Lab News

November 2022: Julia Nakamura was featured in an article by UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for receiving a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship!

November 2022: Julia Nakamura was featured in a video by UBC Psychology News for her Killam Doctoral Scholarship!

October 2022: Dr. Frances Chen, Yeeun Archer Lee, Julia Nakamura, and Rachel Hamilton received a Michael Smith Health Research BC Convening & Collaborating (C2) Award for their work with United Way British Columbia to promote well-being in local neighborhoods!

October 2022: Dr. Frances Chen and Dr. Gu Li were featured by UBC News for their research on a self-affirmation intervention that utilizes computer passwords to boost mental health.

September 2022: Julia Nakamura was featured by UBC Psychology News for her Mather Institute Innovative Research on Aging Award!

September 2022: Yeon Soo (Christine) Seo presented Exploring the effects of ambient near-infrared radiation on cognitive performance and heart-rate variability at the virtual International Conference of Undergraduate Research (ICUR 2022)!

September 2022: Charlotte Roddick and Luke Forrester presented their work on, Cardiac Vagal Recovery Following Psychological Stress in Human Adults: A Systematic Review at the Society for Psychophysiological Research 2022 Annual Meeting!

June 2022: Megan Poulter, Gagan Hothi and Nicholas Latimer represented our lab at the Science World Extravagant Evenings for Teens (SWEET), which provide teens with a space to connect with peers, engage in fun activities, and learn about the exciting world of STEAM!

June 2022: Congratulations to Megan Poulter for her acceptance into the Clinical Psychology graduate program at the University of Regina, and to Justin Ryan for his acceptance into the Clinical and Health Psychology graduate program at Leiden University! Wishing each of you all the best in your future academic pursuits!

May 2022: Congratulations to all the Winter 2021-2022 Bachelor’s graduates in the SHL, including Bilal Aziz, William Dalgleish, Nina Edwards, Rachel Hamilton, Elizabeth Krampitz, Naomi Moon, Megan Poulter, Erica Qiu, Justin Ryan, and Alex Schramm! Thanks so much for all your invaluable contributions to the lab and all the best for your future endeavours!

May 2022: Julia Nakamura was awarded a Mather Institute Innovative Research on Aging Silver Award for her paper, Are all domains of life satisfaction equal? Differential associations with health and well-being in older adults. Congratulations, Julia!

May 2022: Julia Nakamura was awarded a Killam Doctoral Scholarship and a UBC Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship! Congratulations!

April 2022: Christine (Yeon Soo) Seo, Megan Poulter, William Dalgleish, Gagan Hothi, and Jacqueline Nguyen represented the lab at UBC’s Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)!

April 2022: Gagan Hothi was awarded a PURC poster award for her project, Use of hormonal contraceptives during adolescence and risk for depression in the long term. Congratulations, Gagan!

February 2022: Kelly Yu presented her work, Antecedents and Consequences of Illness Centrality among Adults with Diabetes, at the 14th annual SPSP Health Preconference!

November 2021: Charlotte Roddick presented Effects of Near Infrared Radiation in Ambient Lighting on Cognitive Performance, Emotional Well-being, and Cardiovascular Physiology at the CORM / CNC / USNC (CIE) Annual Meeting!

October 2021: Charlotte Roddick presented High-frequency Heart Rate Variability as a Stable Individual Difference Across Distinct Cognitive and Emotional Demands at the Society for Psychophysiological Research Annual Meeting!

August 2021: Yeeun Lee was named a 2021-22 UBC Public Scholar! UBC’s Public Scholars Initiative (PSI) supports UBC doctoral students whose research extended beyond the academy, and beyond traditional disciplinary approaches, to have a tangible impact for the public good through collaborative, action-oriented, and/or creative forms of scholarship in their dissertation work. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, Yeeun!

July 2021: Yeeun Lee presented her research, Acts of Kindness and Daily Social Connection, at the annual conference of the Society for Ambulatory Assessment!

