2021 News

December 2021

• Dr. Vujanovic presented at the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center. Her presentation was entitled “Intergenerational Trauma: An Overview.”

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! Antoine was selected as a recipient of the 2021 American Psychological Association (APA) Dissertation Research Award. This award will be used to support his dissertation research.

November 2021

• We are excited to launch a new study, funded by EM-Solutions/Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office, to study the impact of Hurricane Harvey on first responder behavioral health in Harris County, Texas!

• Dr. Vujanovic talked with NBC news about the Astroworld tragedy: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/therapists-hesitant-dismiss-travis-scotts-betterhelp-offer-rcna5329

• Dr. Vujanovic was interviewed by University of Houston’s The Cougar regarding the Astroworld tragedy: http://thedailycougar.com/2021/11/16/astroworld-attendees-recall-tragedy/

• Our team presented at the annual International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies conference:

  • Salwa, A., Lebeaut, A., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, November). Suicide ideation and risk among Latinx female university students: Examining the main and interactive effects of childhood maltreatment and mindfulness. Poster presented at the 37th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies [virtual meeting].

  • Lebeaut, A., Zegel, M., Rogers, A. H., Healy, N., Buser, S. J., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, November). PTSD symptom severity, pain, and pain-related disability among trauma-exposed firefighters: The moderating role of mindfulness. Poster presented at the 37th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies [virtual meeting].  

  • Zegel, M., Kabel, K. E., Lebeaut, A., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, November). Distress overtolerance among firefighters: Associations with PTSD symptoms. Poster presented at the 37th annual meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies [virtual meeting].

• Our team presented at the annual Association of Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies conference:

  • Leonard, S. J., Zegel, M., Venta, A., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, November). Insecure adult attachment style and PTSD symptom severity among firefighters: The role of distress tolerance. Poster presented at the 55thannual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies convention, New Orleans, LA.

  • Healy, N. A., Leonard, S. J., Bittar, J., Stanley, I. H., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, November). Social attachment and the interpersonal theory of suicide: Associations of insecure adult attachment styles, thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, and suicide risk among firefighters. Poster presented at the 55th annual Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies convention, New Orleans, LA.

October 2021

• Dr. Vujanovic was interviewed for The Clinical Consult podcast by the National Register of Health Service Psychologists regarding pscyhological services for firefighters: https://www.nationalregister.org/multimedia/providing-psychological-services-to-firefighters/

• Dr. Vujanovic was interviewed by The Hill regarding first responders’ mental health during the pandemic: https://thehill.com/homenews/news/577822-first-responders-resilience-masks-a-mounting-mental-health-toll

• Dr. Vujanovic presented at the 70th annual Association for Texas Graduate Schools meeting at the University of Houston. Her presentation was entitled “Trauma-Informed Instruction and Support for Graduate Students.”

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! Maya has achieved another major milestone as she successfully passed her EPPP exam! A well-deserved accomplishment, we are all so proud!

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! He successfully proposed his dissertation, entitled "An Integrated Personalized Feedback Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers with Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity and Subclinical Posttraumatic Stress Disorder."

September 2021

• Antoine Lebeaut presented at a meeting sponsored by the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science at the University of Houston. His presentation was entitled “Graduate Programs in Psychology.”

• Congratulations to Aniqua Salwa! Aniqua has been selected to receive the ISTSS Student Registration Award for her poster presentation at the upcoming November 2021 conference. Her poster presentation is entitled, "Suicide Ideation and Risk Among Latinx Female University Students: Examining the Main and Interactive Effects of Childhood Maltreatment and Mindfulness".

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! Maya has been selected to receive the ISTSS Student Registration Award for her poster presentation at the upcoming November 2021 conference. Her poster presentation is entitled, "Distress overtolerance among firefighters: Associations with PTSD symptoms."

• Congratulations to Nate Healy and Sam Leonard for passing comprehensive exams!!

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! She successfully proposed her dissertation, entitled "Daily State-Like Distress Tolerance and Alcohol Use Motivation among Hazardous Drinkers with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder."

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! Antoine was awarded a F31 National Research Service Award from the NIAAA! His project is entitled "An Integrated Personalized Feedback Intervention for Hazardous Drinkers with Elevated Anxiety Sensitivity and Subclinical PTSD."

August 2021

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! Antoine has been selected to receive the 2021 Morgan T. Sammons Graduate Student Award ($10,000) from the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. This award will support his dissertation project. 

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! Maya has been selected to receive the 2021 John P. McGovern Fellowship Award ($6,000). This award is funded by the Texas Research Society on Alcoholism and will support her dissertation project.

• Congratulations to Shelby McGrew! Shelby has been selected to receive the Mont H. Jr. and Jane Goldston Scholarship from the UH Department of Psychology. A well-deserved award!

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeat! Antoine has successfully passed his EPPP exam, a major milestone! A well-deserved accomplishment, we are all so proud!

• Congratulations to Aniqua Salwa! Aniqua has been selected as a recipient of the University of Houston Laurie T. Callicutt Scholarship. As part of this award, Aniqua will be working with her graduate student mentor, Antoine Lebeaut, on the completion of a senior-year special project. 

July 2021

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! Maya has received the APA Division 50 Presidential Selection for the Society of Addiction Psychology (SoAP) Student Research Grant ($1,000). The grant will support her dissertation project. 

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! She has been selected by the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology as a recipient of the 2020-2021 Summer Graduate Research Grant ($1,500). The grant will support her dissertation project.

