Current Lab Members

​Emily Wu
(Fall 2020- Present) Emily is our lab manager and a Master of Science student in the Clinical Psychology program with an emphasis in psychological research at San Francisco State University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with a minor in Health: Science, Society, and Policy from Brandeis University. She is the lab manager and a research coordinator in the STAR lab. Her research interests consist of effective clinical interventions to address disparities in mental health in racial and ethnic minorities, specifically Asian Americans, and the effects of race-based trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic. ​

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Alejandro Guerrero 
​(Fall 2020- Present) Alejandro is a Master of Science student in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis on psychological research at San Francisco State University. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at San Francisco State University as well. He is currently a volunteer research assistant in the STAR Lab and his research interests include studying resilience in racial/ethnic minority populations, particularly on how to apply said research into clinical practice; as well as studying how the intersection of culture and other resilience factors come together to support better mental health outcomes.​

Alan Castillo
​(Fall 2021- Present) Alan is a Master of Science Student in Clinical Psychology at San Francisco State University. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with a minor in professional writing at UC Davis.  He is currently involved with the STAR Lab and his research interests include resilience in Latinx/immigrant communities particularly how resilience factors play a role in buffering and managing anxiety disorders among first- and second-generation immigrant family members. He is also interested in resilience factors and coping among adolescent populations.

Brianna Hernandez
(Fall 2021- Present) Brianna is a graduate student in the Developmental Psychology program at SFSU. She graduated with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Counseling and Social Change from San Diego State University, where she also gained experience as a research assistant and project coordinator in the Translational Emotion Neuroscience and Development Lab. She is interested in researching stress, trauma, and resilience among immigrants and mixed status populations, in the hopes that much more can be understood about their unique experiences

Frances Lauten
(Fall 2020- Present) Frances is a Master of Art in Developmental student of Psychology at San Francisco State University. She graduated with a BA in psychology and history from The University of the South: Sewanee in 2018. She is a research assistant in the STAR and REH labs and is focused on eating disorders and resilience in adolescents and young adults.

Kaela Farrisa
(Fall 2019- Present) Kaela is a post-graduate volunteer researcher in the STAR lab and a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT). She graduated with a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with specializations in Psychological Trauma Studies and Applied Community Psychology from Antioch University and a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University. She is interested in the effects of early trauma (with an ACES focus) on physiological and behavioral development in infancy through early adulthood, and effective interventions for youth exposed to trauma.

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Nancy Lagunas
​(Fall 2021- Present) Nancy is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Master’s Program with an emphasis in psychological research at SFSU. She graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Child Development. She is currently a research assistant in the STAR lab. Her research interest focuses on improving mental health outcomes for marginalized populations. She is particularly interested in what drives mental health service use and the removal of barriers within undocumented and mixed status families in the Latinx community.

Paula Fortune
(Fall 2020- Present) Paula is a graduate student in the SFSU Developmental Psychology program. She graduated from UC San Diego with her BS in Psychology/Human Health where she was a research assistant in the Mindfulness Lab and Learning, Memory, and Attention Lab. She is a current STAR Labs member with research interests in childhood trauma, emotion regulation, and resilience.

Sabrina Legaspi
(Fall 2020- Present) Sabrina is a master’s student in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior program at SFSU. During her undergraduate career, she graduated from the University of Portland with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Neuroscience and worked in a social neuroscience lab studying the oxytocin and cortisol systems. Her research interests focus on how racial trauma and experiences of social injustice may become biologically embedded and their implications for health outcomes or policy.

Sophie Simmons
(Fall 2021- Present) Sophie is an undergraduate student, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from San Francisco State in the Spring of 2022. She is currently a volunteer research assistant in the STAR Lab and her research interests include social and emotional development, stress, trauma, coping, and resiliency among low urban ethnic-minority communities.

Willow Weibel
​(Fall 2021- Present) Willow is an undergraduate student. She will be receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from San Francisco State in Spring of 2022. She is currently a research assistant in the STAR Lab as a partnership with SF Build. Her research interests include foster youth success and the importance of therapeutic intervention.