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. Landon helps coordinate the Barnard/Columbia personality study, which looks at the cognitive and affective processing of individuals with personality disorders. She is also the lab manager for Geraldine Downey's Social Relations lab at Columbia and is a student in Columbia's post-baccalaureate psychology program. Some day in the not-too-distant future, she hopes to practice clinical psychology, run the ING NYC marathon, and have an apartment big enough to take care of lots of animals.

 

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW

 

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.

 

 

 

POST-BACHELOR RESEARCH ASSISTANTS

 

Sarah Crystal

 

 

 

 

Sarah graduated from Emory University in 2005 with a B.A. in Religion. She is a 2nd year Post-bac student and has been working with Geraldine Downey in the SRlab for a year as a Research Assistant. She is interested in Borderline Personality Disorder and rejection sensitivity and the specific dysfunctions in emotion regulation, affect differentiation, social interactions and social information processing that characterizes this disorder. She is also a Rape Crisis Counselor at Saint Vincent's Hospital as well as a intern in Beth Israel's adult inpatient psychiatric unit. Her hobbies are reading, good food!-trying interesting NYC restaurants, seeing movies, and traveling.

 

Kristin Smith

 

 

 

 

Kristin is a 2nd year Post-Bac student at Columbia and has a B.S in Hearing and Speech Sciences from the University of Maryland, College park. Clinical Psychology is her primary interest and she currently is a research assistant at the Psych Institute in the HIV department. There, she administers interviews to HIV positive children and their caregivers, in order to better assess the mental health issues that affect their population. She is excited to be a part of the BCPS study and looks forward to more exposure and learning experiences regarding Avoidant and Borderline personality disorders. In her free time she enjoys movies, working out, reading and relaxing with family and friends.

 

INDEPENDENT STUDY STUDENTS

 

 

Jean Frazer

 

 

 

Jean, a senior psychology major at Barnard College, joined the Affect and Relationships lab a year and a half ago. Aside from the lab, Jean is a manager of the Barnard Babysitting Agency, a modern dancer and a North Carolina native.

 

Julie Malyn

 

 

 

Julie Malyn is a junior at Barnard majoring in Psychology. She grew up in Radnor, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. She began working in the lab on the EA study in the summer of 2006 and has been fascinated ever since. Outside of the lab, Julie is active in Barnard's McIntosh Activities Council and is a tour guide for the Admissions office. After Barnard, she hopes to pursue a career in clinical or organizational psychology.

 

Rachel Romesburg

 

 

 

Rachel is a senior European Studies major, interested in immigration, identity, and cultural psychology. She loves to travel and learn new languages, cook, and has recently taken an interest in photography.

 

Rika Tanaka

 

 

 

Rika Tanaka is a Barnard College senior majoring in psychology. Her interests include clinical and developmental psychology. Puppies, chocolate and Christmas music make her most happy!

 

Rosara Torrisi

 

 

 

Rosara is a psychology major working on the EA study. She is planning to become a couples and sex therapist after eventually graduating from both Barnard and graduate school.

 

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.

 

Lauren Pepa

 

Lauren is a senior at Barnard majoring in Psychology. She began volunteering in the Affect and Relationships Lab as a research assistant in the fall of this year. Outside of the lab, Lauren is also a research assistant for Barnard professor Steve Stroessner in the Stereotyping and Prejudice Lab. Lauren has worked for Professor Stroessner since the Fall of 2006. After she graduates from Barnard, Lauren hopes to pursue a career in clinical psychology.

 

 

 

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

 

Ayelet Boussi

 

Ayelet is a Barnard junior Psychology major, interested in culture and relationships. She began working in the AR lab this year on both the EA and BCPCS studies, and is enjoying both immensely.

 

 

 

 

Meet the Previous Lab Groups!

Click on the picture to see our Alumni:

 

 

 

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