PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE | SUMMER 2016
The Ost
SPECIAL EDITION
THE PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE
SUMMER 2016 | THE OST SPECIAL EDITION The Psychology Update is a news magazine written for students, faculty and alumni of the UAB Department of Psychology UAB PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE EXECUTIVE EDITOR Karlene Ball, Ph.D. EDITOR + CONTENT Mary Frances Thetford, M.Ed. CONTENT + DESIGN Lauren Vardaman FOLLOW UAB PSYCHOLOGY
Inside A Look Back at the Ost 6
Faculty Find Potential Breakthrough 8
First-of-its-Kind Driving Simulator Unveiled 10
Alumni News 12
Student Success 13
Upcoming Events & Research Studies 14 To be an internationally recognized research department and a first choice for education.
apply behavioral science for the benefit of all people.
To discover knowledge about behavior and its underlying biology and teach and
Department Achievements 4
ACHIEVEMENTS CHRISTINA D’ANGELO
CITRL CERTIFICATE RECIPIENTS Psychology was well represented with 9 students receiving a UAB Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching, and Learning Certificate. Psychology students received CIRTL Awards at the Associates, Practitioners, and Scholars levels. Pictured Above (left to right: Mary Katherine Osborn, Meredith Henry, Eva Trinh, Danielle Vincent, Caitlin Pope, Tyler Bell, and Dr. Luke Parkitny)
NEUROINFLAMMATION, PAIN & FATIGUE LAB Members of Dr. Younger’s Neuroinflammation, Pain & Fatigue Lab took home awards in several categories at the 2016 UAB Expo. Natasha Mehra won 1st place for both the oral/poster presentations in the Behavioral Science Division and Angelica Chapman and Molly Brown Langner (Nursing students who rotated in the lab Spring semester) also won 1st place in the poster presentation in the Health Science Division.
HALEY JOHNSON BISHOP Graduate Student Haley Johnson Bishop received a poster award in the Clinical Topics section of Simpson Ramsey Poster Competition. Haley was also invited by Dr. Meiko Thompson, Project Lead of Garrett A. Morgan Clearinghouse, to speak at TEDxKnoxville: Without Limits! This is an independently organized, half-day TED event happening this June in Knoxville, TN. Haley will be speaking to an audience of about 125 people and the event will be filmed and hosted on the TEDxYouTube channel. The talks at this event will cover a wide range of topics all aimed at fostering learning and provoking conversations that matter. For more information about the event, please visit: www.ted.com/tedx/ events/19492
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This spring, graduate student Christina D’Angelo received a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF GRFP) award and was a recipient of a poster award at the Society for Pediatric Psychology meeting this April in Atlanta. This event has become a great place for Psychology faculty, students and alumni to reunite!
ANJALI GOWDA Graduate student Anjali Gowda has accepted a community outreach fellowship through Virginia Commonwealth University (VCUHS) Psychiatry Department. The fellowship will focus on clinical program and policy development for children and adolescents at the state level and will include clinical work with an emphasis on early childhood and developmental disabilities.
LAUREN HAYES Graduate student Lauren Hayes will be continuing her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System with an emphasis in trauma.
AMY LEMELMAN Graduate student Amy Lemelman will be completing her post-doctoral fellowship at the Center for Autism and the Developing Brain, which is affiliated with Weil Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains, New York.
BENJAMIN MCMANUS
CATHERYN ORIHUELA
Graduate student Benjamin McManus was awarded an intramural grant from the NIOSH Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety for $12,000 to support his dissertation work, “Effect of occupational demands on driving safety in surgical residents.”
Graduate student Catheryn Orihuela was awarded Honorable Mention at the Society for Research in Adolescence Biennial Meeting Poster Competition this spring. Catheryn also won first prize at UAB Graduate Research Day.
JIABIN SHEN Graduate student Jiabin Shen was named a recipient of the APA Achievement Award for Early Career Professionals by the Committee on Early Career Psychologists (CECP). The winners were selected based on their achievements and demonstration of astute leadership in the field of psychology.
DR. SYLVIE MRUG Congratulations to Dr. Sylvie Mrug, Psychology Professor, on the birth of her fourth child, Maria, who was born April 18 at UAB Hospital.
MARIA SYLVESTER Undergraduate student Maria Sylvester was selected as one of three recipients of the 2016 College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Award. The Dean’s Award recipients were honored and recognized at Honors Convocation in April at the Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center.
