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Our Team
PARC Leadership
Jennifer Freeman, Ph.D.
Director
Jennifer Freeman, PhD is the Director of the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital. Dr. Freeman is also Professor (Research) of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Associate Director of the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program in the Clinical Psychology Training Program at Brown Medical School, and Associate Director of Research at Bradley Hospital. Dr. Freeman received her BA from Wesleyan University. She completed her doctoral training at the State University of New York at Buffalo, completed a predoctoral internship at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Program, and was a NIMH T-32 postdoctoral fellow in child and pediatric psychology at The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. Dr. Freeman is deeply committed to the mission of combining research, clinical service, and multidisciplinary training at PARC. She has a long history of mentoring and teaching within Brown’s Clinical Psychology Internship and Fellowship programs. She has received extensive funding from NIH and PCORI for her research in the assessment and treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Recent studies aim to reduce barriers to effective care for youth and families and to develop new service models that provide high-quality, evidence-based care outside the office. Along with a talented, collaborative, and ever-growing team, she has led PARC to become a national model for the true integration of active research and training within a busy clinical service line. In her free time, Dr. Freeman enjoys spending time with her family, taking too many photos of her Golden Retriever, and running outdoors in all seasons.
Jennifer Herren, Ph.D.
Associate Director
Dr. Jenny Herren is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) and Associate Professor (Clinician Educator) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. She is a part of PARC’s leadership team and coordinates outpatient services at PARC. Dr. Herren’s clinical expertise and research interests broadly focus on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices for youth, with an emphasis on exposure-based treatment for OCD and anxiety. Dr. Herren received her B.A. from Maryville College and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and post-doctoral fellowship specializing in child and adolescent psychology at Judge Baker Children’s Center and Harvard University. She is an active member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT). Dr. Herren’s research interests focus on improving therapist training and service delivery models of exposure therapy in order to optimize clinical outcomes and increase access to care. She has served as a Co-Investigator on multiple grants at PARC. Dr. Herren was born and raised in Tennessee and now lives in Rhode Island. Some of her most favorite things include traveling to new places, going to the beach, trying new foods, spending time with her family, and reading a good book!
Kristen Benito, Ph.D.
Research and Quality Improvement Lead
Dr. Benito is an Assistant Professor (Research) at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a Staff Psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital and Bradley Hospital. She received her B.A. from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2003 and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida in 2010. Dr. Benito completed post-doctoral training in Pediatric OCD/Anxiety that was supported by a T32 award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Dr. Benito is also the PI on an NIMH-funded R01 testing the Exposure Guide as a practical measure of quality in exposure therapy, and the MPI on an NIHM-funded and the R21/R33 testing training methods for community therapists learning to deliver exposure therapy.Dr. Benito’s research interests are related to understanding treatment quality and mechanism of change in exposure-based treatments and using this knowledge to 1) disseminate efficacious treatments into community settings, 2) augment existing treatments, and 3) develop new treatments. Dr. Benito also has research interests related to developing behavioral treatments for families of youth with medical problems, such as Congenital Heart Disease and Orthostatic Intolerance. Dr. Benito provides Clinical Psychology services in the Bradley Hospital OCD Intensive program and in the Hasbro Children’s Hospital Pediatric Heart Center and Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Clinic. Dr. Benito enjoys spending time with her family and her grumpy French bulldog named Walter.
Elizabeth Brannan, M.D.
Training Lead
Elizabeth (Beth) Brannan, MD, is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and Pediatrician working in the Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders at Bradley Hospital. A native of California, Dr. Brannan earned her BA in Human Biology from Stanford University and her Medical Degree from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine. She pursued combined residency training in Psychiatry and Pediatrics through the Triple Board Program (pediatrics, general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry) at Brown, where she focused on pediatric anxiety disorders, the medical-psychiatric interface, and medical education. Dr. Brannan is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (Clinician Educator) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Brannan is active in education, social justice, and equity in the medical system. She served as the Associate Training Director for the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship and Triple Board Residency programs from 2020-2023 and served as the Co-Director of the first-year medical student Brain & Behavior course for 6 years and the longitudinal third-year medical student Integration Seminar for 8 years. She continues to teach courses on pediatric mental health to medical students, residents, and fellows, as well as to community pediatricians through the Pedi PRN Intensive Program. Since 2021 she has been a member of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior’s Anti-Racism Steering Committee and co-chairs the Subcommittee on Educational Programming. She co-develops and teaches social justice and mental health equity curricula for child psychiatry and pediatric trainees and faculty. In her time outside of work, she loves spending time with her daughter, being outdoors, and experiencing the fundamental both/and moments of life.
