People
Lab Director: Diana Rancourt, Ph.D.
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I am an Associate Professor and Director of Clinical Training in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Florida. I hold B.A. degrees in Psychology and French from Amherst College (2002) and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2012). I completed my pre-doctoral clinical internship at the VASDHS/UCSD Psychology Internship Program in San Diego, CA, where I trained at the UCSD Eating Disorders Center for Treatment and Research and the San Diego VA Outpatient Clinic in primary care mental health. I completed an NIH-funded T32 post-doctoral fellowship in child mental health at Brown University Medical School. I joined the faculty at the University of South Florida in August 2014.
My research integrates clinical, social, developmental, and health psychology. I am committed to integrating research on eating disorder and obesity risk factors by considering weight-related behaviors as a spectrum and exploring interoceptive awareness of hunger and satiety cues (e.g., food craving, self-reported hunger/satiety, blood glucose fluctuations) as a transdiagnostic mechanism of eating disorders and obesity across healthy and pediatric populations.
Given the salience of peers during this developmental period, I examine psychosocial influences of adolescents’ effective weight control, unhealthy weight loss behaviors, muscle-gaining behaviors, obesogenic behaviors, and food and alcohol disturbance (FAD). I am interested in how peers and the social context may be helpful or harmful to efforts to encourage a healthy approach to eating and body image.
I am particularly interested in weight-related and health risk behaviors during adolescence and young adulthood. My methodological and statistical approaches are multi-faceted, theoretically-based, and dependent on the particular question being asked. I use cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys, ecological momentary assessment, observational and mixed-methods approaches, as well as experimental designs to investigate research questions of interest.
My favorite part of being a faculty member are my graduate and undergraduate students. My goal is to foster a cohesive, inclusive, and collaborative lab atmosphere, where everyone learns from one another. If you are interested in learning about opportunities to join the DEPTH Lab research team as either a research assistant or a graduate student, please visit the Join Us! page. You can learn more about our research and publications on the Research page.
Graduate Students
Madeline Palermo (2018)
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Before joining the DEPTH lab Maddy completed a BS/MS program at Drexel University. Her research interests include investigating risk factors for maladaptive exercise and disordered eating behaviors. She is particularly interested in exploring identity as a potential prevention and treatment target of maladaptive exercise.
Maddy will be completing her predoctoral internship at VASDHS/UCSD on the Eating Disorder Outpatient/Rady Children's Hospital Medical Behavioral Unit.
Cody Staples (2019)
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Cody is from Wendell, NC and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019. His research interests involve disordered eating in men, the intersection of maladaptive exercise behaviors and disordered eating, and outcomes associated with expectancies of thinness and muscularity. In his free time, he enjoys watching and playing sports (go Tar Heels!), going to the beach, and hanging out at Busch Gardens.
Allison Cunning (2020)
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Originally from Upstate NY, Allison joins the DEPTH lab after completing her BA at Binghamton University and MA at American University. Allison’s research interests include exploring weight stigma and weight bias internalization, and how they relate to disordered eating behaviors. She is particularly interested in how weight status may influence an individual’s experience with stigma.
Kendall Poovey (2021)
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Kendall is joining the lab after completing her BS at Kennesaw State University and her MA at Western Carolina University. Kendall’s research interests include the role of interoception in relation to disordered eating behaviors, with a particular interest in the interoceptive experience of hunger and satiety. Outside the lab, she enjoys paddle boarding and the beach.
Laura Boyajian (2022)
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Originally from outside Philly, Laura is joining the DEPTH Lab after completing her BS at the University of Pittsburgh. Laura’s research interests include evaluating how emotional and sociocultural risk factors influence the development and maintenance of disordered eating behaviors and body image concerns. Outside of her time in the lab, Laura loves trying her hand at new cuisines and recipes, reading a good book, and enjoying the simple things in life with those she holds close.
Current Research Assistants
Sophia Montejo
Samantha Salley
Annaka Milholland
Dhanvi Patel
Harish Rudrawar
Zayn Haque
Angelica Cooper
Anastasia Hockaday
Isha Modha
Graduate Student Alumni
Erica Ahlich, MA (2015)
Erica joined the lab in 2015. She is from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and completed her BA at Albion College. Her program of research focuses on the complex etiological and maintenance factors underlying engagement in disordered eating behaviors and difficulties with weight management. In particular, she focuses on the role of affective processes in relation to overeating and binge-type behaviors. Outside the lab, she stays busy with her very active toddler.