JILIAN O’NEILL Graduate student Jilian O’Neill was named recipient of the Foundation for Rehabilitation Psychology Dissertation Award for $2500.
SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 5
THE COMPETITION The annual Undergraduate Research Competition, the “OST”, hosted by the Psychology Department, showcased some of the department’s best undergraduate research. Posters were presented by undergraduates who presented original research, extensions, and collaborations with faculty and graduate student mentors. Each poster was evaluated by a group of faculty judges. The department awarded cash prizes to the top posters.
2016 Winners Mary-Elizabeth Winslett (Primary mentor Dr. Rajesh Kana, Department of Psychology) for her research titled “Anomalies in Morphological Patterns of the Mid-Fusiform Sulcus in Autism Spectrum Disorders “ Maria Dani Sylvester (Primary mentor Dr. Mary Boggiano, Department of Psychology) for her research titled “The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Binge Eating Disorder” 6 PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE // SPRING 2016
OST A L O O K B A C K AT T H E 2 0 1 6
U N D E R G R A D U AT E R E S E A R C H C O M P E T I T I O N
GRADUATE Student Awards Outstanding Graduate Student in the Department of Psychology, Hailey Bulls Outstanding Graduate Student in Medical/ Clinical Psychology, Hailey Bulls Gregg Steele Outstanding Student in Behavioral Neuroscience, Jodi Paul & Muriah Wheelock Outstanding Graduate Student in Lifespan and Developmental Psychology, Jinhong Guo
UNDERGRADUATE Student Awards Passey Prize for Outstanding Student in Psychology, Maria Sylvester & Lindsey Yessick UAB Psychology Department Achievement Award, Mindy Tatum
UNDERGRADUATE NEUROSCIENCE Program Awards Outstanding Undergraduate Student in Neuroscience, Daniel Gilliam & John Decker
EXCELLENCE IN HIGH SCHOOL Research Award Alexis Lambert, Alabama School of Fine Arts Ava Michl, Alabama School of Fine Arts
GUEST SPEAKER Dr. Scott Wilson Dr. Scott Wilson is Director of the Undergraduate Neuroscience Program and Associate Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at UAB. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of South Florida and then went on to the University of Florida to complete his graduate degree under the supervision of Maurice Swanson. During his studies with Dr. Swanson, he biochemically isolated the first family of heterogeneous nuclear ribonuclear proteins in yeast and performed classical genetics to investigate the function of hnRNPs in yeast. The identification of these gene products has allowed for important insights into vesicular trafficking, auditory function, and neurodegeneration. Dr. Wilson joined the faculty at UAB in 2002 to continue his studies on the nervous system using mouse models of neurodegeneration. SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 7
Researchers find potential BREAKTHROUGH in
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BINGE-EATING DISORDER TREATMENT From UAB News | by Katherine Shonesy
Transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS, has proved effective for binge-eating disorder for the first time, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. tDCS is a type of neuromodulator that delivers constant, low-current electricity to a targeted portion of the brain. While it has been tested and proved effective for many disorders and health issues, including depression, Parkinson’s disease and autism, this UAB study is the first to effectively prove its potential as a treatment in patients with binge-eating disorder, or BED. The American Psychiatric Association classifies BED as an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, which is eating large quantities of food in a short period of time with a sense of loss of control to stop. Binges are followed with feelings of shame, disgust and distress. Unlike bulimia, there is no purging to counter the calories from binge eating. Obesity is very common among those with BED. Approximately 5 percent of the U.S. adult population suffers from a lifetime prevalence of BED, with an additional 1.2 percent with sub-threshold BED and 4.5 percent with binge-eating tendencies. Compared to obese individuals without BED, obese individuals with BED are more prone to depression, anxiety, body dissatisfaction, low self-esteem and social withdrawal. ”There are more adults suffering from BED than are suffering from anorexia nervosa and bulimia combined,” said Mary Boggiano, Ph.D., an associate professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Psychology and principal investigator on the study, which was published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders. Currently, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is the best treatment for BED. However, CBT is not perfect, and there are many patients who relapse after treatment. Pharmaceutical treatments for BED are often ineffective and can have many negative side effects. Frank Amthor, Ph.D., a professor in the UAB Department of Psychology with a background in engineering, knew about tDCS and suggested it to Boggiano as a treatment that could possibly alleviate obesity, craving, intake, binge-eating desire and bingeeating frequency.” 8 PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE // SPRING 2016
Previous tDCS studies had showed that it reduced depression and food craving, but in normal-weight and non-eating-disorder populations. “We knew that a substantial percentage of BED patients also suffer from depression,” said Emilee Burgess, the lead graduate student of the study. “With that information, we hypothesized that we might be able to use tDCS, which had been found to decrease depressive symptoms, to positively impact certain factors that contribute to BED, such as food craving, intake, binge-eating desire and binge-eating frequency.” The team from UAB tested 30 adults — both male and female — with BED or sub-threshold BED with a 20-minute session of tDCS targeting the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for stimulation. They also administered a “sham” session in which the individuals were hooked up to the tDCS device but did not actually receive stimulation, to control for possible placebo effects. “We targeted the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex because this area is underactive in patients with BED,” Boggiano said. “Underactivity in this area of the brain is associated with decreased cognitive inhibition and ability to regulate emotions. This could explain the loss of control when craving food — a very emotional state — and loss of control when eating food in BED. Therefore, stimulating this region might lessen their impulsiveness toward food.” On the first two visits, participants were instructed to forgo eating or drinking anything but water for three hours prior to the visit, but to eat “some food” three hours before the visit to avoid excess hunger. Participants were measured for BMI and completed a battery of questionnaires at the beginning of each visit. They then completed a food craving test, which presented them with 24 food images representing desserts, non-sweet carbohydrates and savory protein categories immediately before and after the tDCS and sham sessions.
Each food was rated on degree of “liking” and “wanting” with a 0-4 scale. Next, participants were left alone for an eating test. For 20 minutes, they could consume as many M&Ms, potato chips and mini Oreo cookies as they wished. Participants were also instructed on how to access and submit a five-day at-home binge-eating survey. The same procedures were repeated during the second visit, but with the alternate tDCS, or sham, condition. On the third visit, participants ranked their preference for the foods available during the eating test, were debriefed on the full purpose of the study and were provided a brochure of resources for help with BED. The results showed that tDCS decreased craving for sweets, savory proteins and an all-foods category significantly more than did sham. The strongest reductions occurred in the men. In both sexes, tDCS decreased total food intake by 11 percent and the individuals’ preferred-food intake by 17.5 percent of their intake during the control sham session. It also reduced desire to binge eat in men on the day of tDCS compared to sham administration. The reductions in craving and food intake were predicted by eating palatable food less frequently for reward motives, and by a greater intent to restrict calories, respectively, both traits which were measured with surveys at the onset of the study. “It’s particularly significant that men had a greater impact from the tDCS treatment,” Burgess said. “Men make up a greater percentage of BED patients than they do comparatively in any other eating disorder, and males are often excluded from research studies, so it’s helpful to know this type of treatment might be particularly effective for that population.”
DEPT. OF PSYCHOLOGY Assoc. Professor Dr. Mary Boggiano (left) & Professor Dr. Frank Amthor (right)
PROOF-OF-CONCEPT
The results provided “proof-of-concept” as to the safety and efficacy of tDCS to treat BED. The participants reported no negative side effects, other than slight itching from the electrodes during stimulation. This proof-of-concept study will now allow Boggiano’s lab and others to test the effects of multiple tDCS sessions, which may induce longer term results. “Our findings show that tDCS has promise as a safe, easily administered and effective tool in treating BED,” Boggiano said. “We could see this treatment working in conjunction with CBT and other cognitive-based treatments to shorten the treatment course of BED and decrease relapse rates. We also believe it will substitute drug treatments for BED because of the low — if any — side effects of tDCS even with multiple sessions.” “Now that we know tDCS has a real impact on BED, the next step is to test longer-term sessions to determine effects over time,” Burgess said. “This was our proof-of-concept study, and it was highly successful in our view; but there is more work to be done to begin using this treatment to help BED patients. That’s what we’re looking forward to next.”
SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 9
FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND
DR. DESPINA STAVRINOS Assistant Professor UAB Department of Psychology
“DATA TELLS US THAT DISTRACTED DRIVING IS A FACTOR IN NEARLY 50 PERCENT OF CAR CRASHES, WHICH TRANSLATES TO ONE MILLION INJURYPRODUCING CRASHES EACH YEAR” 10 PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE // SPRING 2016
driving simulator lab at UAB powered by donation from HONDA MANUFACTURING OF ALABAMA and ALDOT From UAB News | by Katherine Shonesy
During Distracted Driving Awareness Month, UAB has opened the first SUV driving simulator laboratory in the world. In the development of this lab, UAB partnered with Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, which provided a fullbodied 2016 Honda Pilot built at their factory in Lincoln, Ala., to be retrofitted with state-of-the-art simulator technology funded by the Alabama Department of Transportation. The technology gives UAB researchers the opportunity to conduct important safety studies involving distracted driving practices. Representatives from Honda, ALDOT and Alabama’s Office of the Attorney General joined the UAB team to announce the new initiative at the grand opening on April 19. “Honda Manufacturing of Alabama is honored to partner with UAB in this important project, with the goal of saving lives by increasing awareness of distracted driving,” said HMA Vice President Mike Oatridge. “Honda is very pleased we could donate the most advanced Honda Pilot ever built in Alabama, which has a five-star crash safety rating and features Honda most advanced safety features including the full range of Honda Sensing technology.” The goal of this effort is to facilitate solutions and best practices in motorvehicle-related safety and crash prevention, addressing the major public health problem of highway and traffic-related injuries and death. “Data tells us that distracted driving is a factor in nearly 50 percent of car crashes, which translates to one million injury-producing crashes each year,” said Despina Stavrinos, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology in UAB’s College of Arts and Sciences and director of the UAB Translational Research for Injury Prevention Laboratory. “Ten percent of those crashes result in a fatality. Understanding which factors influence an individual’s likelihood to engage in distracted driving is essential to being able to purposefully address this growing problem. With this new simulator, we will be able to gain new information about how drivers participate in distracted behavior, giving us valuable insight that can increase the effectiveness of educational campaigns and improve driving safety.” The core of Stavrinos’ work is the prevention of injury, particularly unintentional injuries like those that result from distracted driving behaviors. She will lead her TRIP Lab in conducting studies with the new simulator. The first study, set to begin in a couple of weeks, will focus on teens and adults over 65, two of the most vulnerable populations when it comes to distracted driving.
FIRST
OF-ITS-KIND as seen on the
Today Show HONDA | ALDOT | TRIP LABORATORY | UAB CAS
The simulator is intended to be available to researchers from all appropriate disciplines throughout UAB, other universities in the state, and even throughout the Southeast. In addition, non-university research scientists will be afforded access to the simulator and its associated support services. “UAB really thrives on investing in resources that are going to allow multidisciplinary research to take place,” said Richard Marchase, Ph.D., vice president for research and economic development at UAB. “With this new technology, which we are very thankful to Honda Manufacturing of Alabama and ALDOT for helping us create, we will be able to do just that and make this facility a destination for collaboration and innovation for researchers across campus and beyond. It will be a resource that I’m sure will be game-changing.” “Honda Manufacturing of Alabama is honored to partner with UAB in this important project, with the goal of saving lives by increasing awareness of distracted driving,” said HMA Vice President Mike Oatridge. “Honda is very pleased we could donate the most advanced Honda Pilot ever built in Alabama, which has a five-star crash safety rating and features Honda’s most advanced safety features, including the full range of Honda Sensing technology.”
