Roya is a fifth year PhD student in the lab. After she received her MA in Women's and Gender Studies from Rutgers University in 2014, Roya moved to South Florida to work in the non-profit sector where she developed her interests in health and healthcare disparities impacting racial/ethnic minority groups and underserved communities. Throughout her doctoral training at NSU, Roya worked as the Community-Academic Liaison of a PCORI-funded initiative,Healthy Students, Healthy Community. In this community-led and school-based partnership, Roya helped facilitate and build collaborative working relationships between the community organization, FLIPANY, key stakeholders at a Title I middle school, and academic partners. Her dissertation project examines trends and outcomes of a school-based campaign to reduce sugar-sweetened beverage consumption among racially and ethnically diverse students in middle-school. Roya currently works as the clinic coordinator of two multidisciplinary clinics in pediatric diabetes and weight management. Roya is looking forward to starting her Psychology Residency in Integrated Behavioral Health at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children. See Roya's CV here.
Kristina Tatum, M.S.
Kristina is a fourth year PsyD student in the lab. She graduated from University of the Sciences in Philadelphia with a MS in Health Psychology. Before Kristina began the Clinical Psychology program at NSU, she was a program coordinator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Kristina’s interests are in racial/ethnic minority disparities in pediatric obesity. Currently, Kristina is at the Healthy Lifestyles Guided Self-Change clinic for her practicum. Additionally, she works on a community-based grant-funded health initiative aimed to develop evidence-based solutions to pediatric obesity in racial/ethnic minority populations. Kristina is passionate about the field of pediatric obesity and looks forward to gaining more experience in working with underserved youth, both clinically and through research.
Shanique Yee, M.S.
Shanique is a fourth year PsyD student in the lab. She graduated from University of Florida with a BS in Psychology and continued her studies at Nova Southeastern University with a MS in Developmental Disabilities. Before Shanique began the Clinical Psychology program at NSU, she worked as a research coordinator on various grants (i.e., a wellness initiative for individuals with disabilities on Medicaid/Medicare, the impact of professional development for preschool teachers using embedded instruction practices). Shanique currently works a clinic coordinator for a university-based ADHD and related disorders clinic. In addition, Shanique accepted the clinic coordinator position in August 2020 for Dr. Valenzuela’s practicum at BHMC working with two multidisciplinary teams focused on pediatric diabetes and weight management. Shanique works under Dr. Valenzuela providing umbrella supervision to the practicum students and providing administrative support where necessary. Her clinical interests include pediatric obesity and diabetes, and health disparities for racial and ethnic minority youth. See Shanique's CV here.
Karen Dimentstein, M.S., M.P.H.
Karen Dimentstein is a fourth-year clinical psychology PhD student at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, FL who completed her MPH at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 2019. Karen joined the Clinical Health Psychology concentration in her first year as a PhD student and has contributed to a rapid response research study in collaboration with Johns Hopkins that focuses on the impact of COVID-19 on racial/ethnic minority youth with type 1 diabetes. In her first year at NSU, Karen systematically reviewed the literature to examine the extent to which existing pediatric diabetes intervention studies include and examine racially/ethnically minoritized youths’ outcomes. Her work on this systematic review was presented at virtual Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference (SPPAC) 2020 as part of the Outstanding Trainee Research Symposium.
Karen serves as a Trainee Member-at-Large Board Member of the Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP; APA Division 54) Diabetes Special Interest Group (SIG) and as a Podcast Co-Chair on the SPP Student Advisory Board (SAB). Her research focuses on health disparities in type 1 diabetes treatment, adherence, and outcomes. She is also interested in public health, health promotion, and health policy. See Karen's CV here.
Alyssa Marchetta, M.S.
Alyssa is a third-year PsyD student in the lab and is also in the Clinical Health Psychology concentration. She graduated from the University of Florida with a B.S in psychology and a B.A in Dance. She also has certificates in Arts in Medicine and Dance in Medicine. Alyssa was previously involved in pediatric asthma research, as well as interdisciplinary arts in health research, at UF Health Shands Hospital. Currently, Alyssa serves as the evaluation specialist in a community-led and school-based partnership, Health Student Healthy Community, working collaboratively with community organizations, FLIPANY, key stakeholders at a Title I middle school, and academic partners. Alyssa completed a practicum rotation at the Child Adolescent and Family Services at Nova Southeastern University, where she now serves as the assistant program coordinator. Alyssa is currently at Joe DiMaggio's Children's Hospital for her practicum site, working with oncology, hematology, and bariatric surgery patients and their families. Alyssa's research and interests include stress and anxiety management, psych-oncology, palliative care, and incorporating the arts within pediatric psychology. See Alyssa's CV here.
Brooke Greenberg
Brooke Greenberg is a first-year clinical psychology PhD Student at Nova Southeastern University (NSU) in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Brooke recently graduated from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, PA with a major in Psychology and a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. Brooke was previously involved with research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia focusing on disordered eating patterns in patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain syndromes. Her research was presented at the Association for Psychological Science Virtual Conference (in-person canceled due to COVID-19) and was recently published in Pediatric Rheumatology. Additionally, Brooke is involved as a Peer Mentor at The Comfort Ability Program based out of Boston Children’s Hospital. Brooke’s research interests include eating disorders, Type 1 Diabetes, chronic pain, and child and adolescent chronic illnesses. See Brooke's CV here.