Amy Egolf, M.D.
Psychiatry Lead
Amy Egolf, MD, is a Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist working in the Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders at Bradley Hospital, as well as in the outpatient setting. Dr. Egolf is an Assistant Professor and the Associate Director of Medical Education for the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School (AMS) of Brown University. Dr. Egolf earned her BA from Wesleyan University in Classics and her medical degree from The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She completed her adult psychiatry residency training at Mount Sinai and her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Brown. Dr. Egolf joined the OCD Program following the completion of her training at Brown. In her free time, Dr. Egolf enjoys spending time with her daughter and husband in the great outdoors, traveling, and trying all the wonderful food the world has to offer both close to home in Providence and farther afield. She has a particular fondness for cappuccinos and always appreciates giving and receiving food and drink recommendations.
Michael Walther, Ph.D.
Intensive Services Lead
Michael Walther, Ph.D., is a psychologist at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Bradley Hospital. He received his bachelor’s degree from the Pennsylvania State University and doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Walther is currently completing a fellowship under the T32 National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Walther joined PARC in 2011 as part of his pre-doctoral internship at Brown University. Dr. Walther is interested in the phenomenology, etiology, and treatment of anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), hair pulling disorder (trichotillomania), and tic disorders. Even though he dislikes vegetables, he does his best to eat them; they are good fuel for when he runs with his dog Bentley.
psychologists & psychiatrists
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Andrea Gold, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Andrea Gold, Ph.D. is a Staff Psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Brown University Alpert Warren School of Medicine. Prior to joining PARC, she completed a postdoctoral Intramural Research Training Award fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She received her Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her doctorate in clinical psychology at Yale University. She completed (and loved!) her clinical internship in the dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) specialization track at the Yale School of Medicine. In her doctoral and postdoctoral training, Andrea used functional neuroimaging, psychophysiology, and behavioral methods to study the neural mechanisms of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. In addition to her clinical research on anxiety, she simultaneously gained learned DBT, an evidence-based treatment for severe, pervasive emotion dysregulation, suicidal and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), and borderline personality disorder (BPD). As a member of the PARC team, Andrea is passionate about her goal to integrate clinical research, exposure and response prevention (E/RP), and DBT. She is currently developing an adaptation of DBT targeting exposure (DBT-X) for the subpopulation of adolescents with OCD and other fear disorders co-occurring with emotion dysregulation, self-injurious behaviors, and BPD. For this subpopulation and along with the PARC team, Andrea is developing a DBT-X track within the Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders. Her research also examines the development of BPD in adolescent girls and boys.
Joshua Kemp, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Joshua Kemp, Ph.D. is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center at Bradley Hospital. He received his Bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Wyoming. Josh has extensive experience researching and delivering exposure therapy for anxiety disorders. His graduate training focused on the study of methods for optimally delivering and disseminating exposure therapy across a variety of service settings, including outpatient, partial hospital, and residential levels of care with both children and adults. Dr. Kemp has also co-authored publications on strategies for training exposure therapists as well as procedural strategies for increasing the effectiveness of exposure therapy.
