Principal Investigator
DR. FRANCES CHEN
Frances Chen received her A.B. from Harvard University and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. She was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Freiburg, Germany. She joined the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in 2013. Her research investigates how people establish, negotiate, and sustain social relationships. Frances’s work has been featured in numerous media outlets, including The Globe and Mail, Forbes, Time, NPR, Slate, and The Washington Post. You can find her CV here.
Graduate Students
 | YEEUN LEE Yeeun is a health psychology graduate student. Before joining UBC, she received her M.A. in clinical psychology from Korea University. Broadly, her research aim is to gain deeper insights into the ways people pursue positive life outcomes (e.g., health and well-being) through prosociality and social connection. For instance, she is interested in examining the influence of prosocial (vs. non-prosocial) behaviors on health-related outcomes (e.g., stress reactivity, immune functioning, and sleep quality) and its psychological and physiological mechanisms, by employing a multi-method approach. |
 | CHARLOTTE RODDICK Charlotte is a health psychology PhD student. She completed a MA in health psychology at UBC, and a bachelor’s degree in honours psychology at Concordia University, Montreal. Her research focuses on the bidirectional relationships between human social behaviour, emotions, and physiology. She is currently conducting research on the influence of social relationships, loneliness, and stress on heart rate variability, blood pressure, and immune function. |
 | BITA ZAREIAN Bita is a clinical psychology graduate student at UBC. She received her Pharm.D degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and her B.A in psychology from UBC. She is interested in investigating the cognitive, social and biological factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of depression. She is specifically interested in the role of reward processing, stress, and sex hormones in development of anhedonia and other depressive symptoms in adolescents and young adults. |
 | KELLY YU Kelly is a health psychology graduate student at UBC. She completed her B.S. in Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. Her research interests are focused on cultural differences in the link between social support and health outcomes. She is currently exploring MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) and MIDJA (Midlife in Japan) data to investigate support seeking and physiological and psychological outcomes. |
 | JULIA NAKAMURA Julia is a health psychology graduate student at UBC. She received her B.S. in Psychobiology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is interested in understanding how prosocial behaviours (e.g., volunteering, informal helping) are associated with health and well-being outcomes, integrating theories and perspectives from health psychology, epidemiology/biostatistics, and translational science. |
Staff
 | ELIZABETH KRAMPITZ LAB MANAGER Elizabeth is a fourth year psychology student. She is interested in social, health, and cultural psychology, and the intersections between these disciplines. She has been involved in research about LGBTQ+ social integration as well as the relationship between loneliness and the heart. |
 | SARAH CHEUNG LAB MANAGER Sarah has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Bachelor of Social Work from UBC. She is passionate about improving the health and well-being of marginalized individuals, specifically for persons with disabilities and those with complex health conditions. In her spare time, Sarah volunteers as a Crisis Responder with Kids Help Phone and serves on the Board of Directors for Disability Alliance BC. |
Senior Research Assistants
 | CHRISTINE (YEON SOO) SEO Christine will be going into her fifth year at UBC, majoring in behavioural neuroscience. She is currently involved in the heart rate variability study, which closely relates to her interests in studying how one’s psychological state and social, as well as built, environments can affect their physical well-being. Aside from being an RA for the SHL, Christine is also involved in the Psychology Students’ Association as the VP Communications and loves to spend her free time exploring new places! |
 | JACQUELINE NGUYEN Jacqueline is a fourth year Psychology Honours student. She is interested in Clinical Psychology and Developmental Psychology. Various platforms of online/electronic media and their influence on well-being and cognition on children to young adults are her current research interests. She hopes to gain a deeper understanding on topics relating to youth mental health and strives to contribute to this cause as a Child Psychologist in her distant future. |
 | ALEX SCHRAMM Alex is a fourth year Behavioural Neuroscience student. He is interested in Clinical Psychology and wants to learn about how smartphone use can impact mental health. He is currently researching how the use of social networking apps can affect our wellbeing and sleep quality. He is also researching how this relationship is influenced by lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic. In his free time, Alex loves playing sports and trying new things. |
 | BILAL AZIZ Bilal is a fourth year Psychology Honours student. He is interested in learning about the social determinants of health and its impact on populations. He is currently involved with research assessing the validity of online stress testing. He is also working on his 4th year thesis in the Coping with Neurological Symptoms Lab and hopes to pursue a future in public health. Outside of the lab, he enjoys playing sports like basketball and cricket. |
Research Assistants
| Valerie Friedenberg | Megan Poulter | Sophia Porter | Nina Edwards |
| William Dalgleish | Naomi Moon | Justin Ryan | Catherine Li |
| Isabel Wilson | Chelsea Ma | Rachel Hamilton | Pelin Dogdas |
| Luke Forrester | Shan-Li Barkovich | Linda Wang | Gagan Hothi |
| Sofie Jensen | Kate Yoo | Isha Sacheti | Wenjing Cao |
| Dana Hunter | Alice Erchov | Eden Anbar | Ahad Zafar |
| Megan Kadzirange | Nicholas Latimer |