June 2021

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel and team! Maya published another first-author paper:

  • Zegel, M., Lebeaut, A. M., Healy, N., Tran, J. K., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Mental health correlates of probable posttraumatic stress disorder, probable alcohol use disorder, and their co-occurrence: An evaluation among firefighters. Behavior Modification.

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel! Maya was awarded a F31 National Research Service Award from the NIAAA! Her project is entitled "Daily State-Like Distress Tolerance and Alcohol Use Motivation among Hazardous Drinkers with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder."

May 2021

• Dr. Vujanovic’s work was featured by the University of Houston: https://research.uh.edu/reaching-houston/stories/supporting-houstons-first-responders.html

• Dr. Vujanovic presented at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Stony Brook University School of Medicine Grand Rounds. Her presentation was entitled “First Responder Mental Health: Empirical and Clinical Considerations.”

• Congratulations to Kolin Justice! Kolin has accepted a full-time position as a Resident Advisor for the Menninger Clinic. We are all so proud of you, you are going to do great! 

• Congratulations to Dania Amarneh! Dania has accepted a full-time Research Coordinator position at the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program at the Baylor College of Medicine. This is well-deserved and we are all so proud of you!

April 2021

• Our team presented at the annual Southwestern Psychological Association conference:

  • Amarneh, D., Lebeaut, A., & Vujanovic, A. A. (2021, April). Childhood maltreatment and sleep disturbance: The role of anxiety sensitivity.Oral presentation conducted at the annual Southwestern Psychological Association Conference, San Antonio, TX [virtual meeting].

• Dr. Vujanovic presented at the 12th annual Psychiatry Update Conference at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Her presentation was entitled “First Responder Mental Health.”

• Congratulations to Barbara Lomeli! Barbara has been accepted into the University of Houston's Master of Education in Counseling Program, for the specific track in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. We are so happy for you, you are going to do great!

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut and team! Antoine published another first-author paper:

  • Lebeaut, A., Leonard, S., Healy, N., Raines, A. M., Buser, S., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Associations between lower-order anxiety sensitivity facets and PTSD symptoms among trauma-exposed firefighters. Behavior Modification.

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! Antoine resubmitted his F31 proposal to NIAAA.

• Congratulations to Maya Zegel and Antoine Lebeaut! Maya and Antoine both received the NIAAA Student Merit Award from the Research Society on Alcoholism to support their attendance at the annual meeting.

• Congratulations to Katherine Kabel! Katherine defended her honors thesis, entitled “The Role of Anxiety Sensitivity in Mental Health Outcomes among Trauma-Exposed College Students during COVID-19.”

• Congratulations to Aniqua Salwa! Aniqua was granted the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship ($4,000) from the University of Houston to fund her project, "Examining the Main and Interactive Effects of Childhood Maltreatment and Mindfulness on Suicidal Ideation and Behaviors among Latina University Students.” Aniqua will be working closely with graduate mentor, Antoine Lebeaut, and the team on this work.

March 2021

• Dr. Vujanovic presented at the Department of Psychological Science, Rice University. Her presentation was entitled “Understanding Trauma-Related Sequelae Across Populations Using Multi-Method Strategies.”

• Congratulations to Antoine Lebeaut! Antoine received the Diversity Day Research Award for his presentation, entitled “Sex Differences in the Association between Posttraumatic Stress and Alcohol Use among Trauma-Exposed, Latinx University Students.”

• Congratulations to Nate Healy! Nate published his first first-author manuscript based on his M.A. thesis:

  • Healy, N., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). PTSD symptoms and suicide risk among firefighters: The moderating role of sleep disturbance. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 

• In a multidisciplinary collaborative effort, we launched the University of Houston First Responder Program. We look forward to working together to improve the behavioral health of first responders.

• Our work was featured in PsyPost!

February 2021 

• Dr. Vujanovic was interviewed by the 19th regarding the impact of Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez’s disclosure about sexual assault on survivors: https://19thnews.org/2021/02/rep-alexandria-ocasio-cortezs-instagram-live-could-have-an-impact-on-assault-survivors/

• Welcome to Shelby McGrew! Shelby will be joining our team as a first-year clinical psychology doctoral student in Fall 2021. Shelby is presently a Research Coordinator at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System. We are all very excited to have you on board, Shelby!

• Congratulations to Katherine Kabel! Katherine has accepted a full-time position as Clinical Research Coordinator in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. We are all so proud of you, Katherine!

• Congratulations to Sam Leonard! Sam published his first first-author manuscript based on his M.A. thesis:

  • Leonard, S., & Vujanovic, A. A. (in press). Thwarted belongingness and PTSD symptom severity among firefighters: The role of emotion regulation difficulties. Behavior Modification.

January 2021

• Dr. Vujanovic presented to the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning at the University of Houston. Her presentation was entitled “Helping Students in Need: Trauma-Informed Instruction.”

• Dr. Vujanovic was an invited panelist at the 14th annual teaching conference in the Department of English at the University of Houston. The conference was titled “Seeing 20/20: Anti-Racism, Social Justice, and Trauma-Informed Pedagogy.” Her presentation was entitled “Trauma: Definitions, Prevalence, and Trauma-Informed Instructional Frameworks.”

• Antoine Lebeaut is the new University of Houston Campus Representative for APA Division 12. Congratulations, Antoine!

• Our recent work was featured on the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy