Meet the Pediatric Psychology & Health Behaviors Lab

Jacqueline Helcer-Becker, PhD

Jacqueline Helcer-Becker, Ph.D. completed the Clinical Psychology training program in 2017. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA and then returned to the New York area, where she is currently completing her post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at North Shore/Long Island Jewish Medical Center within Northwell Health. Prior to her doctorate, Jackie received a Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling from Fordham University and worked as a program director and study therapist at Columbia University Medical Center in the Neurocognitive Rehabilitation Lab, providing CBT and cognitive remediation to adults with severe mental illness, treatment-resistant depression, or early stage dementia. As a doctoral student, she completed externships at Mount Sinai Hospital’s Department of Pediatrics, and at Weill Cornell Medical College within the Department of Neurosurgery and Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. In addition to receiving broad training in modalities of psychotherapy and neuropsychological assessment, Jackie is fluent in four languages and also has experience delivering these services in Spanish and Portuguese. Her research interests have focused on cognitive and behavioral aspects of medical or neurologic illnesses. For her master’s thesis, she investigated prognostic awareness in advanced-stage cancer patients at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. For her dissertation, she examined the utility of the pre-transplant psychosocial assessment in predicting post-transplant outcomes in liver transplant patients at Mount Sinai. She has continued research collaborations with Dr. Annunziato, working on publishing her dissertation findings, as well as serving as an interventionist on an NIDDK-funded study of remote adherence intervention for adolescent liver transplant recipients.

Chad Davis, MA

Chad Davis is currently a 6th year Doctoral Student in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at Fordham University. As a clinician and researcher, he is interested in the psychological similarities between substance abuse and eating disordered behavior, particularly among men and ethnic minorities. He was recently awarded The Fordham Summer Research Fellowship for his pilot study examining Food Addiction in a predominantly African-American sample. Findings from this study were recently published in a special issue of The Journal of Obesity. Chad Davis is passionate about disseminating information about mental health through the media. Recent media appearances include: Black Talk Radio and The Positive Controversy with Kristen Pope.

Stephanie Grossman, MA

Stephanie is a sixth-year Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Fordham. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Amherst College in 2010. After graduation, she worked as a research coordinator at Drexel University's Program in Eating Disorders and Obesity. Clinically, she has been trained in evidence-based treatments across diverse settings with both adults and adolescents. These experiences include a community mental health clinic, an eating and weight disorders program, an acute adolescent inpatient unit, and a private practice. Stephanie's research is focused on the relationships between appearance-management behaviors, disordered eating and sexual health behaviors. Her research interests also include eating disorder prevention, sexual assault and domestic violence, support for gender-equality policies, and barriers to treatment access. She is currently on internship at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center.

Sarah Duncan-Park, MA

Sarah is a fifth-year student in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program at Fordham. She received her Bachelor of Arts in political science from Providence College, and worked in health care administration at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and in college admissions before completing her master’s in clinical psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. Sarah’s research investigates adherence behaviors in medically ill children, adolescents, and young adults. Her master’s thesis examined food allergic college students’ adherence to self-management behaviors, and her dissertation research is focused on identifying risk factors for different levels of immunosuppressant nonadherence in adolescent transplant recipients. Sarah is also an interventionist on an NIDDK-funded study of a remote adherence intervention for adolescent liver transplant recipients. Clinically, Sarah has received training in cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic treatment approaches and has provided psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and young adults with a range of psychopathology on both an outpatient and inpatient basis.

Claire Dunphy, MA

Claire is a fourth-year student in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Fordham. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from St. John’s University in 2013. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a research coordinator in the Department of Urology at Weill Cornell Medical College. There, she worked on clinical trials and other research projects concerning adults with chronic medical conditions. Her research interests include the cognitive and behavioral aspects of living with a chronic medical illness. Claire’s master’s thesis focused on identifying caregiver-related psychosocial correlates of medication nonadherence in pediatric liver transplant recipients. She is also an interventionist on an NIDDK-funded study of a remote adherence intervention for adolescent liver transplant recipients. Ultimately, she hopes to develop effective psychological interventions for patients who struggle to adhere to complex medical treatment regimens. Clinically, she has received training in psychotherapy and cognitive assessment in various settings, which have included a college counseling center and a community mental health clinic. She is currently an extern in the Health Psychology: Behavioral Health track at Northwell Health.

Eric Riklin, MA

Eric is a third-year graduate student in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Fordham. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Clark University in 2012. After graduating, he worked with pediatric craniofacial patients at the NYU Institute for Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery, where he assisted with group therapy sessions and narrative video projects that encouraged adolescent patients to mentor younger patients and help them better cope with their differences. He also served as a research coordinator in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Emergency Department, where he worked on research projects examining interventions for neurological disorders. Eric then transitioned to work as a research coordinator at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at MGH, where he was responsible for studies examining the effects of stress management and resiliency training on adolescents and adults with a range of health conditions. Eric's research primarily focuses on intervention development and the psychological well-being of pediatric and adolescent patients with chronic health conditions. More specifically, he is currently conducting research examining the psychosocial needs of adolescents with craniofacial conditions and determining efficacious psychotherapeutic interventions for this population. He recently completed his externship at Hunter College Counseling & Wellness Services where he provided brief psychotherapy and individualized treatments to diverse college students, and he is currently a clinical extern at the Child Mind Institute where he conducts standardized comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations on children and adolescents with a range of mental health conditions and learning disorders.

 

Lab Alumni

Brad Jerson, PhD
Hong Ngo, PhD
Monique Wilson, PhD
Brianna Lewis, PhD
Melissa Rubes, PhD
Christina Supelana, PhD
Adrianna Damato, MA