June 2021: Congratulations to all SHL members graduating from UBC in 2021! Thank you for your wide-ranging and invaluable contributions to the lab, and we wish you all the best for your future endeavours. Several of our lab members and recent lab alum will be continuing in graduate programs, including:

• Miranda Bahng and Sabrina Ge: Graduate studies in the Department of Psychology at UBC
• Peter Sun: Vancouver Fraser Medical Program at the UBC Faculty of Medicine
• Sophie Wensel (2020 graduate): Kinesiology at the University of Toronto

June 2021: Clarinne Tham, Elizabeth Krampitz, Gorkem Atilla, and Kien Nguyen presented their work on A Self-Affirmation Intervention for LGBTQ+ Social Integration and Well-Being at UBC Psychology’s Diversity Mentorship Program. Their project was featured in an event showcasing research in the UBC Psychology department related to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

May 2021: Lior Torgeman and Jayani Mehta presented a flash talk, Stress-regulating effects of observing others’ communal coping strategies, at the Canadian Stress Research Summit!

April 2021: Bita Zareian received a Psi Chi Spring Graduate Research Grant ($1500 USD) for her research on The impact of hormonal contraceptive use during adolescence on hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis regulation. Congratulations!

April 2021: Maggie Coval, Bilal Aziz, Priya Johal, Jacqueline Nguyen, Reina Imai, Clarinne Tham, Elizabeth Krampitz, Gorkem Atilla, and Kien Nguyen represented the lab at UBC's Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)! Maggie Coval, Clarinne Tham, Elizabeth Krampitz, Gorkem Atilla, and Kien Nguyen were recipients of PURC presentation awards!

March 2021: Dr. Marlise Hofer discussed her recent review paper, “What your nose knows: Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Responses to the Scent of Another Person in a podcast with Dr. Robert Goldstone, editor of Current Directions in Psychological Science!

March 2021: Bita Zareian was interviewed about her work on assessing anhedonia, in Medscape’s coverage of the annual conference of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America!

March 2021: Reina Imai represented the lab with a poster about her research (Parent-Infant Olfactory Communication: Will Mom and Dad's Scent Make Babies Sleep Tight?) at UBC's Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC)!

March 2021: Clarinne Tham, Elizabeth Krampitz, Gorkem Atilla, and Kien Nguyen presented the Social Integration and Well-Being Project at UBC's Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC)!

February 2021: Congratulations to Yingchi Guo, who was awarded a Quinn Research Travel Grant to attend the 2021 virtual annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology!

January 2021: Congratulations to Xiaohan Lin, who was selected as a recipient of the SPSP International Registration Award!

August 2020: Congratulations to Rachel Saltoun, who received a 2019-20 Psi Chi Summer Unrestricted Travel Grant!

August 2020: Miranda Bahng was awarded the Korean Honor Scholarship and the Vancouver Korean-Canadian Scholarship! Congratulations Miranda!

July 2020: Congratulations to Bita Zareian, who successfully defended her Master's Thesis!

May 2020:  Marlise Hofer successfully defended her PhD. Congratulations, Dr. Hofer!!

May 2020: Congratulations to Kiana Kianpoor, who was admitted to UBC Medical School!

May 2020: Annie Hayward represented the lab with a poster about her research (Hormonal contraceptives and depression: Reasons for hormonal contraceptive use) at the Women’s Brain Health Young Investigator Symposium.

May 2020: Congratulations to Charlotte Roddick, who received the first annual Award of Research Excellence in Health Psychology from the UBC Psychology Health Area for her outstanding work in the MA programme!

April 2020: Congratulations to all the Winter 2019-2020 Bachelor’s graduates in the SHL, including Sabrina Ge, Daisy Couture, Sophie Wensel, Hannah Rosen, and Rachel Saltoun. Thanks so much for all your invaluable contributions to the lab and best wishes for your future endeavours!

April 2020: Sabrina Ge represented the lab with a poster about her research (Anhedonia and depression severity in adolescent women) at the UBC Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference.

April 2020: Charlotte Roddick represented the lab with a poster about her research (Effects of residential relocation on systolic blood pressure and psychosocial wellbeing) at the annual meeting of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

April 2020: Congratulations to Sabrina Ge, who was awarded an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to support her summer research in the lab!

April 2020: Marlise Hofer received the APA Division 38 Graduate Student Research in General Health Psychology Award ($2000 USD) for her project, The impact of a mother's scent on her child: examining children’s stress and sleep. Congratulations!

April 2020: Charlotte Roddick received the APA Division 38 Graduate Student Research in General Health Psychology Award ($2000 USD) for her project, Lonely hearts: Effects of chronic and state loneliness on heart rate variability. Congratulations!