Bryana Killion, Ph.D
Staff Psychologist
Dr. Bryana Killion is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital. Dr. Killion received her B.A. from Stonehill College and her Ph.D. from the University of Rhode Island. She completed her predoctoral internship at Central Regional Hospital in North Carolina, where she gained experience working with children and adolescents with severe mental illness. Dr. Killion's clinical interests include the assessment and treatment of pediatric anxiety and obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders. Her research interests include the risk and protective factors contributing to outcomes associated with childhood anxiety disorders, as well as the effectiveness of exposure-based treatments in community mental health settings. In her free time, Dr. Killion enjoys spending time with her husband and young daughter, going to the beach (no matter the season!), and snuggling up on the couch with a good book.
Ingrid Lauer-Arnold, M.D.
Staff Psychiatrist
Ingrid Lauer-Arnold, MD, is a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist in the Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders at Bradley Hospital. Dr. Lauer-Arnold completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan. She completed her post-baccalaureate premedical program at Columbia University and earned her medical degree from SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. Dr. Lauer-Arnold completed her General Psychiatry Residency & Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. Lauer-Arnold co-leads the Psychopharmacology course for 1st year Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellows at Brown. She is also a faculty mentor for psychiatry residents and fellows through the Resident as Teacher program (RAT) through the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. In her free time, Dr. Lauer-Arnold enjoys spending time with her dogs Lulu & Rosie.
Sarah Morris, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Dr. Sarah Morris is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital and a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Dr. Morris received her B.A. from Haverford College and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship through the Clinical Psychology Training Program at Brown University. Dr. Morris specializes in the use of exposure and response prevention therapy for pediatric OCD and related disorders. Her research interests include better understanding the underlying mechanisms of pediatric OC-spectrum disorders, including OCD, trichotillomania, and tic disorders. In her free time, Dr. Morris enjoys spending time with her wife and son, being active outdoors, cooking new recipes, and traveling to see family and friends in different parts of the country.
Erin O'Connor, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Dr. Erin O’Connor is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital and a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Dr. O’Connor received her B.A. from Boston College and Ph.D. from Boston University. She completed her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship through the Clinical Psychology Training Program at Brown University. Dr. O’Connor’s research interests include the etiology and treatment of pediatric anxiety and obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders. She has a particular interest in increasing the effectiveness of exposure-based treatment, specifically in the context of family interventions. In her free time, Dr. O’Connor enjoys baking and finding the best pizza spot in town!
Jennifer Cueto, M.D.
Staff Psychiatrist
Jennifer Cueto, MD is a Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist in the Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders at Bradley Hospital. Dr. Cueto received her medical degree at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She subsequently completed a Triple Board residency training program at Brown University and pursued training in pediatrics, adult psychiatry, and child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Cueto currently splits her time between PARC's Intensive Program for OCD and Related Disorders as a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist and in Hasbro's Eating Disorder Clinic as a Pediatrician. She is overjoyed to have joined the PARC family and to have the opportunity to work with such amazing colleagues, patients, and families. In her free time, Dr. Cueto enjoys spending time with her husband and her adorable dog, Dunkin.
Sarah McHugh, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Sarah McHugh is a psychology postdoctoral fellow at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital. Dr. McHugh received her B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed her predoctoral internship at Brown University, specializing in child and adolescent psychology. Dr. McHugh's clinical interests include the treatment of anxiety and obsessive compulsive spectrum disorders with exposure and response prevention and the treatment of co-occurring emotion dysregulation from a dialectical behavior therapy approach. Dr. McHugh's research interests include examining menstrual cycle effects on psychopathology, including cyclical worsening in anxiety, mood symptoms, and suicidal ideation, and exploring dialectical behavior therapy as a potential treatment for those with menstrual cycle-linked symptom changes. In her free time, Dr. McHugh enjoys hiking with her husband, reading on the beach, making pottery, and doing all kinds of arts and crafts. Dr. McHugh also enjoys living the exposure lifestyle by performing and coaching improv comedy.
