FACULTY

 

Eshkol Rafaeli 

 

(Click here for Eshkol's homepage)

Eshkol Rafaeli is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Barnard College, and the director of the Affect and Relationships Laboratory. He received his undergraduate education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, worked on his PhD at Northwestern, did his clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Couples Research Lab, within the social psychology program at NYU. He has been part of the Barnard psychology department since summer 2003. Eshkol is a clinical psychologist, and his two areas of research are relationships and affective experience. He teaches courses on clinical and abnormal psychology. For more information, see Eshkol's webpage. 

 

Kathy Berenson

 

 

Kathy is a researcher who studies social-cognitive processes in interpersonal problems and psychopathology. She has worked in Eshkol Rafaeli's Affect and Relationships Lab since 2006, and in Geraldine Downey's Social Relations Lab since 2004. Her work in these labs has largely involved developing and conducting the Barnard/Columbia Personality Study, which focuses on situationally-cued thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in personality disorders and/or depression. Kathy is a native New Yorker with a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from New York University (2001).

 

 

LAB MANAGER

 

Landon Fuhrman

 

 

 

Landon recently graduated from Vassar College where she studied Religion and Italian language. She is the coordinator for the Barnard/Columbia Personality study, which examines the cognitive and affective processing of individuals with personality disorders. She is also a student in Columbia’s post-baccalaureate psychology program. This fall she will be applying to doctoral programs in clinical psychology. Her research interests include emotion dysregulation, mindfulness and acceptance-based behavior treatments, and the maintenance of problematic behaviors (self-injury, substance abuse, risky sexual behavior) in women and adolescents.

 

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

 

 

Karin Coifman

 

 

 

Karin Coifman is joining the lab as a post-doc after completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University, Teachers College.
Karin's research focuses on how emotion regulation relates to long-term adjustment during acute and chronic stress (e.g. bereavement, chronic illness). In particular, her work examines emotion response behaviors, such as facial expressions and autonomic responses within the context of the stressor and how these behaviors can signal the development of pathology or, alternatively, more resilient outcomes. Her dissertation research examined the capacity for context-sensitive emotion responding following the loss of loved one. Karin lives in upper Manhattan with her husband, daughter and dog Lucy.

 

Nina Leventhal

 

 

 

Nina received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from The New School in January 2008. Her research focus has primarily been in mood disorders (their course and treatment) and her dissertation examined perfectionism, depression, and attitudes toward seeking mental health treatment. In addition, she has extensive individual and group psychotherapy experience in CBT, DBT, and psychodynamic orientations with a variety of patient populations in hospitals throughout NYC. At Barnard, she is the Diagnostic Interview Coordinator and supervises the clinical assessments for the Barnard-Columbia Personality Study. In addition, she runs a practicum for graduate students that involves didactic and hands-on training of diagnostic interviewing.

 

Kim Montgomery

 

 

 

Kim is a Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar at Columbia. She received her PhD in psychology and neuroscience from Princeton University in June 2007. Her dissertation research focused on the role the mirror neuron system, a network of brain areas that are important for understanding actions, plays in social functioning. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), she found a positive relationship between activity in the mirror neuron system and empathy and reduced activity in the mirror neuron system in individuals with high functioning autism. At Columbia, she plans on connecting her previous work that examined brain systems involved with understanding social actions with the research that has found that successful social relationships have positive health benefits.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

 

 

 

Stefanos Papamarkou

 

Stefanos received his BA in psychology and law, with a minor in statistics from the Honors College of Utrecht University in 2006. He is now in the second and final year of his research master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuropsychology and Psychopathology at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. As part of his program, over the next year, Stefanos will be busy with his research internship abroad at both the Affect and Relationships Lab (Barnard College) and Social Relations Lab (Columbia University) in New York. His master’s thesis will be based on his work with Eshkol, more specifically focusing on schema mode shifting in borderline personality disorder (BPD) and its relation to self injurious behavior. Stefanos is also working on the recently granted BCPS study of rejection sensitivity and self regulatory competency in BPD and avoidant personality disorder (AvPD) patients. Paralleling his time here, Stefanos is chief investigator of a treatment outcome study (Schema Therapy on chronic depression) at the Cognitive Therapy Center of New York and Schema Therapy Institute. In the near future, Stefanos hopes to further his study through a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and get therapy training. Stefanos enjoys composing music, playing the guitar and drums, and playing basketball.