March 2020: Congratulations to lab members Kiana Kianpoor, Rachel Saltoun, and Tina Li, who, along with Ava Outadi and Kimia Ziafat, presented their project “The Opioid Epidemic in Canada” at the annual UBC competition Map the System, which was hosted on Skype this year. Out of the 68 competing teams, their team was selected to present their research, and was awarded second place!

March 2020: Rachel Lee took over the UBC Arts Instagram account to showcase a day in the life of a RA and featured a few RAs from the lab: Jennifer Phan, Natalie Lui, Miranda Bahng, Heather Faulkner.

February 2020: Yeeun Lee represented the lab with a poster about her research (Giving support buffers the negative impacts of stress on interpersonal perception) at the annual convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology.

February 2020: Frances Chen received a Killam Faculty Research Fellowship to support her research during her study leave!

January 2020: Farewell dinner and celebration for Dr. Gu Li, who will be starting a faculty position at NYU Shanghai in February!

November 2019: Congratulations to Marlise Hofer, who received an American Psychological Association Dissertation Award ($1000) to support her project: The impact of a mother's scent on her child: examining children’s stress and sleep!

October 2019: Congratulations to Gu Li and Yeeun Lee, who received an UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS) Impact Grant ($5000) to support their project, Password to friendships: Using self-affirmation to reduce internalized homophobia and improve social integration in sexual minority first-year undergraduate students!

September 2019: Yeeun Lee, Charlotte Roddick, and Bita Zareian represented the lab with oral presentations about their research at the annual conference of the European Health Psychology Society in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

July 2019: Gu Li represented the lab with a presentation on his research (Self-affirmation reduces internalized homophobia and homonegativity in sexual minority adults) at the Self-Affirmation Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

July 2019: Marlise Hofer represented the lab with a presentation on her research (From stress reactivity to sleep efficiency: Positive effects of the scent of a romantic partner) at the Psychologie und Gehirn (Psychology and Brain) conference in Dresden, Germany.

July 2019: Marlise Hofer received a $1490 USD travel grant from the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology to support a presentation at the Human Behavior and Evolution Society 30th Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Congratulations!

May 2019: Congratulations to all of our lab graduates! Pictured: Jean Dong, Angela Kwan, and Chelzea Madia.

May 2019: Congratulations to Charlotte Roddick, who received a SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship!

April 2019: Celebrating the end of the term by making llama planters!

April 2019: Congratulations to Chelzea Madia, who won a best poster award at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)! Chelzea’s poster, Gratitude intervention promotes social integration among first-year university students, was recognized as one of the top 3 of 59 posters at PURC!

March 2019: Bita Zareian was interviewed by UBC Psychology and by UBC News about her research on how hormones shape teens’ emotions.

March 2019: Congratulations to Yeeun Lee, who received a UBC Faculty of Arts Graduate Research Award ($1000) for her project entitled Prosocial behavior and stress regulation!

March 2019: Annie Hayward, Meihua Huang, Chelzea Madia, and Yana Svatko represented the lab with presentations and posters about their research at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC).

March 2019: Congratulations to Marlise Hofer, who was awarded a Psi Chi Spring Graduate Research Grant ($1500 USD) to support her project, The impact of a mother's scent on her child's sleep!

March 2019: Congratulations to Annie Hayward and Rachel Saltoun, who were each awarded an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to support their research in the lab this summer!

March 2019: Frances Chen was featured on the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) celebration of International Women’s Day.

February 2019: Alec Beall was interviewed about his research on hormones, love, and sex by UBC News.

February 2019: Marlise Hofer and Patrick Klaiber represented the lab at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in Portland, Oregon, with talks on The impact of agentic and communal values on social comparison in romantic relationships (Patrick Klaiber) and Predicting social connectedness, well-being and sleep from natural smartphone use (Marlise Hofer), as well as a poster on Benefits of romantic relationships: Can the scent of a partner improve health? (Marlise Hofer).

September 2018: Frances Chen was one of six researchers in Canada featured as part of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) campaign, “I picture my research in Canada.” Read the interview with Dr. Chen here.

March 2018: Congratulations to Charlotte Roddick, who received a UBC Faculty of Arts Graduate Research Award ($1000) for her project entitled How loneliness affects the heart: HRV recovery as a marker of autonomic functioning!

February 2018: Congratulations to Christine Anderl and Marlise Hofer, who were named Phase 2 Winners in the Healthy Behaviour Data Challenge! Christine and Marlise (with co-Investigators Frances Chen and Mohamed Elgendi) will receive $25,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and MaRS Discovery District (MaRS) to fund their project, Estimating sleep quality from natural phone use.

