Asthma Lab Alumni
Dr. Starr received her PhD in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis at Ferkauf’s Graduate School of Psychology in 2023. Prior to her graduate training, Dr. Starr received her BA in Psychology from University of California, Berkeley in 2012.
Dr. Starr completed her predoctoral clinical internship at the VA Pacific Islands Healthcare System, Honolulu. Her predoctoral master's thesis focused on the relationship between maternal depressive symptoms and pediatric asthma outcomes among families living within the Bronx. Her dissertation focused on the relationship between acculturation factors, such as language and healthcare provider relationship on pediatric asthma outcomes (medication adherence, ER visits, and quality of life) among Latinx families.
Currently, Dr. Starr is a postdoctoral fellow at a private practice, Therapists of New York.
Sheena Starr, M.A, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Katerina Castaño, M.A, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Katerina (Kat) Castaño, Ph.D. completed doctorate from the Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis Program at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. Prior to her doctoral training, Kat graduated Cum Laude with her B.A. in Psychology and Fine Arts from SUNY New Paltz. After working in the Fine Arts and Fashion industries, Kat returned to psychology as a certified Attachment Biobehavioral Catchup (ABC) parent coach for Power of Two, a non-profit organization that serves families in the Bronx and Brooklyn by providing the ABC program to support secure attachment between caregivers and infants. Through her work at Power of Two, Kat’s passion for health psychology grew and she began her doctoral program at Ferkauf under the mentorship of Dr. Jonathan Feldman. She received extensive training in evidence-based treatments for adult and pediatric medical populations with co-occurring mental health needs.
Kat’s dissertation research was inspired by her own experience emigrating from Colombia and acculturating to the U.S. Her dissertation investigated the relationship between proxies of acculturation, acculturative stress, panic symptoms, pulmonary function, and confusion between asthma and panic symptoms in a Latine sample with comorbid asthma and panic disorder. Kat’s externship work with Spanish-speaking children and families at New York Health and Hospitals’ Roberto Clemente Center and Columbia University Medical Center’s Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation continued as an intern at Montefiore Medical Center’s Child and Adolescent track.
Kat received specialized training in CBT, DBT, family therapy for various clinical presentations, and psychological treatment for adult and pediatric patients undergoing solid organ transplantation. Under the mentorship of Dr. Sandra Pimentel, Kat disseminated and conducted research on SuperKids. This interactive comic book integrates cognitive-behavioral and acceptance-based skills for youth in hospital-based and community mental health settings.
Currently, Kat is a post-doctoral psychology fellow at Columbia University Medical Center’s Division of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, where she is specializing in pediatric psychology under the mentorship of Dr. Dara Steinberg.
Jared was a fifth-year student in the Clinical Psychology, Health Emphasis PhD program. His general interests include child anxiety and asthma perception, medication adherence, and their dyadic interaction (parent-child) among underserved populations. He intends to develop his understanding of asthma perception and their relation to mood disorders in underserved adolescent and adult patient populations with Asthma.
Jared DiCicco-Bloom, M.A., Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Kaur's primary interests are in: asthma, heart rate variability, medication adherence, and comorbid medical and psychological diagnoses. Kaur is also interested in the use of heart rate variability biofeedback, its application as a treatment in clinical settings and it’s relationship with anxiety, depression, and asthma, in a wide range of populations. Her predoctoral research focuses on the relationship between maternal depression and child medication adherence. Kaur hopes to simultaneously conduct research and apply this to clinical care for patients.
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Internship: Manhattan VA
Karenjot Kaur, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Ariel received her Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychology (Health Emphasis) Ph.D. Program at Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in June of 2020. She completed her predoctoral clinical psychology internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs, Manhattan Campus, where she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship in the department of Clinical Health Psychology and Interprofessional Training in Primary Care.
Ariel Zeigler, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Krista Nelson, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Krista's current research interests include child medication adherence and illness representations in ethnically diverse populations. Her dissertation research will examine the relationship of child asthma-illness representations, medication adherence, and therapy modality with child asthma control. Krista is also interested in psychophysiology of asthma: her master’s thesis examined heart rate variability and end-tidal carbon dioxide in adult Latinos with comorbid asthma and panic disorder.
