Personnel
Graduate Students
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Shannon Branlund, M.A., Capt, USAF
Shannon is a 5th year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology (Military Track). She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Sociology with an emphasis in Criminal Justice from the University of Tennessee and an Associate's in Language from the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. Her Master's research was conducted on the potential role of perceived stress in the relationship between depression and alterations in HPA axis function. For her dissertation project, Shannon is examining the role of deployment related factors in suicide death and reported suicide ideation in a sample of Marine Corps and Air Force military service members. Shannon is currently completing her internship placement at the US Air Force Malcolm Grow Medical Center.
Email: sbranlund@usuhs.mil |  |
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Brianne George, B.S., 2nd Lt, USAF
Bri is a 1st year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology (Military Track). Prior to her entry into the USUHS graduate program, Brianne served as an Air Force Intelligence Analyst. Bri has clinical experience as a Sexual Assault Victim Advocate - in this capacity, she provided psychoeducation and intervention services to active duty members following a sexual assault incident. Brianne is married to an AF member who currently serves in Monterey, CA and she is the proud parent of two children who keep her centered while she completes her doctoral program. Bri's 1st year review paper has focused on psychological health of military women. She is currently working on her thesis which involves an analysis of gender differences in suicide-related admissions at a military inpatient setting.
Email: Brianne.George.CTR@usuhs.mil |  |
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Kristen Kochanski, B.S., LTJG, MSC, USN
Kristen is a 1st year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology (Military Track). Kristen received a B.S. in Psychology with a Quantitative option from the Pennsylvania State University, where she worked on a project examining the effects of verbal and imaginal worry. Upon graduation, Kristen was commissioned in the US Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer. Prior to entry into the USUHS graduate program, she served full-time as the lab coordinator for Dr. Holloway's Lab. Kristen's current research is targeted at understanding expressed emotion within a family environment following a suicide attempt and the implications of such communications for recurrent suicide behavior.
Email: kristen.kochanski@usuhs.mil |  |
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Jeffery Martin, M.S., 1st Lt, USAF
Jeff is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology (Military Track) originally from the Texas Gulf Coast. While earning his B.S. in Social Psychology from Park University, Jeff conducted independent research on stress and coping in captivity and collaborated on several projects related to Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE) training. Jeff has had extensive teaching and leadership experience in settings ranging from traditional classrooms to multi-day experiential exercises at remote wilderness locations. Jeff's master's thesis focused on the observable antecedents, help-seeking behaviors, and precipitating life-events of USAF personnel who died by suicide. Currently, Jeff is completing his doctoral research which is a cluster analytic typology of USAF suicide deaths.
Email: jmartin@usuhs.mil |  |
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Graham Sterling, B.A., ENS, MSC, USN
Graham is a 1st year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology (Military Track). Graham received his B.A. in Gerontology from Ithaca College where he researched geriatric health care and PTSD in older veterans. While an undergraduate, Graham gained clinical experience as an intern at the McLean Hospital's inpatient geropsychiatric unit in Boston, MA. Following graduation, Graham worked as a mental health specialist for troubled and suicidal children/adolescents at Franciscan Hospital for Children in Boston, MA. Graham is interested in understanding the role of gender role strain in suicide behavior. His research has implications for minimizing stigma and developing male sensitive psychotherapy practices.
Email: graham.sterling@usuhs.mil |  |
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Postdoctoral Fellows
Daniel Cox, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Cox earned his B.S. in Psychology at York College of Pennsylvania, his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Kansas, and completed his APA accredited internship at Brigham Young University. Dr. Cox's primary areas of research interest include mediators and mechanisms of change with specific foci on emotion regulation and social problem solving in individuals with suicide behavior. Dr. Cox has previously adapted cognitive-behavioral techniques for empirically supported interventions in the domain of vocational psychology. Currently, he is serving as the Project Coordinator for the CDMRP funded study that aims to develop and empirically validate a CBT intervention for traumatized individuals who have attempted suicide. While missing the mountains, Dr. Cox is enjoying exploring the wilds of the D.C. Area.
Email: daniel.cox@usuhs.mil |  |
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Farrah Greene, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Greene received her B.A. in Psychology and Writing from the Johns Hopkins University, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (under the mentorship of Dr. Bruce F. Chorpita), and completed her APA accredited internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Greene's primary research interests include risk and protective factors of suicide ideation in children and adolescents and family factors pertaining to development, maintenance, and exacerbation of suicide behavior. In addition, she is interested in dissemination, training, and evaluation of mental health systems of care. Dr. Greene is currently serving as the Project Coordinator for the NARSAD funded pilot study on the treatment of individuals hospitalized for suicide attempt behavior.
Email: farrah.greene@usuhs.mil |  |
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Research Staff
Kathryn Lou, B.A., Research Assistant
Kate is a 4th year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at American University in Washington, DC. She earned her B.S. in Psychology from Northeastern University. She currently studies under the mentorship of Dr. James J. Gray at American University and focuses on adolescent eating pathology and obesity. Previously, Kathryn worked as a research assistant for two years at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Treatment and Prevention of Suicide, working under the supervision of Aaron T. Beck, Gregory Brown, and Marjan Holloway. Her current research project at USUHS focuses on Air Force suicide death cases - more specifically, identifying differences between those with and without a history of prior suicide attempt behavior.
Email: klou@usuhs.mil |  |
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Elisabeth Fritz, B.A., Research Assistant
Lisa is a 3rd year Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology at American University in Washington, D.C. She earned a B.A. in psychology from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Lisa has assisted in research on PTSD in active-duty Iraq war veterans at Ft. Stewart, GA, and has four years of experience working with survivors of sexual assault. At American University, under the mentorship of Dr. Anthony Ahrens, her research focuses on mindfulness as an intervention and prevention strategy for PTSD. At USUHS, Lisa's research currently focuses on psychotherapy outcome studies for PTSD and their clinical relevance for individuals with suicide behavior.
Email: elisabeth.fritz.CTR@usuhs.mil |  |
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Daisy Rutstein, M.A., Data Manager
Daisy is a Ph.D. student in the Measurement, Statistics and Evaluation department at the University of Maryland, College Park. She earned her B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science at U.C. Santa Cruz in 1998 and her Master's degree in Mathematics at U.C. Santa Cruz in 2000. Her current research interest include Bayesian Inference Networks and Assessment Design. Daisy manages the lab databases and provides statistical consultation to the lab as needed.
Email: dawise@umd.edu |  |
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