Graduate Training Opportunities

Women's Mental Health Research Program

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Women’s Mental Health Research Program
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WMHRP Graduate Training Opportunities

Dr. Pauline Maki accepts Doctoral students through the Behavioral Neuroscience Program in the Department of Psychology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the multi-disciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience. For more information on applying to the Graduate Studies program in the Department of Psychology click here. Information on applying to the Graduate Program in Neuroscience is available here.

Katja Schmalenberger MS

  • Graduate Student Affiliate
  • Ph.D. Candidate in Medical Psychology
  • Heidelberg University, Germany
After completing her master's program in clinical and cognitive psychology at Heidelberg University, Germany, in 2015, Katja Schmalenberger spent four months interning in Dr. Tory Eisenlohr-Moul's laboratory in the Center for Women's Mood Disorders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since that time, she has mentored my work and PhD project at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Heidelberg University and we have been collaborating closely on various projects. In joint research, they are focusing on improving the reliability and validity of the new DSM-5 diagnosis premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and on investigating the prevalence, underlying mechanisms and consequences of cyclical changes in cognitive functioning. Their work together has led to several high-impact publications, numerous other works in progress, joint conference contributions, and another three-month research visit to the laboratory in the Center for Women's Mood Disorders in North Carolina.

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Katja Schmalenberger

Rachel Schroeder BS

  • PhD Student
  • Behavioral Neuroscience Program
Rachel begins her doctoral studies in the Behavioral Neuroscience Program in the Department of Psychology in the fall of 2018. In 2016, Rachel received her B.S. from Iowa State University in Psychology with minors in Biology and Women’s Studies. After graduating, she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Neurology at Georgetown University and science intern for the Society for Women’s Health Research where she studied the use of MR techniques and role of sex differences in the brain. Rachel is interested in understanding the neurological, cognitive, and genetic changes occurring throughout the menopausal transition. In pursuit of this research she was awarded the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

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Rachel Schroeder

Hafsah Tauseef MS

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Hafsah will joined the CLEAR Lab in the fall of 2020, and she will begin graduate work in the Clinical Psychology PhD program at UIC with Dr. Eisenlohr-Moul serving as her primary scientific mentor. Hafsah graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a M.S in clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling in 2018. Hafsah then gained extensive training under Drs. Susan Girdler and Crystal Schiller in the psychopathology and pathophysiology of reproductive mood disorders at the UNCCH Center for Women’s Mood Disorders. She worked on two projects that examine the relationship among estradiol variability, stress, and affect in perimenopausal women and peripubertal girls. Additionally, she explored the efficacy of mindfulness-based stress reduction intervention and social support for women with high stress. 

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Hafsah Tauseef

Jacob van Doorn MS

  • Graduate Research Assistant
Jay went to the University of Kentucky for his B.S. in Biology in 2016, and received his M.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2019, studying the use of EEG to analyze temporal dynamics of meditators. He now studies the brain on a macro-scale, in particular how the brain ages utilizing the tools at the cutting edge of neuroimaging. He has three major research interests: 1) development of new analytical tools for studying the brain on a macro-scale, especially the dynamics of brain function through time, 2) how hormonal cycles and changes to hormones affect the brain's network dynamics through a lifetime, and 3) sex-specific risk factors for dementias, such as Alzheimer's disease, as determined by brain network degradation.

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Elizabeth Wenzel BA

  • 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

Lauren Drogos PhD

Lauren finished her doctorate in Psychology in 2014. She began working as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Women’s Mental Health Research Program in 2005 and completed her Master’s Thesis in 2009 on “Endogenous Oxytocin across the Menstrual Cycle and with Oral Contraceptive Use: Effects on Verbal Memory and Mood (Advisor: Dr. Pauline Maki)” Lauren continued her training at UIC with the WMHRP and did her dissertation on “Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Menopausal Symptoms (Advisor: Dr. Pauline Maki).”

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Lauren Drogos

Jessica Fogel PhD

Jessica finished her doctorate in Behavioral Neuroscience in the spring of 2019. Jessica received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 2008. She joined the lab in Fall of 2015 to continue her research on substance abuse, with a particular focus on sex differences. Her Masters research at the University of Kentucky focused on the effects of repeated cue exposure on drug craving. Working with our collaborators at Rush, Jessica led the implementation of a study looking at the effects of menstrual cycle fluctuations on HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Impairment in cocaine users. The purpose of this study was to better understand the contribution of estradiol and progesterone on cognition. She was also involved in Dr. Pauline Maki’s research examining the relationship between vasomotor symptoms (VMS, or hot flashes) and verbal memory in midlife women with breast cancer and completed her dissertation on this subject: “Vasomotor Symptoms and Cognition Among Women Receiving Estrogen Therapy for Breast Cancer.” Jessica is now working with The Center for Addiction Studies and Research in Stamford, Connecticut.

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Jessica Fogel

Vanessa Meyer PhD

Vanessa joined the lab in 2008 and received a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award training grant to study the effects of drug use on prefrontal cortex function in HIV+ women. Vanessa finished her doctorate in Neuroscience in 2013 and successfully defended her dissertation: “Effects of Cocaine Use on Verbal Memory and Prefrontal Cortex Function in Women Infected with HIV (Advisor: Dr. Pauline Maki).” Vanessa did postdoctoral research in New Orleans at the University of New Orleans and Tulane University focused on understanding development of autonomic and neuroendocrine stress response systems and how these systems related to subjective stress response in adulthood. Dr. Meyer’s publications.

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Vanessa Meyer

Erin Sundermann PhD

  • Research Assistant
Erin came to UIC in 2006 after completing her Master’s in Biopsychology at San Diego State University. She received a Mount Sinai Summer Institute for NeuroAIDS Disparities (MSINAD) Scholar Grant, as well as a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Awardtraining grant in 2008 to study genetic predictors of prefrontal function in HIV+ women.

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Erin Sundermann

Leah Rubin PhD, MPH

  • Assistant Professor of Neurology
  • Johns Hopkins University
Dr. Leah Rubin and Dr. Pauline Maki have collaborated on research related to mental and cognitive health of women across the lifespan since Dr. Rubin began her training at UIC in 2003. Now at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Rubin continues to work with the Women’s Mental Health Research Program in moving forward her program of research to elucidate the neuroendocrine mechanisms contributing to mental and cognitive health in women. She focuses on the effect of sex steroid hormones, glucocorticoids, vasopressin, and oxytocin on cognition and mental health in healthy women, women living with HIV, and female psychiatric patients. A central long-term goal is to improve the cognitive health of HIV-infected women and women with psychiatric illnesses through an interdisciplinary research career that incorporates epidemiological, mechanistic, and intervention science.

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Leah Rubin