2017 - 2018 TaSSC News and Events

December 2018

• Congratulations to Lia Smith for submitting her NIAAA F31 application!

• Congratulations to Vitor Finatto on his graduation and acceptance to the Sam Houston State University M.A. program in clinical psychology!

November 2018

• Our team presented at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies annual conference in Washington, D.C.!

  • Bartlett, B. A., Smith, L. J., Tran, J. K. & Vujanovic, A. A. (November, 2018). Understanding mental health among military veterans in the fire service. Poster presented at the 34th annual convention of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, DC.

  • Bartlett, B. A., Gallagher, M. W., Tran, J. K., Vujanovic, A. A. (November, 2018). Military veteran status and PTSD symptomatology among urban firefighters: The moderating role of emotion regulation difficulties. Poster presented at the 34th annual convention of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, DC.

  • Smith, L. J., Gallagher, M. W., Vujanovic, A. A., & Tran, J. K. (November, 2018). Posttraumatic stress, alcohol use, and alcohol use motives in firefighters: The role of sleep disturbance. Poster presented at the 34th annual convention of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, DC.

  • Lebeaut, A., Del Pozzo, J., Cherneski, L., Beck, S., Roché, M., & Silverstein, S. M. (2018, November). Trauma in psychosis: The prevalence and impact of trauma exposure on psychotic symptom severity and violent behavior in psychiatric patients. Poster presented at the 34th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Washington, DC.

  • Vujanovic, A. A., Gallagher, M. W., Smith, L. J., Bartlett, B. A., Long, L., & Tran, J. K. (2018, November). Associations between posttraumatic stress, depression, and alcohol use in firefighters: Examining racial/ethnic differences. In M. Luciano (Chair), Self- medication and beyond: Towards a more complete understanding of trauma and alcohol misuse in under-represented, community and national samples. Symposium presented at the 34th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Washington, DC.

October 2018

• Faith (our previous lab manager) and Lia published a collaborative project:

  • Nomamiukor, F. O., Smith, L. J., & Vujanovic, A. A. Examining associations between sleep disturbance and distress tolerance in trauma-exposed psychiatric inpatients. General Hospital Psychiatry, 55, 84-89. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2018.10.002.

• Two of our undergraduate research assistants presented at the UH Undergraduate Research Day!

  • Kratovic, L., Smith, L. J., & Vujanovic, A. A. (October, 2018). PTSD symptoms and suicidality in college students: The role of distress tolerance. Poster presented at the University of Houston 14th annual Undergraduate Research Day, Houston, TX.

  • Zare, S., Bartlett, B. A., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018). Gender differences in distress tolerance among a psychiatric inpatient sample. Poster presented at the 14th annual Undergraduate Research Showcase, Houston, TX.

September 2018

• Congratulations to Lia for publishing her M.A. thesis:

  • Smith, L. J., Gallagher, M. W., Tran, J. K., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Posttraumatic stress, alcohol use, and alcohol use motives in firefighters: The role of sleep disturbance . Comprehensive Psychiatry.

August 2018

• We are excited to officially welcome Antoine Lebeaut and Maya Zegel to the TaSSC!

• Two of Lia’s first-author papers were accepted for publication:

  • Smith, L. J., Paulus, D. J., Gallagher, M. W., Norman, S. B., Tran, J. K., & Vujanovic, A. A., (in press). Perceived stress and probable alcohol dependence in firefighters: The role of posttraumatic stress. International Journal of Stress Management.

  • Smith, L. J., Bartlett, B. A., Tran, J. K., Gallagher, M. W., Alfano, C. & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Sleep disturbance among firefighters: Understanding associations with alcohol use and distress tolerance. Cognitive Therapy and Research.

June 2018

• Thank you to Lia for accepting the position of Research Program Coordinator for the TaSSC!

• Brooke’s first-author paper was accepted for publication:

  • Bartlett, B. A., Smith, L. J., Tran, J. & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018). Understanding mental health among military veterans in the fire service. Psychiatry Research, 267, 394-399

May 2018

• Congratulations to Brooke and Lia for receiving their Master’s degrees in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston!

• Congratulations to Lia for receiving the Cullen Fellowship Travel Grant Award from the University of Houston for her presentation at the 2018 Anxiety and Depression Association of America conference:

  • o Smith, L. J., Bartlett, B. A., Green, C. E., Lane, S. D., Schmitz, J. M., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018, April). Mindfulness as predictor of cognitive-behavioral therapy outcomes in inner-city adults with posttraumatic stress and substance dependence. In I. Arnaudova (Chair), Comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder: Underlying mechanisms and implications for treatment. Symposium presented at the 38th annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America convention, Washington, D.C.

April 2018

• Congratulations to Lia Smith for being elected the Student Co-Chair of the ISTSS Trauma and Substance Use Disorders Special Interest Group!

• Congratulations to Alicia Lopez for accepting a position in the clinical psychology M.A. program at the University of Houston - Clear Lake!

• Congratulations to Faith Nomamiukor for accepting a position in the clinical psychology doctoral program at the University of North Carolina - Greensboro!

• Lia presented at the annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America convention:

  • Smith, L. J., Bartlett, B. A., Green, C. E., Lane, S. D., Schmitz, J. M., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018, April). Mindfulness as predictor of cognitive-behavioral therapy outcomes in inner-city adults with posttraumatic stress and substance dependence. In I. Arnaudova (Chair), Comorbidity of posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use disorder: Underlying mechanisms and implications for treatment. Symposium presented at the 38th annual Anxiety and Depression Association of America convention, Washington, D.C

March 2018

• Congratulations to Lia Smith and Brooke Bartlett for successfully defending their M.A. theses!

• The TaSSC is excited to welcome two new first-year clinical psychology doctoral students! Antoine Lebeaut and Maya Zegel will join us in Fall 2018.
  Currently, Antoine is a Research Assistant at Rutgers University Behavioral Health Care, and Maya is a Clinical Research Assistant at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School.

• Our team, led by Lia Smith, participated in the Race Against Violence -- Houston Area Women's Center 5K - again this year!

February 2018

• Our team presented at the Physicians Against Sex Trafficking event at the University of Houston:

  • Smith, L. J., Bartlett, B. A., Nguyen, P., Coverdale, J., Gordon, M., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018, February). The psychological side of human trafficking. Invited presentation at the Physicians Against Sex Trafficking (PAST) event, University of Houston, Houston, TX.

January 2018

• Brooke’s first-author paper was accepted for publication:

  • Bartlett, B. A., Smith, L. J., Tran, J. & Vujanovic, A. A. (2018). Understanding mental health among military veterans in the fire service. Psychiatry Research, 267, 394-399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2018.06.020.

  • Bartlett, B. A., Jardin, C., Martin, C., Tran, J. K., Buser, S. J., Anestis, M., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Posttraumatic stress and suicidality in firefighters: The moderating role of distress tolerance. Cognitive Therapy and Research.