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Dr. Nathaniel Herr Lab Director

Nathaniel Herr is an Associate Professor of Psychology who joined the Psychology Department at American University in 2012. Dr. Herr received his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received postdoctoral training and a faculty appointment at Duke University Medical Center. His research focuses on the etiology and effects of interpersonal dysfunction, emotion regulation difficulties, and identity disturbance particularly among adults or emerging adults with borderline personality disorder (BPD).

Alexandra Long

Alexandra D. Long joined the PhD program in 2018 after first joining the Interpersonal Emotion Lab in 2016 for the MA in Psychology program at American University. She earned her BA in Cinema & Media Studies from the University of Chicago in 2011. Her MA thesis examined how narcissistic traits moderate the effects of empathy priming on rape myth acceptance among heterosexual college males. Alex is primarily interested in how individual differences in personality and difficulties with emotion regulation impact romantic relationships and couple functioning. Additional research interests include: health equity among LGBTQ+ individuals, personality pathology, dialectical behavior therapy, and evidence-based couple/family therapies.

Alex completed an externship at Georgetown University's Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS). At the Washington DC VA Medical Center (DC VAMC), Alex has completed two clinical rotations in the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center (PRRC), research and assessment rotations in the Trauma Services Program (TSP), and a clinical rotation in the Polytrauma Clinic at the DC VAMC. Her clinical interests include DBT and third wave CBT practices, couples and romantic relationships, queer and gender-affirming care, and group therapies.

Alex’s dissertation examined the impacts of minority stress and coping on the psychological and romantic relationship functioning of partnered plurisexual (bi+) women. She completed her clinical residency at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, IL and graduated from American University in 2024. Alex is pursuing a career as a clinical psychologist in the Washington, DC, metro area.

Ramya Ramadurai

Ramya Ramadurai, MA, is a 5th year doctoral candidate in the Interpersonal Emotion Lab interested in the intersection between racial or identity related trauma and affective and interpersonal difficulties. She is passionate about using findings from this work to adapt behavior therapy interventions, in particular Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, to be more culturally responsive. She further is interested in leveraging digital mental health interventions and single-session methodology to improve the accessibility and scalability of treatment for marginalized communities.

Ramya graduated Boston University in 2016 and worked at McLean Hospital for her post bac as a research assistant in the Cognition and Affect Research and Education (CARE) Lab.

Her research has used novel methods to study the relations between affective challenges and both identity and interpersonal relationships. She has further led projects both in IElab and at the DC VAMC studying how apps may be useful augmentations to group therapy as well as exploring processes within virtual group therapy.

Since 2023, Ramya has been a research fellow at UMass Boston in the Center of Evidence Based Mentoring, under the supervision of Dr. Jean Rhodes and Dr. Alexandra Werntz, studying engagement and implementation of a technology-enabled peer-mentoring intervention. In this work she has served as a consultant to community sites, helping to address issues related to effectiveness, low engagement, and attrition. She has further supported efforts to develop cultural humility trainings, to support antiracist mentor training processes.

Currently Ramya is a research extern at Johns Hopkins University Medical Center supporting research that leverages digital technology to improve the scalability of cognitive assessments for those recovering from stroke. Previously, Ramya has been an extern at Childrens National Hospital and the DC VAMC, and has received intensive DBT full-model training as well as training in addressing comorbid physiological problems like Functional Neurologic Disorder, Pain, and Insomnia.

Email: rr4748a@american.edu

Kelly Klein

Kelly Klein, MA, joined the lab as a PhD student in 2021 after earning her BS in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University in 2019. At Penn State, she contributed to research and clinical assessment in the Laboratory for Personality Psychopathology and Psychotherapy Research. Following that, she worked as a counselor and clinical research assistant at McLean Hospital's residential DBT program for adolescents, where she provided skills coaching and led DBT groups. She also contributed to the research of the coinciding research group investigating treatment outcomes, family dynamics, and suicidal thoughts & behaviors among adolescents with BPD features.

Kelly's current research explores transdiagnostic mechanisms in BPD—such as identity disturbance, emotion dysregulation, irritability, and NSSI—and their impact on emotional and interpersonal functioning in young-adults. She is also interested in investigating daily life outcomes, the maintenance of close relationships, and physiological correlates with ambulatory methodology. For the past two years, Kelly has worked as an intramural research fellow within the Emotion and Development branch at NIMH where she's broadened her program of research to explore these mechanisms across mood and anxiety disorders as well. She has gained extensive experience in longitudinal methods and analytic approaches, managing the collection of EMA data in a longitudinal study on adolescents with depression and anxiety. Kelly plans to continue this research in the coming year. Currently, Kelly is a clinical extern at the Wake Kendall Group and received foundational DBT training through behavioral tech, and she previously completed a clinical rotation at the Polytrauma Clinic at the DC VAMC

Email: kk3081a@american.edu

Ella Sudit

Ella Sudit, MA, joined the lab as a PhD student in 2022. She received her BA in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Washington University in St. Louis in 2019. At WashU, Ella worked in the Emotion Regulation and Relationships lab where she completed her honors thesis and the Early Emotional Development Program (EEDP) at WashU Med School. After graduating, she continued working full time at the EEDP studying emotional development and psychological disorders in childhood and adolescents. Ella also volunteered at the Emotion and Mental Health Lab at WashU, collaborating on research and a subsequent paper about emotion differentiation and MDD using EMA technology. She also volunteered at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute learning more about emotion processing in the context of cognition and neuroscience specifically related to non-suicidal self-injury.

Ella’s current research focuses on how emotion processing ability-particularly Emotion Differentiation and Emotional Granularity-impacts mental health trans-diagnostically across the lifespan. In her work, Ella emphasizes using authentic methods of measurement-such as ecological momentary assessment and daily diary-and considering how individual’s identities, relationships, and environments impact their mental health. Currently, Ella is a Pediatric Psychology Extern at Children’s National Hospital in the Oncology, Hematology, and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit.

Email: es0511a@american.edu

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Paloma Zabala, BA, joined the lab as a PhD student in 2023. She graduated with her BA in Psychology from The University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill in 2021. While at UNC, Paloma worked in the Peer Relations Lab assisting with behavioral coding of qualitative social media data and connecting with Spanish-speaking participants and their families. After graduation, Paloma received the Post-Baccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) Fellowship and spent two years working in the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. She primarily worked on the Neurobiology of Suicide research protocol, collecting data, administering neuropsychological assessments, running magnetoencephalography (MEG) and fMRI scans, with participants on a continuum of suicide risk. Paloma is currently examining interpersonal factors such as social rejection in relation to culture and mental health. She is interested in borderline personality disorder symptomatology such as interpersonal relationships and factors and suicidality through a multicultural lens.

Email: pz5978a@american.edu

Elsa Baumgartner

Elsa Baumgartner, BS, joined the lab as a PhD student in 2024. She graduated with her BS in Psychological Science from the University of Mary Washington in 2022. During her undergraduate studies, Elsa used neuroimaging (e.g., EEG) to investigate health outcomes and emotional reactivity in the context of interpersonal relationships. After graduation, she worked as a research coordinator at the Syracuse VA Medical Center. There, she gained invaluable experience working with high-risk populations (i.e., veterans) experiencing suicidality, mood disorders, and interpersonal relationship issues. Elsa is currently interested in the etiology of borderline personality disorder, emotional dysregulation, and the development of more effective and equitable clinical interventions for individuals with BPD and emotion regulation difficulties.

Email: eb0669a@american.edu