April 2018: Lab mug-making outing! Congratulations to all of this year’s graduating students, and a huge thank you to all of the dedicated volunteer RAs in the lab!

April 2018: Jamile De Medeiros e Silva, Jean Dong, and Trevor Kwan represented the lab with presentations and posters about their research at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)!

January 2018: Research from the Social Health Lab was featured in a review of UBC’s top scientific research of 2017!

December 2017: Christine Anderl was awarded an SPSP Small Research Grant ($1500 USD) for her project, Measuring everyday social media use -- validating a smartphone sensing application for psychological research. Congratulations, Christine!

November 2017: Congratulations to Chelsea Christie (MA) and Ashley Whillans (PhD) on their graduations!

September 2017: Congratulations to Christine Anderl and Marlise Hofer, who were named Phase 1 Finalists in the Healthy Behaviour Data Challenge! Christine and Marlise (with co-Investigators Frances Chen and Mohamed Elgendi) will receive $10,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and MaRS Discovery District (MaRS) to fund their project, Estimating sleep quality from natural phone use.

August 2017: Congratulations to Patrick Klaiber, who received a first place prize (EUR 150) for his poster (Making friends for your health: Friendship formation and health in university students—a longitudinal study) presented at the 13th Conference for Health Psychology, Division for Health Psychology of the German Psychological Society, in Siegen, Germany!

July 2017: Congratulations to Emma Ward-Griffin, who won one of only four Robert and Kazuko Barker Awards ($450) given across the Faculty of Arts! This scholarship was awarded to support Emma’s outstanding presentation at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference in San Antonio, Texas.

April 2017: Congratulations to Hugh McCall for winning a Best Poster award at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)! Hugh’s poster, Evaluating an Online CBT Treatment Program for Social Anxiety, was recognized as one of the top 3 of 45 posters at PURC!.

April 2017: Daria Juck and Hugh McCall represented the lab with posters about their research at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC). Lab members Hanne Collins, Iris Lok, Emma Ward-Griffin, and Brandon Woo also gave presentations.March 2017: The stress and smell team celebrated finishing data collection that started in 2014!January 2017: Chelsea Christie, Marlise Hofer, Ashley Whillans, Emma Ward-Griffin and Frances Chen presented research posters and talks at the 2017 Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP) Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

November 2016: Marlise Hofer was awarded one of two $500 travel awards to attend the Health Pre-conference at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology on the basis of an outstanding data blitz abstract on her project, The Scent of a Good Night's Sleep. Congratulations, Marlise!

October 2016: Dr. Christine Anderl was awarded a Feodor Lynen Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to support a two-year stay in our lab. She will join us in Spring 2017. Congratulations and welcome, Christine!

October 2016: Dr. Alec Beall will be joining the Social Health Lab, supported by a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship, in January 2017. Welcome, Alec!

October 2016: Dr. Frances Chen received the 2016 Robert E. Knox Master Teaching Award, which recognizes exceptional commitment to the education of students. Congratulations!

September 2016: The Social Health Lab's new study on overcoming social anxiety was featured on the UBC Department of Psychology's website.

June 2016: Hanne Collins and Marlise Hofer represented the lab at the 28th annual Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) conference.

April 2016: Congratulations to Emma Ward-Griffin, who was awarded a Psi Chi/Association for Psychological Science Summer Research Grant to support her project in the lab, The Effect of Mindsets on Negotiation Outcomes!

April 2016: Chelsea Christie was awarded a graduate student grant from the Psychology Foundation of Canada ($1000) to support her project Make Friends for your Health: Influence of Social Integration on Immune Functioning and Cardiovascular Disease Risk. Congratulations!

April 2016: Congratulations to Chelsea Christie, who was awarded a Graduate Student Research Award ($1000) by the UBC Faculty of Arts to fund her project Make Friends for your Health: Influence of Social Integration on Immune Functioning and Cardiovascular Disease Risk!

April 2016: Marlise Hofer won a 2016 Arts Graduate Research Award ($1000) from the Faculty of Arts for her project The Scent of Social Support: The Role of Olfactory Cues in Stress Coping. Congratulations!

April 2016: Congratulations to Ashley Whillans, who won a Graduate Student Research Award ($1500 USD) from the Society for Health Psychology, APA Division 38, for her project entitled From misperception to social connection: Fostering friendships and health among first year university students!

