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CLEAR – Eisenlohr-Moul Lab

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CLEAR – Eisenlohr-Moul Lab
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Tory Eisenlohr-Moul PhD

  • Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
  • Associate Director of Translational Research in Women’s Mental Health
  • Department of Psychiatry
  • University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine
Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UIC, and holds an additional courtesy appointment in the Department of Psychology. She is a licensed clinical psychologist with specialized fellowship training in the pathophysiology, assessment, and treatment of hormone-related psychiatric disorders-- particularly premenstrual disorders.

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Tory Eisenlohr-Moul

Melissa L. Wagner-Schuman MD, PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
  • Co-Director, Women's Mental Health Clinical Services
Dr. Melissa Wagner-Schuman was born and raised in Wisconsin and completed most of her training in the Milwaukee area. She went to undergrad at the Milwaukee School of Engineering and graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. She continued her education at the Medical College of Wisconsin where she received her MD in 2012 and received a PhD in Neuroscience in 2010. During the last several years of medical school she became interested in psychiatry, particularly at risk youth, and developed interventions to help prevent or limit adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

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Melissa Wagner-Schuman

Hafsah Tauseef MS

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Hafsah Tauseef is a clinical psychology doctoral student with an interest in incorporating the menstrual cycle as a salient time-varying factor for psychopathology. Specifically, she is interested in building idiographic models that can be used for just-in-time-adaptive intervention models. Hafsah has a particular interest in suicide, risky behaviors (i.e., substance use), and internalizing disorders (i.e., depression and anxiety). Her independent line of research expands to three broad themes (1) the development of research methods and applied statistics for studying menses, suicide, and associated psychopathology, (2) The impact of reproductive transitions and ovarian hormones on depression and suicide, and (3) understanding the exacerbates and treatments unique to female psychopathology. Finally, Hafsah is excited to collaborate with individuals who are studying affective disorders during the peripubertal transition, pregnancy, and perimenopause. 

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Hafsah Tauseef

Rafia Ali BS

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Rafia is currently a third year medical student at the University of Illinois Chicago College of Medicine. She received her B.S. in biological sciences and a minor in sociology from University of Illinois Chicago. Rafia previously worked with the Women’s Mental Health Research Program at UIC and has a background in clinical research in women’s health and psychiatry. She is interested in mood and anxiety disorders and their relationship to women’s health.

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Rafia Ali

Viraja Alluri

  • Undergraduate Research Assistant
Viraja is a Sophomore at UIC pursuing a B.S. in Bioinformatics with a Minor in Finance. Viraja joined the CLEAR lab in the summer of 2019 to work with Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul and her staff on the CLEAR-2 and CLEAR-3 NIMH-funded studies. She is a pre-med student and member of the UIC GPPA Medicine Program.

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Viraja Alluri

Jordan Barone BA

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Jordan came to UIC in 2018 as an MD/PhD student in UIC’s Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). Currently, Jordan is a PhD candidate preparing her dissertation for the Graduate Program in Neuroscience. Prior to joining the CLEAR lab, Jordan graduated from Vanderbilt University with double majors in Neuroscience and Child Development, then completed a post-baccalaureate research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), studying sex differences in brain development across puberty. Under Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul's training, Jordan has studied how the menstrual cycle interacts with modulators of GABAergic systems, including alcohol use and neuroactive steroids. For her dissertation research, Jordan is interested in identifying if sensitivity of the GABA-A receptor serves as a peripheral biomarker of menstrual cycle-related psychiatric symptoms.After defending her PhD in Neuroscience, Jordan will return to medical school with the goal of becoming a primary care physician who focuses on the intersection of mental and reproductive healthcare.

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Jordan Barone

Gabriela Guzman MS, BA

  • Clinical Research Coordinator
Gabriela joined Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul’s CLEAR Lab (Claryifing Endocrinology of Acute Risk) in April 2021 as a Clinical Research Coordinator to assist on research investigating acute neurobiological risk of depression and suicidal behaviors. She received her B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Spanish from the University of Illinois Chicago in May 2017 and received an M.S. in Biotechnology at Rush University to further pursue a career in research. 

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Gabriela Guzman

Elizabeth Mulligan PhD

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  • University of Illinois Chicago
Dr. Elizabeth Mulligan is a postdoctoral research fellow within the UIC CLEAR Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul. She is a recipient of the Neuroscience of Mental Health T32 Fellowship from the National Institute of Mental Health in UIC’s Department of Psychiatry. Her research leverages multimodal approaches (EEG, biological, self-report, and behavioral data) to examine the neurobiological bases of mood and anxiety disorders in adolescents and adults. She is particularly interested in reproductive mental health and examining effects of female neuroactive steroids on neural pathways underlying affective disorders.

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Elizabeth Mulligan

Anisha Nagpal BA

  • MD/PhD Predoctoral Fellow (Medical Scientist Training Program)
  • Graduate Program in Neuroscience
Anisha joined the University of Illinois Chicago in 2020 as an MD/PhD student in the Medical Scientist Training Program. She is currently pursuing the PhD portion of her dual degree under the mentorship of Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul in the CLEAR Lab within UIC’s Graduate Program in Neuroscience. In 2024, Anisha was awarded the prestigious Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Fellowship to support her MD/PhD training. Anisha graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a major in Public Health Studies, concentrating in biostatistics. Her research interests are 1) Understanding how stressor exposures moderate affective reactivity to the menstrual cycle; 2) Developing novel methods for growth models across the menstrual cycle; 3) Evaluating the role of sleep in cyclical affective symptoms. Upon completing her dual MD/PhD training, Anisha hopes to integrate clinical trial research into her practice as a physician.

