Lab Members.

Lab Director

Silvia Sörensen, Ph.D.
Lab Director
Associate Professor
Counseling & Human Development
Warner School of Education and Human Development
University of Rochester
Email: [email protected]
Education:
Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University (Human Development and Family Studies) 
M.S., Technical University of Berlin (Psychology) 
B.A., Antioch College (Psychology)
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Silvia Sörensen is a researcher and teacher in human development with particular interests in facilitating well-being among vulnerable older adults and their families. Collaborating with colleagues in ophthalmology, psychiatry, primary care, immunology, and with community-based health activists, she has developed and/or evaluated interventions to (1) promote positive health behaviors, (2) prevent mental and physical health problems, (3) increase access to mental health services for underserved groups, (4) assist older adults with preparation for future care, and (5) support well-being among older adults.

​Sörensen is a co-founder of the Aging Well Initiative community collaboration with faith-based organizations, and she has a particular interest in empowerment of underserved groups in order to reduce health disparities. She is also the director of the Laboratory for Aging, Population Health, Disparities, and Intervention Research (LAPHDIR) in which new research and community health projects are hatched with the help of a Community Health-project Advisory Board (CHAB). Her specific areas of research include successful aging through preparation for future care, family caregiver stress and coping, interventions with caregivers, interventions with vision-impaired older adults, future thinking among older adults, as well as health literacy and patient education for diabetes prevention.
 
Her areas of mentoring expertise include community engagement, research methods and statistics, and grant-writing; content expertise is in application of life-span developmental perspectives, adult development and aging, mental health in the context of chronic illness, health and aging, health disparities, and health promotion.

Faculty Members

Kathryn Douthit, Ph.D.
Professor and Former Chair of the Counseling & Human Development Program
Counseling & Human Development
​Warner School of Education and Human Development

Joyce Duckles, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (Clinical)
Counseling & Human Development
Warner School of Education and Human Development

Rajeev Ramchandran, M.D.
Associate Professor
​Department of Ophthalmology 
University of Rochester Medical Center
Oliver Boxell, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor in Counseling and Human Development
Research Interests: Psychopathology; psychotherapy Interventions; psychometric assessment
Website: oliverboxell.com
Email: [email protected]

Current Graduate Students

Ya-Han (Kyla) Chang
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Family dynamics; family engagement; identity; positive psychology; well-being and life satisfaction
Email: [email protected]
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Alexander Eustice-Corwin, M.A.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interest: Moral dimensions of human development
Email: [email protected]
Linda Francis, M.S.
Ph.D. Candidate in Human Development 
Research Interests: 
Email: [email protected]
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Kate Kondolf, M.A.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Social gerontology; positive psychology; cultural anthropology; inter-generational engagement; discrimination; inclusion
Email: [email protected]
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Rachel Missell, M.A.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Healthy aging; health disparities; social determinants of health
Email: [email protected]
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Dorine Otieno, MPH, M.S.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Healthy aging; life course; health disparities; social epidemiology  
Email: [email protected] ​​
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Brandon Qualls, MPA
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Evidence-based practice; healthcare; nursing; health disparities; social return on investment; inclusion
Email: [email protected]
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Carmona Ross, M.A., MPA
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Well-being of marginalized communities; Black and Latina women's health; life satisfaction at mid-life; 
societal conditions affecting health
Email: [email protected]
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Zoe Shelton, B.S.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Gerontology; adulthood and aging; agency
Email: [email protected]
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Kyle Sullivan, M.A.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Emerging adult identity and career development; interdisciplinary higher education programs; ethical and moral development
Email: [email protected]
Sarah Verna, MPH
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Policy, ethics, and decision-making in healthcare; maternal and child health 
Email: [email protected]
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​Alexis Zimmer, M.A.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
Research Interests: Mental health disparities in marginalized groups; resilience; coping
Email: [email protected]
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Xupin Zhang, M.S.
Ph.D. Student in Human Development
​Research Interests: Consumer behaviors; business statistics; psychometrics
Email: [email protected]​

Community Members

​Larry Medici

Lab Alumni

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Jamil M. Lane, MPH, Ph.D. ('21W, Human Development)
Former William F. and Margaret W. Scandling Scholar
Current Position: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Research Interests: Nutrition; cognition; adolescent development; motivation; perception
Website: jamilmlane.weebly.com/