Giulia Righi, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Dr. Giulia Ricciarelli Righi is a staff psychologist at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center (PARC) at Bradley Hospital and an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Dr. Ricciarelli Righi completed her Sc.B and PhD at Brown University, a research fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and later completed her clinical training at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. Ricciarelli Righi returned to Brown for her clinical internship and clinical fellowship. Dr. Ricciarelli Righi has experience in the treatment of children and adolescents with OCD and anxiety disorders, and also working with neurodiverse individuals. Her research interests have focused on better understanding the presentation of severe psychopathology, including anxiety and OCD, in neurodiverse individuals. More recently Dr. Ricciarelli Righi has been working to develop a line of research that integrates understanding the role if sleep in the context of treatment for anxiety and OCD. In her free time Dr. Ricciarelli Righi enjoys doing most things that involves being outside with family and friends.
Dave McConville, Ph.D.
Staff Psychologist
Joseph Berryhill, PhD
Staff Psychologist
Research assistants
Kiany Probherbs, B.S.
Clinical Research Assistant
Kiany started working at PARC in June 2021 after receiving his B.S. in Biochemistry at Bowdoin College. Kiany conducted an independent study examining the roles of mental health, emotional well-being, and environmental support on the success of minority students who attend private independent schools. He also researched the effects and prominence of mental health in low socioeconomic minority communities. His research interests include exploring multicultural recruitment and access to mitigate systematic and cultural barriers contributing to the disparity in minority mental healthcare access. He is also interested in mindfulness-based therapies and exploring how mindfulness can help in creating a transdiagnostic approach for psychotherapy. Kiany is interested in personalized treatment and using evidence-based treatments for patients with varying mental health diagnoses. After working at PARC, Kiany plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Kathrin Renschler, M.A.
Clinical Research Assistant
Kathrin started working at PARC in April 2022 after receiving her M.A. in Psychology from New York University. While at NYU, she worked in the Science of Human Connection lab looking at adolescent accommodation and resistance to gender norms as expressed through their language use. For her master’s thesis, she examined the relationship between masculinity ideology and family composition. Kathrin previously completed her B.A. in Industrial & Organizational Psychology in her home at country Germany where she wrote her senior thesis on virtual teamwork. Kathrin’s research interests include applying a gender lens to anxiety research and looking at the relationship between mental and physical health. After her time at PARC, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical or Pediatric Psychology. In her free time, you can find Kathrin trying new restaurants, doing yoga, going to the museum or finishing a book just in time before her book club meets.
Mitchell Jackson, B.S.
Clinical Research Assistant
Mitchell started working at the PARC in June 2022 after receiving his B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from Xavier University Of Louisiana. Mitchell completed his senior thesis on converting noticeable and distracting stimming behaviors in children with ASD to more covert or invisible behaviors to aid in social acceptance from peers. He also worked in the JUST lab examining racial discipline disparities in a local middle school. His research interests include improving access, awareness, and overall interventions for evidence-based treatment of anxiety and related disorders, especially for children and adolescents of racial minority groups. He is interested in personalized treatment for those seeking help with mental health. In his free time, Mitchell enjoys being in or on the water, playing video games and spending time with friends and family. Mitchell plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical or School Psychology after his time at the Pediatric Anxiety Research Center.
Marika Marklin, B.S.
Clinical Research Assistant
Marika joined PARC in June 2022 after receiving her B.S. in psychology and Spanish at Creighton University. At Creighton, Marika studied neural and structural patterns in nonpathological trait dissociation. She also researched women's studies, examining moral injury and pervasive princess media in female identity development and normalization of gender roles. Clinically, Marika was introduced to CBT and E/RP for child OCD and anxiety at Rogers Behavioral Health. This formative experience sparked an interest in studying treatment accessibility and longitudinal treatment success for OCD and anxiety in addition to familial accommodation. Marika hopes to study these increasingly prominent facets of OCD and anxiety at both PARC and, eventually, a graduate school lab in a clinical psychology PhD program. In her free time, Marika enjoys spotting as many dogs as possible at Rhode Island's plentiful parks, spending time with loved ones, singing, reading memoirs and babysitting.
Ariella Rosen, B.A.