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Anisha Nagpal

Sarah Owens MS

  • Graduate Student Affiliate
Sarah is a current graduate student pursuing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Sarah first began working with Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul during her collaborations with Dr. Mitch Prinstein on projects examining puberty, social stress, and suicide in adolescents. Sarah earned her Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from UNC Chapel Hill in 2017. Since then, Sarah and Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul have collaborated on a review examining menstrual cycle fluctuations in transdiagnostic suicide risk factors and numerous projects examining within-person cycle fluctuations in internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Sarah recently received a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) from the NIMH to complete her dissertation study examining menstrual cycle fluctuations in suicidal ideation and related social risk factors in chronically suicidal adolescents, under the mentorship of Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul and Dr. Prinstein.

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Sarah Owens

Anna Patterson BS

  • PhD Student, CLEAR – Eisenlohr-Moul Lab
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC
Anna is in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), where she will earn her MD and PhD. Prior to coming to UIC, she received her Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology and Global Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. While at Wisconsin, she studied how epigenetic modifications in the hippocampus contribute to epilepsy development in the lab of Dr. Avtar Roopra. She also researched the neurohormonal basis of eating behaviors in the lab of Dr. Jeffrey Zigman as part of the Amgen Scholars program. Now as a PhD student in the lab of Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul, she is excited to examine how the menstrual cycle impacts a variety of mental health and behavioral outcomes. She is particularly eager to focus on substance use and addiction.

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Anna Patterson

Ashley Ross MS

  • MD/PhD Graduate Research Assistant, CLEAR – Eisenlohr-Moul Lab
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC

Ashley is a graduate student in UIC's Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP), where she will receive both her MD and PhD degrees. She graduated in 2018 with her B.S. from the University of Florida (UF) with a major in Microbiology and Cell Science and a minor in Nutritional Sciences. She then went on to complete her M.S.

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Ashley Ross

Jaclyn Ross PhD

  • Research Scientist/Supervising Psychologist
  • Department of Psychiatry, UIC
Dr. Ross is a clinical psychologist and scientist working at the intersection of the menstrual cycle and psychopathology. As a Research Scientist in the CLEAR Lab, she helps to manage the day-to-day protocols of the clinical trials in the field of premenstrual disorders, conducts clinical suicide risk monitoring and management, provides supervision of structured diagnostic interviews, and leads scientific projects in conceptualizing, analyzing, and writing scientific manuscripts. Dr. Ross’s research centers on 1) the role of the menstrual cycle (and ovarian hormone fluctuations) in interpersonal dysfunction and suicidality, and 2) the application of DBT skills in yielding symptom improvement in the premenstrual phase among hormone-sensitive patients.In addition to her work in clinical research, Dr. Ross is the founder of a Chicago-based private practice specializing in evidence-based treatments for premenstrual disorders, as well as mood, anxiety, and trauma disorders. She currently serves on the clinical advisory board for the International Association of Premenstrual Disorders (IAPMD).

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Jaclyn Ross

Katja Maria Schmalenberger PhD

  • Postdoctoral Fellow
  • Clarify the Endocrinology of Acute Risk (CLEAR) – Eisenlohr-Moul Lab
  • Department of Psychiatry
Katja is a postdoctoral fellow within the UIC CLEAR Lab under the mentorship of Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul. She is a recipient of the Walter Benjamin Research Fellowship from the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG). Her research centers on 1) the role of the menstrual cycle (and ovarian hormone fluctuations) in psychiatric symptoms and suicidality, 2) executive functioning and cardiac vagal activity as underlying mechanisms of cyclical symptoms, and 3) the reliable and valid assessment of PMS and PMDD.

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Katja Schmalenberger

Elizabeth Wenzel MA

  • PhD Student, Behavioral Neuroscience Program
  • Graduate Student Affiliate, CLEAR Lab and Women's Mental Health Research Program
Elizabeth began her doctoral studies in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program in the Department of Psychology in the fall of 2018. She is a member of Dr. Pauline Maki's laboratory within the Women's Mental Health Research Program at UIC and thus collaborates with the CLEAR Lab and Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul. She is interested in studying phenotypes of mood and anxiety disorders in women in the context of behavior and biomarkers such as neuroactive steroids, inflammatory markers, etc. Her interests particularly include periods of hormonal fluctuation (i.e. pregnancy). Elizabeth received her B.A. in Psychology and Neuroscience from Carthage College in 2018.

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Elizabeth Wenzel

In addition to her primary affiliation at the UIC Women’s Mental Health Research Program, Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul remains affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Center for Women’s Mood Disorders, where she maintains online resources for the Carolina Premenstrual Assessment Scoring System, a standardized computerized protocol for the diagnosis of DSM-5 PMDD that she created, coded, and validated with her colleagues at UNC in 2015.

Several key collaborators:

Susan Girdler PhD

  • Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Susan Girdler

Crystal Schiller PhD

  • Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Crystal Schiller

Mitchell Prinstein PhD

  • John Van Seters Distinguished Professor
  • Director of Clinical Psychology
  • University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Mitchell Prinstein

Jessica R. Peters PhD

  • Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
  • Brown University
Jessica Peters

Jennifer Gordon PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • University of Regina
  • Regina, Saskatchewan, CA
Jennifer Gordon