Team

Team science is a core principle of the CARES Lab. We believe collaboration drives our best work, fostering an environment of healthy productivity. Our CARES team members are integral to the engine that keeps us moving forward, and the contributions of our current and former graduate and undergraduate students—through their ideas, time, and effort—are deeply valued and essential to our success. As lab director, Dr. Viana is committed to mentoring students in both their professional and personal development, helping them to discover their passions—whether in academia, research, medical settings, or other career paths.

Current Graduate Students

Emily Mallin, B.A.

Stage in the program: 1st year.

Master's thesis: TBD.

Dissertation: TBD.

Emily is a first-year Clinical Psychology doctoral student in the CARES Lab. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and English from Texas A&M University in 2025. Her research interests center around how elements of the family context (e.g., parenting style, child temperament, and cultural values) interact to influence the development of internalizing problems, particularly in children and during the perinatal period.

Dania Amarneh, M.A.

Email: dyamarneh@uh.edu

Stage in the program: 3rd year.

Master's thesis: Cognitive Predictors of Internalizing Symptoms in Clinically Anxious Youth.

Dissertation: TBD.

Dania is a third-year Clinical Psychology doctoral student in the CARES Lab. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Houston in 2021, and subsequently worked as a Research Coordinator at Baylor College of Medicine in the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Her research interests include investigating the consequences of early life stress and adverse childhood experiences on minoritized youth and families, with a focus on cognitive-affective factors that may compound or mitigate risk for internalizing psychopathology.

Mallory Raya Cotton, M.A.
Email: mrcotton@cougarnet.uh.edu

Stage in the program: 4th year.

Master's thesis: Racial socialization, racial identity, and internalizing symptoms: The underlying role of emotion suppression in Black youth.

Dissertation: TBD.

Funding: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program.

Mallory is a fourth-year Clinical Psychology doctoral student in the CARES Lab. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia in 2022 with a BS in Psychology and an AB in Sociology. Her research interests include internalizing psychopathological risk and protective factors, adverse childhood experiences, and sociocultural mechanisms underlying psychopathology among racial/ethnic minority youth and their caregivers.

Karina Silva, M.A.

Email: ksilva@cougarnet.uh.edu

Stage in the program: Predoctoral psychology intern at the Mailman Center for Child Development, University of Miami Health System, Miami, Fl.

Master's thesis: Social and adaptive functioning deficits in children with anxiety disorders: The buffering effects of effortful control.

Dissertation: Acculturative stress and anxiety symptoms among Latinx children: The role of childhood anxiety sensitivity and parental emotion socialization practices.

Funding: Texas Psychological Foundation.

Karina is a sixth-year doctoral student in the CARES Lab. She graduated from Florida International University in 2016, with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education. Her research interests are primarily in the maintenance of childhood internalizing psychopathology among immigrant and undocumented populations, specifically focused on the risk and resilience factors that influence these relations.

Jessica Hernandez Ortiz, M.A.

Email: jghern20@cougarnet.uh.edu

Stage in the program: Postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Master's thesis: Caregiver Separation, Resilience and Peer Attachment in Recently Immigrated Latinx Youth.

Dissertation: Dimensions of adversity and psychopathology in immigrant Latinx youth: Examining the role of interpretation biases.

Funding: Texas Psychological Foundation.

Jessica is a sixth-year doctoral student in the CARES Lab. She graduated from Prairie View A&M University in 2018 with a B.S. in Psychology and received her M.A. from the University of Houston in 2021. Her research interests are in mechanisms of risk and resilience for the psychosocial development and functioning of youth from marginalized backgrounds, with specific interests in Latino and immigrant adolescents.

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Emily Martin

Emily is a senior Psychology major and a minor in Spanish. Emily joined the CARES Lab to learn more about how cultural background factors affect mental health outcomes. After graduating, Emily plans to obtain a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology to become a mental health counselor. Outside of lab, Emily enjoys spending time with friends, shopping, and traveling.

Karla Mendez

Karla is a junior Psychology major with a minor in Spanish for Health Professionals. She joined the CARES Lab because of her interests in anxiety and the role of culture in mental health. After she graduates, she plans to attend medical school to become a psychiatrist. In her free time, she likes to thrift and play volleyball.

Liana Alonzo

Liana is a junior Psychology major with a minor in Neuroscience. She joined the CARES Lab because she is interested in the cultural aspects of our research and in how upbringing influences children’s social development. After she graduates, she wants to attend medical school and continue to pursue research. For fun, she likes to dance and listen to music.

Megan Peltier

Megan is a senior Psychology major with a minor in Spanish. She joined the CARES Lab because of her interest in working with culture, mental health, and children. When she graduates, she wants to be a teacher for a couple of years before pursuing graduate school for Psychology. In her free time, Megan loves to spend time outdoors, walk her dog, read, and run.

Isabella Gutierrez

Isabella is a senior Psychology major with a minor in Business. She joined the CARES Lab because of her interest in the cultural aspects of mental health. Specifically, she is interested in studying anxiety in Latino children and adolescents. After she graduates, Isabella wants to pursue her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, specializing in either Sports or Forensic Psychology. In her free time, she likes to bake, listen to music, and hang out with her friends.

Former Graduate Students

Erika S. Trent, Ph.D.

Current position: Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

Master's thesis: Interpretive biases and childhood anxiety: The moderating role of parasympathetic nervous system reactivity

Dissertation: Adversity and childhood anxiety: Identifying parental and affective mechanisms.

Funding: American Psychological Association and American Psychological Foundation.

Haley Conroy Busch, Ph.D.

Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Modern Therapy, Houston, TX.

Master's thesis: Fearful temperament, social anxiety and depressive symptoms in clinically anxious youth: the role of catastrophizing cognitions.

Dissertation: Racial Socialization and Emotion Dysregulation: Associations to internalizing symptoms and sleep disturbance in Black youth.

Funding: Texas Psychological Foundation.

Elizabeth Raines, Ph.D.

Current position: Psychologist, Chapel Hill Pediatric Psychology, Chapel Hill, NC.

Master's thesis: Effortful Control, Interpretation Biases, and Child

Anxiety Symptom Severity in a Sample of Children.

Dissertation: Childhood Anxiety: The Contributions of Effortful Control, Interpretation Biases, and Early Life Stress.

Funding: National Institute of Mental Health (F31).

Abigail Candelari, Ph.D.

Current position: Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, and Staff Psychologist, Ben Taub Hospital, Houston, TX.

Master's thesis: Longitudinal relations between infant temperament and child internalizing and externalizing symptoms: The role of parental conflict tactics and intimate partner violence.

Dissertation: Single-session computer-delivered intervention for parental accomodation and overcontrolling behaviors: A pilot study.

Funding: Texas Psychological Foundation.

Emma Woodward, Ph.D.

Current position: Staff Psychologist, Anxiety Disorders Center, Child Mind Institute, New York, NY.

Master's thesis: Intergenerational emotion dysregulation: Older adolescent negative perception as a moderator.

Dissertation: Parental socialization of emotion and anxiety among Latinx youth: The role of emotion dysregulation and familismo.

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