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Internship: Nassau University Medical Center
Sandy Rodgin, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Sandy earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with a Health Emphasis with a minor in Neuropsychology from Yeshiva University in 2019. She completed an APA-accredited internship in pediatric neuropsychology at the Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM). She is currently a second-year pediatric neuropsychology postdoctoral fellow at KKI and JHUSOM. Her research has focused on the psychosocial and cognitive correlates of chronic disorders such as epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, and asthma. Her clinical interests include providing neuropsychological assessments for children with epilepsy and acquired and traumatic brain injuries.
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Internship: Kennedy Krieger/Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine-Neuropsychology
Rachel's clinical work is focused on providing evidence-based interventions for children and adolescents exhibiting anxiety, mood and behavioral difficulties. She is a member of the Pediatric OCD, Anxiety and Tic Disorders Program (POCAT) at Weill Cornell Medicine and provides cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure response prevention (ERP) for children and adolescents with anxiety and related disorders. In conjunction with child services, she provides interventions to parents of children with medical illnesses within the NICU and Hematology/Oncology programs at New York Presbyterian.
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Rachel Goldman, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Tanya Oken, Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
My clinical work has focused on the provision of services in pediatric settings. More broadly, my experiences and interests relate to the integration of mental health within medical settings, and in developing strategies that address social disparities in health, mental health, and in development. I am interested in understanding these processes in patients with asthma.
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Internship: Pediatric Psychology at Orange County Children's Hospital
Esperanza completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (Health Emphasis) at Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University. She completed her predoctoral clinical psychology internship at the Department of Veteran Affairs New Jersey Healthcare System. Her pre-doctoral research project focused on the relationship between acculturation, asthma triggers, and utilizations of quick relief medication among Mexican and Puerto Rican families. For her dissertation, she examined the relationship between body mass index, panic-fear symptoms and ethnicity in childhood asthma. Her current research interests include examining the impact of trauma on management of chronic medical conditions.
Esperanza is currently a second year Postdoctoral Clinical Research Psychology Fellow in the Traumatic Stress Division at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/ James J. Peters VA
Esperanza Morales-
Raveendran Ph.D.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Lynne Matte is a clinical psychologist working with clients to achieve self-fulfillment through a range of techniques, including CBT, motivational interviewing, biofeedback, and multicultural frameworks. She is open-minded and empathetic, and specializes in supporting clients who are struggling with health issues, anxiety, and depression.
Lynne Matte, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Jonathan Sandler received his doctorate in clinical psychology with a health emphasis from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in 2017. His predoctoral research focused on the relationship between the self-reported asthma-related death of a loved one and panic disorder/ataques de nervios in Latino asthma patients, while his subsequent dissertation investigated the differential impact of physical, mental, and social catastrophic cognitions on asthma-related outcomes in Latino patients with comorbid panic disorder. Dr. Sandler has served in a variety of locations that specialize in cognitive-behavioral treatment for anxiety and mood disorders, including the Bio-Behavioral Institute on LI and the New York State Psychiatric Institute in NYC. He gained specific clinical expertise in exposure and response prevention while working at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, as well as more general experience in assessing and treating children and adults with severe forms of mental illness and personality disorders at Nassau University Medical Center. Dr. Sandler has additional familiarity with trauma and substance abuse counseling through his earlier training at the New School for Social Research, during which he was simultaneously involved in efforts to improve brief relational therapy at Beth Israel Medical Center. He has also contributed to published articles on depression at Columbia University Teachers College and psychosis at Stony Brook University. Dr. Sandler is currently a senior staff licensed psychologist at the Center for Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy in midtown Manhattan, a private outpatient facility that provides individual and group therapy to those with Pure-O and other forms of OCD.
Jonathan Sandler, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Bari Scheckner, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
The primary aim of my predoctoral research study was to investigate the effect of caregiver acculturation and social support (from both family and friends) on childhood asthma control among Puerto Ricans and Mexican-Americans residing within the United States. Further, this study sought to explore between-group differences that might assist in explaining asthma disparities commonly observed between these two ethnic groups.
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Dr. Scheckner is currently working at St. Luke's Mental Health Hillside Center.
Karinna Vasquez, Ph.D.
Rehabilitation Psychologist
Asthma has been linked to a higher prevalence of panic disorder and occurs more often in Latinos than in other ethnic groups. The aim of my Pre-Doctoral Project is to examine differences in asthma triggers between Latino subjects with panic disorder versus Latino subjects without panic disorder. It is expected that Latinos with panic disorder will endorse a higher prevalence of asthma triggers than those without panic disorder.
