Karen Weiss
Karen is currently a 6th year graduate student in the Human Services Psychology program with a combined track focus on Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine with a concentration in Child Psychology. She was born and raised in Barnum, Minnesota. Karen received her B.S. degree in Psychology, with a minor in Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Superior. Her research interests in the field of pediatric psychology include how children with chronic illnesses and their families manage pain and adjustment of children and families to extended hospital stays. Her Master’s thesis focused on the effects of parent anxiety on overt child distress behaviors during painful medical procedures. Her dissertation investigated the differential effects of passive versus interactive distraction in preschool-aged children. Karen will be attending the internship at the Children's Hospital in Orange County, CA. In her free time she likes to watch movies, exercise, play board games, and travel.
Lindsay began attending UMBC Fall 2003. She is currently on internship at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH. Lindsay attended undergraduate training at the University of Delaware, where she received a BA in Psychology with a Biology minor. She is interested in the relationship between pain and emotion and pain management for children with chronic illnesses.
Claire is a 5th year graduate student in the clinical psychology/behavioral medicine track of the Human Services Psychology program at UMBC. She completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Delaware in 2003. Her research interests include the treatment of chronic pain in children and the impact of childhood chronic illness on parenting, families, and children’s social adjustment. She is currently involved in a research project that examines the use of virtual reality as a distraction technique for children undergoing painful medical procedures, and also a project that examines the impact of childhood food allergy on family functioning. Her master’s thesis investigated the relationship between parenting style and children’s response to a cognitive-behavioral therapy intervention for children undergoing painful medical procedures. Claire will be attending internship at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH in the fall of 2008.
Originally from California, Emily graduated from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA in 2004 with a B.A. in Psychology. Currently, she is in her 4th year of UMBC's Clinical Psychology /Behavioral Medicine graduate program. Her main research interest is the social functioning of adolescents with chronic illness. In her free time Emily enjoys baking, crafting, and dreaming of the west coast.
Susie Berrin is currently a 3rd year clinical psychology graduate student in the Human Services Psychology Program at UMBC, with a concentration in Child Clinical. She received her B.A. in Psychology at the University of San Diego, and her M.A. in Physical and Mental Health Research at San Diego State University. Her master’s thesis focused on pain, fatigue, and school functioning outcomes in pediatric cerebral palsy. Research interest areas in pediatric psychology include issues of quality of life in pediatric chronic illness populations, more specifically pain assessment and management in the hospital setting, and the effects of poorly managed pain on larger issues of health-related quality of life.
Linda is a 3rd year clinical psychology graduate student in the Human Services Program. She received a BA in Psychology from UMBC in 2005. During that time she worked in the Pediatric Psychology Lab and completed an honors thesis investigating the effect of public versus private treatment setting on the distress of children undergoing cancer treatment. Linda is currently working on the food allergy study in the lab and is beginning to work on her masters (also food allergy related). Outside of the lab Linda likes to read about politics, play the clarinet, and play tennis.
Soumitri is a 3rd year Clinical Psychology graduate student. She received her B.A. in Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta, GA in 2004. Soumitri’s research interests include the impact of childhood chronic illness on parenting, quality of life, and family functioning. In her spare time, Soumitri enjoys watching movies, playing board games, baking, and hiking.
Karen is currently a 2nd year graduate student in the Human Services Psychology program at UMBC with a combined track focus in Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine, and a concentration in Child Clinical. She received her B.A. and M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Loyola College in Maryland. Prior to enrolling in UMBC's program, she was the Director of Study Management at the Division of Services Research at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her work focused on severe mental illness and chronic medical illness as well as family coping with severe mental illness. Her current research interests in pediatric psychology include how children and families cope with chronic illnesses and manage pain. She is also interested in how chronic illnesses affect a child's autonomy and social development. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, training for trathlons, cooking, and reading.