INDIVIDUALS INTERESTED IN UTILIZING THESE RESOURCES OR CONTRIBUTING SHOULD CONTACT DR. STAVRINOS AT DSTAVRIN@UAB.EDU OR (205) 934-7861 SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 11
Staying Connected to UAB Psychology
JENNIFER DeBERRY, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Division of Translational Biomedicine UAB Dept. of Anesthsiology and Perioperative Medicine
From UAB News | by Beena Thannickal
The American Cancer Society has awarded the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center a $360,000 Institutional Research Grant for junior faculty development. The purpose of the IRG program is to support the development of new investigators to conduct independent cancer research, foster direct relationships between funded institutions and the local ACS, and support research by newly independent investigators in areas of special interest. ACS has a long history of partnership with UAB in research activities as well as cancer interventions. The ACS awarded its first research grant to UAB in 1957, and to date it has awarded 206 grants for research at UAB for a total of more than $30 million. Each year, junior faculty compete through a rigorous peer review process to receive one of four awards totaling $120,000 per year. The intent is that the IRG grant will provide new investigators with seed money to garner additional funding and take their research to the next level. At a recent symposium, the Cancer Center showcased successful past ACS projects which ranged from research on genomic instability, DNA repair and new combination chemotherapies for cancer to physical activity interventions for African-American women in the Deep South. This year’s recipients are Rebecca Arend, M.D., assistant professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology; Farrukh, Afaq, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Dermatology; Purnima Singh, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology; and Jennifer DeBerry, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology. Projects this year range from developing new treatments for ovarian cancer and melanoma to understanding the side effects of chemotherapy. 12 PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE // SPRING 2016
STUDENT SUCCESS
SUMMER PROJECT:
Finding a way to block the brain’s urge to overeat From UAB The Mix | by Matt Windsor
People who smoke marijuana famously get “the munchies.” That’s because cannabidiol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, acts on cannabinoid receptors in the brain, creating a cascade of effects, including a lowering of inhibitory signals. By filling up these receptors, cannabidiol muffles the messages that signal satiety. The result: a strong urge to eat. But cannabinoid receptors aren’t just sitting around waiting for weed. Our bodies produce their own cannabinoids, known as endocannabinoids. And research suggests that these endocannabinoid signals play a significant role in regulating hunger urges.
PICTURED
Aaron Landis (left) Dr. Robert Sorge (right)
EXPLORING A PROMISING TARGET
Cannibidiol receptors, which are found on cell membranes throughout the body, come in two main forms: CB1 and CB2. A drug known as rimonabant, which works by selectively blocking CB1 receptors, appeared to be effective at helping patients lose weight. It was approved for sale in Europe in 2006, but not in the United States, where the FDA was concerned about safety. Indeed, people taking rimonabant had an increased risk of anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. Less than three years after it was first approved, the drug was pulled from the market. But rimonabant’s effectiveness as a weight-loss drug has turned attention to CB2 receptors. Could they offer the hunger-suppressing effects without altering mood? A paper by Australian researchers in late 2015 found that a CB2 receptor agonist, JWH–015, significantly reduced body weight in diet-induced obese mice. It also found no adverse impact on mood.
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITIES In his sophomore year, Landis took an interdisciplinary honors course that explored “America’s flawed food system,” he said. “And since I knew that Dr. Sorge constantly implements dietary effects in his studies,” he thought that a
“If the results lead to a human trial, this method could one day assist individuals in becoming less prone to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
place in the Sorge lab would be “A PERFECT FIT,” he said.
MAJOR POTENTIAL
Inspired by this result, rising UAB junior Aaron Landis will spend the summer exploring further in the lab of Robert Sorge, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences Department of Psychology. Landis, who is majoring in neuroscience and is a member of the UAB Honors College University Honors Program, is one of 10 undergraduates selected for the inaugural UAB President’s Summer Research Scholarship Program. The award includes $4,500 for students to finance 12 weeks of research in a UAB lab, plus $500 for their mentors. Landis’ project involves multiple groups of mice, who will eat a synthesized version of the standard American diet developed by Sorge. Meanwhile, they will receive regular infusions of the CB2 receptor agonist. “It is expected to reduce the negative effects of this diet on the mice,” Landis said. “If the results lead to a human trial, this method could one day assist individuals in becoming less prone to cardiovascular disease and diabetes.”
Landis plans to attend medical school “and one day practice in neurology,” he said. The summer research scholarship program will help him advance toward that goal as well, he explains. “I found so many opportunities that Birmingham could give me over a summer,” he said. “Along with research, I wanted to volunteer and shadow at the hospital, as well as take a class. This scholarship is definitely going to help with everything.” SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 13
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The University of Alabama at Birmingham presents
Join us for a Two-Day Conference at the new Hill Student Center in Birmingham, Alabama to discuss the research directions in pain research and treatment. All pain researchers, clinicians, and students are welcome. This is a joint conference being supported by the UAB School of Medicine and UAB College of Arts and Sciences. *This is a UAB CME applied for conference program for physicians and psychologists.
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION PRE-REGISTRATION:
$50 for faculty, staff, and community members No fees for students and trainees.
CONFERENCE HOTEL: Springhill Suites For more information on the conference, please visit www.uab.edu/painsymposium
SPRING 2016 // PSYCHOLOGY UPDATE 15
UAB DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY CAMPBELL HALL SUITE 415 | 1300 UNIVERSITY BLVD. | BIRMINGHAM, AL 35294 205.934.3850