WHO WE ARE
Director
Daniel Fulford, PhD
Dr. Fulford is Associate Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences, Occupational Therapy, and Psychological & Brain Sciences, and is affiliated with Mental Health Counseling & Behavioral Medicine, Behavioral Neuroscience, and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience at BU. He holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami and a BA in psychology from UCLA. Dr. Fulford joined BU following a career development award through the UCSF Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, where he focused on mental health informatics research. Currently, he and his team conduct lab-based and ambulatory studies to better understand dysregulated motivation and emotion in psychopathology, using smartphones as tools for experience sampling and behavioral sensing (i.e., continuous, unobtrusive measurement from smartphone sensors). A particular focus of this work is on the prediction of momentary states, including of social isolation and loneliness. Dr. Fulford is PI on grant-funded projects focused on human motivation and social dynamics using mobile assessment and intervention. He serves as grant reviewer at the NIH and NSF. Dr. Fulford is also a consulting editor for the Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR) – Mental Health, American Psychologist, American Psychologist, American Psychologist, and Psychological Bulletin, and is Associate Editor for Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, Journal of Mental Health, and Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. Outside of his academic identity, he enjoys ‘dadding’ and other occupations with high effort, high reward payouts.
Faculty
Jasmine Mote, PhD
Dr. Mote is a Research Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy at Boston University. She received her BA in Psychology from Oberlin College and her MA in Psychology and PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. Formerly an AMP Lab postdoctoral associate, she returned to the lab after being an Assistant Professor in Occupational Therapy and Psychology at Tufts University. She is interested in understanding the mechanisms of loneliness and the relationship between our emotions and social experiences, with a focus on understanding these processes in people with serious mental illness. She uses behavioral, qualitative, psychophysiological, and mobile methods to ask questions such as, “How is heart health related to loneliness in people with serious mental illness?”, “Are specific emotions related to better (or worse) social interactions?”, and “How can we address racial disparities in the assessment and treatment of people with mental health concerns?” She is an active member of the Society for Affective Science (SAS) and Society for Research in Psychopathology (SRP). She is a consulting editor for the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science and Emotion. She is also a practicing psychologist in MA. In her free time you might find her binge-watching movies and TV shows, baking, writing about mental health in pregnancy and parenthood, or chasing after her cat, dog, or toddler (possibly in that order).
PhD Students
Arti Gandhi, BA, OTD
Curriculum Vitae
Arti is a third year PhD student in the Rehabilitation Sciences program, and a recent graduate of the Doctor of Occupational Therapy program at BU. She is interested in leveraging smartphone technology to enhance recovery related outcomes among people with psychosis. Specifically, she examines mechanisms of loneliness and social isolation, and the use of smartphones to assess and treat these challenges in real-time. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, exercising/fitness, and finding as many green spaces throughout Boston as she can.
Jessica is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology currently completing her clinical internship at the Palo Alto VA. She is interested in the cognitive and biological bases of social cognition. Her work in the AMP lab has centered on understanding the processes underlying impairments in social motivation in schizophrenia, as well as abnormalities in processing social reward and punishment in this population. The goal of her research is to identify targets for treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. She has a background in psycholinguistics from her undergraduate research at Tufts University and has experience in neuroimaging from her research at MGH. She enjoys outdoor activities such as climbing and skiing, and indoor activities of creative writing and playing piano.
Renata is a third-year clinical psychology PhD student in the lab. She is passionate about understanding what predicts meaningful social interactions and loneliness in people with schizophrenia using experience sampling methods. Renata is also interested in how experiences of social adversity may be associated with difficulties in social effort and social connection. Renata is also a practicum student at McLean’s Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program where she works as a program therapist. Her previous research at the UC Davis Early Psychosis Program focused on the intersection of psychosis and trauma experiences. During her B.A. at UC Berkeley, she acquired research experience on emotion dysregulation and emotional expressivity in people with schizophrenia. She enjoys swimming, candle making, cooking for friends and salsa dancing.
Joseph Maimone, MA
Curriculum Vitae
Joe is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at BU. His research interests involve using ecologically valid, real-time data collection methods to understand individual patterns of social functioning and psychopathology among patients with serious mental illness. Over the course of his Ph.D. studies, he hopes to study formal modeling techniques that may allow for accelerated testing and tuning of theories of social functioning and its impact on rapid increases or decreases in psychiatric symptoms. Previously, Joe was a research assistant at the Nock Lab at Harvard University and a senior clinical research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital where he led recruitment for two real-time studies of suicidal thoughts and behaviors among psychiatric inpatients. In his free time, Joe enjoys boardgames, snowboarding, and cuddles with his corgi named Cooper.
Gili Grunfeld
Curriculum Vitae
Gili is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at BU. She is interested in the phenomenology of psychosis, especially the context of delusions. Gili hopes to investigate the ways in which loneliness interacts with the onset, course, and subjective experience of psychosis. Her prior research at the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychosis-Montréal (PEPP-Montréal) and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute focused on the thematic content of delusions in the first-episode population. She has an MSc from the Transcultural Psychiatry Division of McGill University and is passionate about interdisciplinary research in psychopathology. Gili enjoys being outside, reading and music.
Research Staff
Robert Sawdey, BS
Curriculum Vitae
Robert is a Research Coordinator in the lab. He graduated with a degree in psychology and worked in three social psychology research labs during his time at Tufts University. After graduation, he worked as a Mental Health Specialist in McLean Hospital’s Dissociative Disorders & Trauma Inpatient Unit. He is interested in the social factors that contribute to serious mental illness, as well as how digital interventions can be used to decrease loneliness and isolation in people with SMI. In the future, he hopes to research ways to mitigate social disparities in mental health outcomes among marginalized groups. Robert enjoys listening to music, going on walks, hiking, buying new plants, and playing speed chess in Harvard Square.
Master’s Students
Langa Dlamini, BA
Curriculum Vitae
Langa is a first year MA student in the Counseling and Behavioral Medicine program. She graduated with a dual degree in Biology and Psychology in undergrad because of her passion for mental health. Her years of research experience have been primarily focused on using neuroimaging techniques such as EEG to understand brain function in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Her experiences working with non-profit organizations that support marginalized communities has given her a passion for working with individuals with serious mental illnesses. She hopes to contribute to a deeper understanding of how social isolation affects individuals with serious mental illnesses and is especially interested in helping develop effective interventions. Langa finds joy in the simple things in life, including a cup of tea, reading, absorbing the wisdom of podcasts, and cooking.