April 2016: Ashley Whillans has been awarded The Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Prize -- the most prestigious teaching award at UBC, recognizing outstanding contributions to undergraduate education from graduate students. Congratulations!

April 2016: Congratulations to Hanne Collins, who won a Best Poster award at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)! Hanne's poster, The Scent of Social Support, was recognized as one of the top 3 of 51 posters at PURC!

April 2016: Hanne Collins, Katie Coopersmith, Iris Lok, Ping Tomczyk, and Emma Ward-Griffin represented the lab with posters at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC).

March 2016: Hanne Collins represented the lab with a poster at the UBC Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC).

March 2016: Hanne Collins won an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to support her research in the lab on testosterone and dominance communication. Congratulations!

January 2016: Ashley Whillans represented the lab at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in San Diego, California, with a poster on The emotional consequences of social misperceptions.

November 2015: Ashley Whillans represented the lab at the annual meeting of the Society for Judgment and Decision Making in Chicago, Illinois, with a poster on The upside of flextime: open-ended time facilitates creative insight.

September 2015: Congratulations to Sarah Cheung, who won an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to support her research in the lab on psychophysiological responses to eye contact!

July 2015: The Social Health Lab was featured on the UBC Psychology website!

June 2015: Congratulations to Sarah Cheung, who received the 2015 Peter Crocker Award! This award ($1000) is given to the most outstanding undergraduate student at UBC in Health Psychology!

June 2015: Ashley Whillans was featured in the Healthy UBC Newsletter as a Thriving Graduate Student!

March 2015: Katie Coopersmith, Yimiao Gong, and Heather Herriot represented the lab with presentations and posters at the UBC Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC).

March 2015: Brian Baek, Hanne Collins, Yimiao Gong, Heather Herriot, and Monica Vuong represented the lab with presentations and posters at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC).

March 2015: Congratulations to Yimiao Gong, who was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Best Poster competition at the UBC Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference (PURC)! Yimiao's poster was entitled New cultures & connections: Friendship formation and social connection among UBC’s international students.

March 2015: Congratulations to Ashley Whillans, who won a Graduate Student Research Award from the UBC Faculty of Arts to fund her project: From genes to warm glow: Exploring individual genetic differences in the emotional rewards of prosocial behavior!

March 2015: Congratulations to Marlise Hofer, who won a Graduate Student Research Award from the UBC Faculty of Arts to fund her project, The scent of a good night’s sleep: Effect of olfactory cues on coping with stress!

March 2015: Congratulations to Sarah Cheung, who was awarded the 2015 Goldsmith-Whillans Award for Outstanding Student Leadership! This award ($250) is given by the UBC Chapter of Psi Chi once a year for best extracurricular leadership at UBC and/or beyond.

March 2015: Congratulations to Hanne Collins, who was selected for a 2015 Quinn Research Award! This award provides funding for a sixteen-week, full-time research assistantship over the summer.

February 2015: Ashley Whillans won a Psi Chi Graduate Assistantship Grant to support vagal tone analysis training. Congratulations!

December 2014: Katie Coopersmith received an Honorable Distinction for the Russ Patrick Arts Undergraduate Research Award for her paper, "Go ahead, change my mind: Receptiveness, stress, and health outcomes." Congratulations!

December 2014: Congratulations to Marlise Hofer, who received a Graduate Student Research Grant from the Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology for the project, The scent of success!

November 2014: Frances Chen was featured in a UBC Psychology Faculty Q&A: "Psychology, Food, and Friendship."

June 2014: Ashley Whillans presented a talk on Social Misperceptions and Friendship Formation in First-Year University Students at the Canadian Conference on Positive Psychology in Ottawa, ON.

May 2014: Congratulations to Ashley Whillans, who received an Alma Mater Society Impact Grant for the project, From misperception to connection: Fostering social connection among first year students!

March 2014: Ashley Whillans received a Graduate Student Research Grant from the Psi Chi International Honors Society in Psychology for the project, From genes to warm glow: How genetic factors influence the emotional benefits of giving. Congratulations!

March 2014: Shirley Bi presented a talk and a poster on The More, the Merrier: The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Well-being, and Friendship at the Multidisciplinary/Psychology Undergraduate Research Conference at UBC.

February 2014: Ashley Whillans has written a blog post for UBCfyi discussing "A simpler suggestion for a happier and more connected campus."