adherence to treatment regimens, and the child-caregiver relationship impact adjustment and morbidity. Dr. Fedele’s current research predominantly focuses on youth diagnosed with asthma and their families.

Clinical Focus Dr. Guenther is a clinical professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology where he teaches clinical skills and provides clinical supervision to registered mental health counseling interns, graduate students, clinical psychology interns, and post-doctoral fellows. His primary clinical appointment is to the Psychological Specialties outpatient clinic in the UF Health Haile Plantation where he delivers psychological services to assist with a broad range of outpatient psychological needs.

Research Focus Dr. Guenther’s interests have included rehabilitation psychology, general clinical psychology, the practice of hospitalist psychology, and bioethics.

Dr. Heaton is an avid collaborator on a variety of internally and externally funded research studies, providing expertise on neuropsychological measurement across the lifespan. Her research endeavors have been quite diverse (ranging from her early work studying the neuropsychology of adult schizophrenia to her ongoing independent research examining cognitive and behavioral outcomes after pediatric traumatic brain injury). During her time at UF, Dr. Heaton’s research has primarily focused on novel ways to measure cognitive functioning (“outcome”) after neurological insult, studying short and long-term outcomes after traumatic brain injury across the lifespan, and examining the relationship between attention, executive and memory functions in pediatric conditions. Aside from her independent research and collaborations with many professions within UF Health Shands Hospital and the UF Health Science Center, Dr. Heaton also has provided research mentorship to more than three dozen UF undergraduate students conducting senior honor’s theses and doctoral students within the Department of Clinical & Health Psychology.

Dr. Holgerson’s research involvement can be categorized into three main areas: (1) psychological factors affecting bariatric surgery candidacy and outcomes, (2) eating patterns, and (3) clinical interventions for obesity prevention and treatment of binge eating disorder.

Dr. Holgerson has investigated psychological factors and the potential impact on bariatric surgery readiness and outcome, execution and evaluation of large clinical trials for childhood obesity prevention and treatment of binge eating disorder, weight stigma, the impact of cultural factors on attitudes surrounding eating and food, and the potential connections between stress, impulsivity, and weight

Dr. Janicke has broad research interests in pediatric psychology, most notably improving self-management to, and coping with, acute and chronic health conditions. His main area of interest is translational research intended to promote the dissemination of obesity interventions for individuals in community settings, with a primary focus on children. Unique aspects of his work include comparing family-based vs. parent-only interventions and using of phone –counseling and mHealth technologies to expand the reach of these interventions. His students have produced dissertation research in a variety of pediatric-focused areas including obesity, type 1 diabetes, sleep, inflammatory bowel disease, and oncology. His teams are using virtual human technology to examine the impact of provider weight bias in health care decision making.

Dr. Driscoll’s clinical research addresses adherence to medical treatment regimens, with a focus on using technology and diabetes device downloads to assess and optimize adherence and health outcomes in type 1 diabetes. She was awarded an NIDDK K23 Career Development Award focused on improving adolescents’ type 1 diabetes self-management behaviors via tailored feedback using insulin pump downloads and problem-solving interventions. She then extended her research program through an NIDDK R03 by providing intervention to reduce clinically elevated levels of fear of hypoglycemia, which was assessed as part of a patient-reported outcomes initiative in the clinic in mothers of adolescents with type 1 diabetes. Dr. Driscoll was awarded an NIDDK DP3 implementing integrated medical and psychological care to improve type 1 diabetes self-management behaviors and health outcomes via combined in-person and telemedicine visits. Her overarching research goals are to develop and implement behavioral interventions to improve adherence during routine type 1 diabetes clinical care.

The Youth Risk and Resilience Lab is directed by Joy Gabrielli, Ph.D. It is housed in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology at the University of Florida. Graduate students in the lab work toward doctorate degrees that lead to careers as clinical child psychologists and researchers.

We seek to improve understanding of factors (both environmental and individual) that contribute to youth trajectories of risk and resilience as they progress in development towards adulthood. Within this aim, we look to employ novel technologies and methodologies to promote research engagement and data capture and improve strategies for prevention and intervention efforts. Further, we actively seek to conduct research that benefits underserved and underrepresented youth populations.

For more information, visit Dr. Gabrielli’s Lab Page here: https://phhp-faculty-janicke-a2.sites.medinfo.ufl.edu/current-projects/dr-gabrielli-the-youth-risk-resilience-lab/

Dr. Cascio’s research interests span a variety of topics within neuropsychology; although, she holds a particular interest in pediatric cancer and traumatic brain injury. Her doctoral dissertation involved the development of a recovery guide for children who have experienced mild traumatic brain injury/concussion and their families, which comprised an activity book geared toward assisting school-age children in understanding the recovery process. Since joining the faculty, Dr. Cascio has been a part of many interdisciplinary research studies and clinical trials within oncology, neurology, pediatric congenital heart, and neonatology. Her interest in program development has also led to procurement of several philanthropic grants supporting service provision within pediatrics.

Cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia in adults and children. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based therapies for chronic pain. Dr. Payne-Murphy is clinical faculty and does not accept graduate students as part of a research lab.

The long-range goal of Dr. Pereira’s research program is to improve health outcomes and promote the wellbeing of individuals with chronic and/or life-limiting illnesses, with an emphasis on malignancies that occur commonly or exclusively among women. Grounded in the biobehavioral model of tumor growth and development outlined by Antoni and colleagues (2006), her research seeks to understand the psychoneuroimmunologic (PNI) influences on cancer initiation, recurrence, progression, and mortality, as well as on cancer-related quality of life.

Dr. Perlstein’s research interests include Cognitive Neuroscience, Experimental Psychopathology, Emotion Neuroscience, Anxiety Disorders, Traumatic Brain Injury, Psychophysiology, Functional Neuroimaging.

Dr. Price examines how relationships between cognitive ability and neuroanatomical integrity, as well as how both, predict outcome after interventions (i.e., surgery, anesthesia). She has designed her laboratory and research around two primary aims. First, to understand the relative contribution of brain white matter integrity versus subcortical gray matter structure integrity on the cognitive profiles associated with neurodegenerative subcortical diseases (e.g., small vessel vascular dementia/Alzheimer’s disease spectrum disorder, Parkinson’s disease). Second, to apply this knowledge towards more collaborative and longitudinal research examining the predictive value of these patients’ white and gray matter structure integrity on a) disease associated cognitive decline and b) vulnerability to cognitive change after elective medical interventions with anesthesia (e.g., major orthopedic surgery). Federally funded and non-profit institutions have and continue to support both of these research aims (NIA R01; NINDS R01; NINR R01; NSF; NINDS K23; NIA F-32 post-doctoral training award; Alzheimer’s Association; National Parkinson Foundation). An important research subaim of her laboratory involves furthering appreciation for reliable and valid neuroimaging and cognitive assessment approaches for examining cognitive-structure dissociations/associations..

Dr. Rawlinson’s research involves adherence to treatment in youth with medical illnesses, quality of life and transition to adult medical care. She collaborates with medical providers on program development and access to psychology services in medical settings and has experience in measure development, quality improvement and qualitative studies.