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Dr. Vasquez is currently working as a Rehabilitation Psychologist at Memorial Hospital in Florida.
Nina Eisenberg, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
My dissertation research investigated the contributions of panic disorder to asthma outcomes, examined the role of certain psychological variables in the prediction of panic disorder and asthma outcomes in Latinos, and explored the utility of a newly-developed brief screening to identify panic disorder in Latinos with asthma. Previously, my pre-doctoral research project investigated a hypothesized relationship between caregiver anxiety, child anxiety and perception of pulmonary function in children with asthma. Results confirmed elevated rates of anxiety in ethnic minority caregivers of asthmatic children, and found that child anxiety was associated with greater over-perception and less under-perception of asthma symptoms.
Dr. Eisenberg completed her pre-doctoral internship at the VA Long Beach Healthcare System where she focused her training on health psychology, rehabilitation psychology, and geropsychology. She went on to complete her postdoctoral fellowship in Integrated Primary Care and Behavioral Medicine at the VA Northern California Healthcare System. She was a clinical psychologist with the Wright Institute's Integrated Health Psychology Training Program in partnership with Contra Costa County Health Services; in that role, she provided direct clinical services and supervision of psychology trainees in integrated ambulatory care clinics. Dr. Eisenberg is now practicing individual and group psychotherapy at Wellspace SF, a multidisciplinary group practice in San Francisco, CA.
Dr. Hartman received her degree from Ferkauf in 2016. Her dissertation and research interests focused on pediatric symptom perception in children with asthma and asthma morbidity outcomes, caregiver illness representation and caregiver nativity. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at New York City Children's Center (NYCCC), receiving ongoing training in working with youth with severe trauma as well as mental health needs requiring inpatient hospitalization. After completing post-doctoral training and working for a time at Green Chimneys therapeutic day treatment and residential programs, Dr. Hartman returned to NYCCC where she continues to work in their inpatient hospital. Dr. Hartman's areas of specialty include trauma focused clinical interventions including TF-CBT, Real Life Heroes (RLH) and CCIP training to work with victims of commercial sexual exploitation, as well as psychological assessment of children and adolescents. She remains committed to training the next generation of mental health providers with participation in ongoing training and supervision of psychology externs as well as Montefiore child psychiatry fellows.
Jessica Hartman, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Hottinger's pre-doctoral project explored Child Anxiety, Illness Specific Panic Fear and Short Acting Beta2 Agonist Use in Pediatric Asthma. The aim of her dissertation is part qualitative analysis of reports of the culture-bound syndrome of Ataques de Nervios in a sample of Latino children with asthma and their caregivers in the Bronx, NY, and roposes to assess the relationship between Ataques de Nervios, psychopathology, illness specific panic fear and asthma control.
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Dr. Hottinger is currently a pediatric psychologist at the Children's Specialized Hospital in New York.
Kate Hottinger, Ph.D.
Pediatric Psychologist
Haley Kutner, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
My research primarily focuses on investigating psychological factors that influence symptom management behaviors in pediatric asthma. This has included studying the relationship between caregiver mental illness and the child's ability to accurately detect pulmonary compromise. Most recently I have become interested in exploring the relationship between panic fear response experienced during an asthma attack and asthma morbidity. I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Health Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. I subsequently was a medical instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine and was the medical psychologist in the department of Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry at the Duke Raleigh Hospital. I am now in private practice at The Westwood Group in Richmond VA.
Dara Steinberg, Ph.D
Pediatric Psychologist
Dara Steinberg completed her Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychology (Health Emphasis) Ph.D. Program at Yeshiva University's Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in 2014. She completed her internship and two year fellowship specializing in pediatric psychology at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital. Her research has focused on the relationship between asthma, psychopathology, and culture. Dara's pre-doctoral master's thesis was on the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder in caregivers and their illness beliefs about their children's asthma. Her dissertation was entitled Asthma in children of Caribbean descent living in the inner-city: Comparing Puerto Rican and Afro-Caribbean Children.
Currently, she is an Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology jointly appointed in the departments of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. She works in the Department of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology, and Stem Cell Transplantation, and specializes in addressing acute and chronic medical conditions, as well as emotional and behavioral difficulties experienced by children, adolescents, and their families.
Margaret Mannix, Ph.D.