 

UNDERGRADUATE AND POST-BAC RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

 

 

Elisheva Bellin

 

 

 

Elisheva Bellin is a junior majoring in psychology. She has been volunteering with the BCPS study since the spring of 2008 and greatly
enjoys working with the team on the study. In her free time, she likes eating Ben and Jerry's ice cream with friends in the parks of NYC.

Jose Blanco

 

 

 

A native New Yorker and Die-Hard Yankee fan, Jose is a senior at Columbia University majoring in Psychology. He began volunteering in the Affect and Relationships Lab as a research assistant in the summer of this year. In his free time, he enjoys hanging with his kids playing ball or catching a game, reading, and relaxing with family and friends. After graduating from Columbia and graduate school, Jose hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology.

 

Jacque Esque

 

 

 

Jacque Esque is a Barnard junior majoring in psychology. She joined the lab in Spring 2007 as a research assistant. Jacque is also a pre-medical student and plans to pursue a medical degree after graduating from Barnard. Jacque is from Tempe, Arizona and enjoys traveling, reading, going to concerts, and exploring the city with friends. 

Will Folberth

 

 

 

Will graduated from Duke in 2001 with a B.A. in Public Policy. He is a second year Post-bac student, and plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology. Will is also a fieldworker at the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education at NYU, where he administers semi-structured interviews to middle school students as part of a longitudinal study. His areas of interest are emotion regulation, developmental psychopathology, and cognitive-behavioral treatment for personality disorders. His hobbies include the guitar and snowboarding.

Rachel Gordon

 

 

 

 

 

Emily Haney-Caron

 

 

 

Emily is a senior in the Joint Program between Columbia and JTS, majoring in psychology and modern Jewish studies. She began as a research assistant for the BCPS study this year. After graduation, Emily plans to attend graduate school in clinical psychology. Emily is from South Dakota and greatly misses her two cats, who are still there.

Adrienne Hezghia

 

 

 

 

 

Larissa Higgins

 

 

 

Larissa is a junior majoring in psychology at Columbia University. She came to Columbia after an international career as a professional ballet dancer. She is working as a research assistant in the Affect and Relationships lab at Barnard and the Social Relations lab at Columbia as a part of the Psychology Honors Program. Her primary interests are Borderline Personality disorder, eating disorders, rejection sensitivity, and also bipolar disorder. Larissa hopes to pursue a PhD program in clinical psychology after graduation.

 

Laura Kenkel

 

 

 

Laura is a Psychology major at Barnard in her junior year, working in the Affect and Relationships lab as a research assistant several days a week. Laura also spends time volunteering at Columbia's Rape Crisis / Anti-Violence Support Center as a peer counselor and advocate. In her free time, she likes to wander aimlessly around New York, read, and write creatively.

 

Karen Roelofson

 

 

 

 

Karen is a sophomore at Barnard majoring in Psychology. She spent a few weeks shadowing an upperclassman last semester in the Affect and Relationships Lab through the Hughes Science Pipeline Project. She is "psyched" to begin volunteering this year on a regular basis!

Aliza Romirowsky

 

 

 

Aliza Romirowsky is a Junior at Barnard and is well on her way with her psychology major. It has been an amazing learning experience working with the lab on it's personality study as a research assistant and she plans on continuing with the lab as an independent study. She is very interested in clinical work, and looks forward to seeing where the road leads her.

 

Rosara Torrisi

 

 

 

Rosara is a psychology major working on the EA study. She is currently writing a paper on the interaction of empathic accuracy and relationship satisfaction with sexual satisfaction. During her summers, Rosara has interned with the Council for Relationships and their Institute for Sex Therapy in Philadelphia and the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Indiana. She is planning on becoming a couples and sex therapist after eventually graduating from both Barnard and graduate school.

 

Jenna Slutsky

 

 

 

Jenna is a Barnard College senior majoring in Psychology. She hopes to one day practice as a clinical psychologist. In the meantime she enjoys reading Philip Roth novels and eating cake batter ice cream.

 

HUGHES SCIENCE FELLOW

 

 

Ayelet Boussi

 

 

 

Ayelet is a Barnard senior Psychology major, interested in culture,
family and relationships. This is her second year on the EA study, and
in addition to her administrative work in the lab, she is researching
for the Hughes Science Fellowship at Barnard. After graduating, she
hopes to attend graduate school and pursue a career in clinical
psychology.

 

 

 

 

Our alums give us many reasons to be proud, and we miss all of them.