Left to right: Celine Ko, Sarah Mills, Amanda Marin (MA from SDSU), Sofie Champassak (BA from SDSU), Kathy Goggin, me, David Martinez (BA from SDSU), Sharon Baik, Kadie Harry (MA from SDSU), Erin Merz, Rachel Millstein, Frank Sotelo, Shadi Gholizadeh, Yasmin Asvar (MA from SDSU)
The work of several psychology students was recognized at the Society for Behavioral Medicine (SBM). Ms. Julia Drizin and Ms. Sarah Mills, has been recognized by the program committee of the Society for Behavioral Medicine during the 2015 Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Meeting and Scientific Sessions in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Drizin and Ms. Mills received a citation award for their abstract indicating excellence in research. Their poster is titled “Cognitive and Behavioral Change in Response to a Celebrity’s Health Disclosure,” which is based on a content analysis of comments to the New York Times editorial titled “My Medical Choice” by Ms. Angelina Jolie. Ms. Drizin and Ms. Mills’ research has uncovered several important themes related to Ms. Jolie’s 2013 disclosure to undergo a preventive double mastectomy after finding out that she was an unaffected BRCA1 gene mutation carrier.
Additional co-authors on the award-winning abstract were Drs. Kristen Wells, Vanessa Malcarne, Elizabeth Klonoff, and Allison Vaughn from San Diego State University and the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, as well as Dr. Laura Barnes from the University of Virginia.
Julia Drizin
Ms. Drizin is a second year student in the San Diego State University Master of Arts Degree program in Psychology. Her research interests include health communication, with a particular emphasis on how celebrity disclosures regarding a health condition affect the general public’s perception of risk and worry about that disease. Ms. Drizin’s faculty mentors are Drs. Kristen Wells and Vanessa Malcarne.
Sarah Mills
Ms. Sarah Mills is a fourth year student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Her research interests include ethnic minority health disparities, psychometrics, and coping with chronic illness. Ms. Mills is also pursuing a Master’s in Public Health degree with an emphasis in epidemiology at San Diego State University. Ms. Mills’ faculty mentors are Drs. Vanessa Malcarne, Elizabeth Klonoff, and Georgia Sadler.
Jessica Montoya was also recognized at the SBM conference. She won a Meritorious Student Award (given to outstanding posters and papers submitted by students) for her first-authored paper, Predictors of Antiretroviral Adherence among Active Methamphetamine Users with HIV. Kaitlin Casaletto was a co-author. Faculty co-author is Igor Grant