Meet the Lab

Dr. Sarah Sass

Dr. Sass conducts research on the treatment and prevention of high levels of anxiety and depression, and approaches this work using various methods, including psychophysiological ones. The work aligns with culturally-informed treatment approaches and delivery methods that reduce barriers to care, particularly in rural populations. She collaborates with faculty and students in psychology, counseling, education and engineering. Her teaching areas include courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, such as abnormal psychology, applied therapy skills, cultural diversity, and cognitive behavioral treatment approaches.
ssass@uttyler.edu
903.566.7239
Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Sass

Kyle O'Brien

Kyle O'Brien is a 5th year Ph.D. Clinical Psychology student under Dr. Sarah Sass in the UT Tyler HEAL. He graduated from Texas A&M University - Central Texas with a B.S. In Psychology and went on to complete his basic biomedical sciences while contributing to research at UTMB on domestic violence in rural populations. Kyle has strong research interests in the areas of anxiety, depression, suicidality, well-being, psychophysiology, and psychopharmacology. At UT Tyler he has contributed to research projects using EEG event related potential techniques to develop attention bias tasks and explore attention bias in anxiety as well as attention bias modification in depression. Kyle has assisted in ongoing research for work-life balance and well-being as well as spirituality in adverse childhood experiences. His collaborative multidisciplinary research includes working alongside Dr. Indic in the Engineering department on using machine learning techniques to develop an algorithm using wearable watch sensors in the detection of suicide ideation, as well as collecting in-vivo data from a Ketamine infusion clinic. Currently Kyle is working collaborative with Dr. McCullumsmith & Dr. Schmitt at UTHSC and RAE Health on multidisciplinary research developing BRAIN health, a benzodiazepine taper clinic using wearable sensors and proprietary algorithms in stress, craving, sleep, and suicide ideation detection alongside neuropsychological assessments and self-report battery in the treatment of long-term benzodiazepine use with CBT and ACT group therapy techniques. 
kobrien@uttyler.edu

Jinu Mathew

Jinu completed his B.S. in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M University and is currently a fourth year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology program at UT Tyler. His research interests include anxiety and depression in rural populations. He is also currently researching how emotion-attention tasks impact populations with varying levels of anxiety through the use of EEG.
jmathew@uttyler.edu

Priscillia Ihionkhan
Priscillia is a third-year doctoral student whose research interests lie at the intersection of eating disorders, food insecurity, body image, and their comorbidities within minoritized populations. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Master’s degree in Psychology from Stephen F. Austin State University, where her thesis explored double consciousness and unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors in young Black and White adults.
pihionkhan@uttyler.edu

Isabella Ferrara

Isabella is a first-year doctoral student. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Texas Christian University. Her research interests include eating disorders, emotional regulation, anxiety, and family dynamics.
iferrara@uttyler.edu

MASTERS STUDENTS
Ashley Arreola Langarica
Daniel Bankard
Benjamin DiGiovanna
Karlie James
Sarah Tran
Bailey Robertson

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