Clinical Research Assistant
Ariella graduated from Barnard with a psychology degree in 2022 and is very excited to be joining the team at PARC. Ariella’s long-standing interest in Obsessive Compulsive and Related Disorders (namely OCD, Trichotillomania, and Excoriation) makes this job an excellent fit and she is excited to learn and grow as a researcher and clinician and make headway in the professional world of OCD as she prepares for career as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist. Outside of PARC, Ariella is a big fan of anime, literature, and Dungeons and Dragons, and she is always on the lookout for new board games to try!
Emma Jenkins, B.A.
Clinical Research Assistant
Emma graduated with a B.A. in psychology from Boston University in 2021 where she studied the influence of early life stress on infant emotional development. Before joining PARC in June 2023, she was working as a research assistant on the nationwide ECHO study at Boston Children's Hospital. Emma's background in stress research inspired her to pursue clinical research as a way to mitigate the gap between research and practice. Her current research interests include increasing access to high quality anxiety treatments and understanding how current evidence-based approaches can be tailored to better meet the needs of diverse populations. In the future, Emma hopes to earn her PhD in clinical psychology and contribute to the development and implementation of effective treatments for childhood psychopathology. In her free time, Emma enjoys training her dog, going to the movies, and caring for her millions of plants!
Alixandra Wilens, M.A.
Clinical Research Assistant
Alixandra graduated with an M.A. in Cognitive Science in Education from Columbia University in 2022 where she studied the relationship between executive functioning and mindfulness. Before joining PARC in September 2023, she worked as a research assistant in the Yale OCD Research Clinic. Alixandra’s undergraduate education in psychology, as well as her time volunteering in parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) clinics, encouraged her to pursue clinical research. Her current research interests include vulnerability factors predicting OCD and evidence-based cognitive-behavioral treatments for obsessive-compulsive and related disorders. After her time at PARC, Alixandra hopes to continue studying OCD in a clinical psychology PhD program. In her free time, Alixandra enjoys playing with her dog, spending time with friends and family, watching movies, baking and playing board games.
Intensive Outpatient Program Staff
Lindsey Carillo
Administrative Assistant
Jane Martini RN
Milieu Nurse Manager
Jessica Fresh LICSW
Social Worker
A.M. Team A
Exposure Coaches
Jennifer Moitoso
Exposure Coach Supervisor
Andrea Breen
Exposure Coach
Brian Parker
Exposure Coach
Elizabeth Sunshine
Exposure Coach
Diana Lancellotta
Exposure Coach
A.M. Team B
Exposure Coaches
Tom Kelley
Exposure Coach Supervisor
Ben Padula
Exposure Coach
Rachel Odugbela
Exposure Coach
Eve Stein
Exposure Coach
Kristina Nerone
Exposure Coach
Travis Crawley
Exposure Coach
P.M. Team Exposure Coaches
Terry Thompson
Exposure Coach Supervisor
Tarajya Ramos
Exposure Coach
Christina Mouradian
Exposure Coach
Samantha Clarke
Exposure Coach
Catherine Peterson
Exposure Coach
Additional
Exposure Coaches
Molly Helms
Exposure Coach
Hannah Dobson
Exposure Coach
A selection of
alumni
Aishvarya Arora, Research Assistant
Zoë Brown, Research Assistant
Grace Cain, Research Assistant
Matthew Carper, Trainee
Anna Charlton, Research Assistant
Lauren Edwards, Research Assistant
Caroline Forest, Research Assistant
Hannah Frank, Research Assistant
Kristen Gardiner, Research Assistant
Christopher Georgiadis, Research Assistant
Maddi Gervasio, Research Assistant
Robert Holloway, Trainee
Zohaib Jessani, Research Assistant
Erin Mamaril, Research Assistant
Isha Mayor Research Assistant
Lauren Milgram, Research Assistant
Rebecca Mirhashem, Research Assistant
Briana Paulo, Research Assistant
Kesha Perkins, Research Assistant
Amrita Ramanathan, Research Assistant
Elena Schiavone, Research Assistant
Kaitlyn Schneider, Trainee
Kate Sheehan, Research Assistant
Jenna Sung, Research Assistant
Elyse Stewart, Research Assistant
Brianna Wellen, Research Assistant