Erica completed internship at the Brown University Consortium (Health Psychology/Behavioral Medicine) and earned her PhD in August 2022.
Erica started as a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of South Alabama in August 2022.
Christina Verzijl, MA (2016)
Before jumping on the DEPTH lab bandwagon, Christina graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and studied eating disorder preventive interventions at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Christina's research interests include body image in understudied samples and predictors of the full spectrum of disordered eating behaviors. She has a particular interest in behavioral measures food craving and their relation to disordered eating behaviors from undereating to overeating. In her free time, she spends every second with her dog, Tucker!
Christina completed her internship at the Texas Child Study Center (Pediatric/Integrated Care) and earned her PhD in August 2022.
Christina is completing a postdoctoral fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at the Texas Child Study Center.
Emily Choquette, MA (2014)
Emily earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida in August 2021. During graduate school, her research focused on the intersection of disordered eating behaviors and alcohol use. Emily and colleagues coined the term Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD) to describe the functional relationship between disordered eating and alcohol use. Emily completed her predoctoral internship at the MEDVAMC in Houston, TX.
She is completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, OK.
Brittany Lang (2015)
Brittany earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of South Florida in August 2021. Her research during graduate school focused on how body ideals (e.g., drive for thinness, drive for muscularity, drive for leanness) are associated with disordered eating behaviors. Outside the lab, Brittany collaborated with the Tampa VA and Byrd Alzheimer’s Institute on neuropsychological-focused research. Brittany completed her predoctoral internship in neuropsychology at the Minneapolis VA.
She is completing a postdoctoral fellowship in adult clinical neuropsychology in the Neurology Department at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Research Assistant Alumni
Mental Health Professions
Sarah Atttaway - Clinical Psychology (PhD), University of Montana
Casey Morocho - Clinical Psychology (PsyD), Nova Southeastern University
Leonie Lerner - Clinical Psychology (PsyD), University of La Verne
Samin Khallaghi - School Psychology (PhD), University of South Florida
Kelly Wise - Clinical Psychology (PsyD), Alliant International University, San Diego, CA
Kelechi Uzoegwu - Clinical Psychology (PhD), Miami University of Ohio
Marina Kleinschmidt -- Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MS), Johns Hopkins University
Karen Kelley - Clinical Psychology (PhD), Mississippi State University
Medical School
Caleb Peterson - Medical School (DO), Lincoln Memorial University
Shrey Nihilanai - Medical School (MD), Florida International University
Bretty Aziz - Medical School (MD), Geisinger Commonwealth
Other Pursuits
Katie Flynn
Alexandra Berrios
Maria Fornale
Aaliyah Torres
Kaylie Miller - Pharmacy (PharmD), University of South Florida
Teresa Pham - Psychological Sciences (MA), University of South Florida - St. Petersburg
Ronan Wilson - Clinical Research Coordinator, Pediatric Psychopharmacology (Dr. Tim Wilens), Massachusetts General Hospital
Catherine Jirikowic
Rebecca Koch - Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (MA), University of South Florida
Annie Blackard
Jacob Del Roasario
Callie Gaetano
Jasmine Helwa - Pharmacy (PharmD), University of South Florida
Daniel Alboukrek - Research Assistant, Cognition, Emotion, and Life Experiences Lab (Dr. Mel Bozzay), Brown University Medical School
Kylee Johns
Amanda Kling
Rosalia Parrino - Exercise Physiology (PhD), University of Miami
Cynthia Rubio Justiz - University of Kansas PREP Program
Erin Wright
Valerie Yepez
Julia Simon
Emily Johnson - math teacher
Ryan Lerch - science teacher
Alex Hernandez
B. Michelle Beekman - Behavioral and Community Sciences (PhD), University of South Florida
Heather Ward
Where We are From!
It's a lab tradition to have all graduate students and RAs put a pin in the map to indicate where they're from.