Pediatric Psychologist
Dr. Mannix is a pediatric psychologist who works primarily with children and families who have both medical issues and psychological concerns. She earned her doctorate in Clinical Psychology (with a specialization in Health Psychology) from Yeshiva University in 2009. She completed an internship in Child Clinical Psychology at the Franciscan Hospital for Children, and a fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at Brown Medical School in 2010. She currently provides clinical services to the Hasbro Partial Hospital Program as well as the Rhode Island Hospital Department of Outpatient Psychiatry. She is an Assistant Professor (Clinical) of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Assistant Professor (Clinical) of Pediatrics at Brown Medical School. Dr. Mannix participates in the training of interns, residents, and fellows in psychology, psychiatry, and pediatrics. Her primary research interest is coping with chronic illness, especially pediatric cancer.
Nataliya (Natalie) Pilipenko, Ph.D.; ABPP
Clinical Health Psychologist
Dr. Pilipenko graduated from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology Health Emphasis Program in 2013. She completed a 2-year, post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Health Psychology at McLaren/Michigan State University, Flint, Michigan. Dr. Pilipenko is board certified in Clinical Health Psychology by ABCHP. She holds the position of the Director of Behavioral Medicine for Family Medicine Residency at Columbia University, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S). In her current role, Dr. Pilipenko teaches behavioral medicine and clinical interviewing to Family Medicine residents, VP&S medical students, and psychology trainees. She engages in clinical work with focus on Integrated Primary Care and inter-professional care delivery models. Her current grant funded work focuses on implementation of Integrative Medicine within primary care settings, innovative teaching approaches to patient care, and trauma prevalence within primary care.
Thea Silva De Souza, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Silva de Souza is a Psychologist (Ph.D.) preparing for licensure in the state of N.C. Her education includes a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Psychology from Temple University, a Masters of Arts (MA) and Masters of Education (M.Ed.) from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, a Masters of Arts (MA) from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on Health Psychology from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University.
Her work experience has been in a number of settings including hospital, outpatient and residential/inpatient settings. She has over seven years of clinical experience in Psychology and prior to that, five years of Child Life experience (three of which were Certified). Dr. Silva de Souza specializes in working with children, adolescents, adults, and families coping with chronic and life threatening illnesses. She also has experience treating behavioral issues, anxiety, depression, bereavement, PTSD, stress, relationship, dual diagnosis, and other developmental and psychological disturbances.
Dr. Silva de Souza has experience performing bariatric, developmental, psychological, and neuropsychological evaluations for children and adults, and is learning to perform forensic evaluations while at the Center for Personal Growth.
Amanda Spray, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Spray is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Director of the Steven A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at NYU Langone Health. She is the clinic’s liaison to the Veterans Health Administration, directs the center's training program, and is clinical assistant professor in NYU Langone’s Department of Psychiatry. She provides individual cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and couples therapy to veterans and their family members. She specializes in working with individuals struggling with trauma, adult ADHD, and those with cooccurring medical illnesses.
Dr. Spray completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Primary Care Based Mental Health and Health Psychology and predoctoral internship in Psychology at the VA NY Harbor Healthcare System, Manhattan Campus. She received her doctorate in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis with a minor in Neuropsychology from the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology in 2012. Research interests include examining predictors of adherence to medication regimens, health outcomes following mental health integration into medical care, and best practices in delivery of mental health services to veterans.
Michelle Lupkin, Ph.D
Clinical Psychologist​
Michelle Lupkin, PhD is the Clinical Director of the Eating Disorders Program at Montefiore, Attending Psychologist in the Child Outpatient Psychiatry Department (COPD), and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Montefiore Medical Center and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Lupkin specializes in the treatment of children and adolescents presenting with Eating Disorders, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, Anxiety, and Chronic Illness using multiple evidence based treatments including Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, and Family Based Therapy. She is the Training Director of the DBT Program at Montefiore and provides clinical supervision to psychology interns, psychology externs, and psychiatry residents and fellows.
She is frequently asked to lecture on the assessment and treatment of Eating Disorders both within Montefiore Medical Center as well as in schools and other community settings. With the recent launch of the Eating Disorder Program at Montefiore in December 2016, Dr. Lupkin is focusing her research on the prevalence and treatment of eating disorders and comorbid suicidality and self harm in children and adolescents in low income areas. Dr. Lupkin came to Montefiore following her APA Accredited Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chid and Adolescent Psychology at North-Shore/Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She earned her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University and received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with Health Emphasis from Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University. She was featured on News 12 and has been quoted in the Washington Post, Self Magazine, and wrote a blog for US News and World Report.