Pediatric Psychology Behavioral Health Lab
Oklahoma State University
Current Lab Members
John Chaney,Ph.D
John M. Chaney, PhD is a Regents Professor in the Clinical Psychology training program at Oklahoma State University (OSU) and Clinical Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC). With 130 publications, Chaney’s 30 year research career has focused on parent and youth adjustment to pediatric chronic medical conditions, primarily testing models of parent and youth cognitive appraisals associated with emotional adjustment outcomes in pediatric autoinflammatory illnesses (i.e., juvenile arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease). In addition to these empirical endeavors, Chaney is the primary investigator and director of the American Indians Into Psychology program at OSU - one of only three federally funded programs in the country to promote Native American students pursuing advanced degrees in psychology. Chaney is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and a past president of the Society of Indian Psychologists. He has also served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Pediatric Psychology, Children’s Health Care, Rehabilitation Psychology, Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, and the Journal of American Indian Education. Chaney is a member of the OSU Diversity Hall of Fame and has been recognized by the APA with awards for Research Excellence (2005), Outstanding Mentorship (2013), and Distinguished Contributions to Diversity (2017).
Clay Edwards,MS
Clayton (Clay) Edwards is a fifth-year graduate student in the Oklahoma State University clinical psychology Ph.D. program under the mentorship of John M. Chaney, Ph.D. Clay received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Oklahoma State University. Clay’s research focuses on examining both parent and youth illness appraisals and their relationship to psychosocial adjustment in pediatric chronic illness populations. Clay aims to find ways to help children and their families by identifying risk and resilience factors, improving interpersonal dynamics, and health adjustment through a developmental and systems framework.
cOLTON
pARKER
Colton Parker is a third-year graduate student in the Oklahoma State University clinical psychology Ph.D. program under the mentorship of John M. Chaney, Ph.D. Colton received his Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Oklahoma State University. Colton’s research focuses on psychosocial adjustment in youth diagnosed with IBD.
Gabe
cochran
Gabe Cochran is a first-year graduate student in the Oklahoma State University clinical psychology Ph.D. program under the mentorship of John M. Chaney, Ph.D and a member of the Osage Nation. Gabe is also working under the mentorship of Evan White, Ph.D. at the Laureate Institute for Brain Research. Gabe completed her Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Oklahoma State University. Gabe's research focuses on psychosocial adjustment and barriers to care in youth diagnosed with chronic illness and their families, especially in American Indian families and other minority groups. Gabe aims to identify strengths and cultural protective factors contributing to health in marginalized communities.
The Chaney lab works closely withthe Mullins lab. Check out the members here!
Lab Alumni
Caroline Roberts,PH.D
Caroline M. Roberts, M.S. is a fifth year graduate student in the Oklahoma State University (OSU) clinical psychology Ph.D. program under the mentorship of John M. Chaney, Ph.D. and is completing her pre-doctoral internship at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center in the O’Grady Residency in Psychology training program. Caroline is originally from Fort Worth, Texas and received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at University of Houston - Clear Lake. Caroline’s research focuses on investigating both youth and parent illness appraisals and their relationship to psychosocial adjustment in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Specifically, her dissertation was funded by a Student Research Grant from the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation and examined the influence of body dissatisfaction and illness stigma on depressive symptoms in youth with IBD.
In addition to Caroline’s research accomplishments, Caroline is a member of the Society of Pediatric Psychology (SPP) Student Advisory Board on the Membership Committee and is the student representative for the SPP Pediatric Gastroenterology Special Interest Group. Caroline is also the SPP Network Campus Representative (NCR) Co-Chair and co-leads and coordinates the NCR representatives on campuses nationally to spread awareness and involvement of trainees in pediatric psychology. Caroline also mentors undergraduate psychology majors through the American Indians Into Psychology (AIIP) Summer Enrichment Program and the OSU Psychology Diversified Student Program. In the future, Caroline aims to work at an academic medical center, continuing her research and clinical work to improve adjustment and adherence of children and families with chronic and acute medical conditions.
Marissa Baudino,PH.D
Marissa Baudino, M.Ed. is a fourth-year graduate student in the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at OSU under the mentorship of John Chaney, Ph.D. and is a member of the Pediatric Health Psychology Research Lab under the mentorship of Larry Mullins, Ph.D. Marissa grew up in Arlington, Texas and received her B.A. from Boston College and her M.Ed. from Vanderbilt University. While at Vanderbilt, Marissa was a research assistant for the Pediatric Palliative Care Research Lab under the direction of Mary Jo Gilmer, Ph.D. and examined the biopsychosocial effects that cancer can have on pediatric patients and their families. Marissa’s research interests include child and family psychosocial adjustment to chronic illness as well as factors that promote resilience and reduce anxiety in pediatric patients living with chronic illnesses.
Kate Gamwell,PH.D
Kaitlyn (Kate) Gamwell, Ph.D. is a recent graduate from the clinical psychology Ph.D. program at Oklahoma State University (OSU). She recently graduated from OSU with a dual concentration in Pediatric and Clinical Child Psychology. Kate is currently a T32 postdoctoral research fellow through a Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC). At CCHMC, under the primary mentorship of Dr. Kevin Hommel, Kate’s research endeavors will continue to include cognitive and social appraisals that impact psychosocial adjustment and outcomes in youth with chronic health conditions as well as their parents, with an emphasis on pain and treatment adherence. She is particularly interested in the parent-child dyadic relationship and identifying risk and resilience factors in underserved pediatric populations. Currently, Kate is assessing the interrelationships of pain-related variables, adherence, and cognitive, social, and parent appraisal variables in autoimmune/inflammatory and musculoskeletal populations. After fellowship, she hopes to continue in this line of research implementing protocols to reduce variables such as anxiety, stigma, and pain while improving quality of life for chronically ill pediatric populations and their families.
During her time at OSU, Kate received mentorship primarily from Dr. John Chaney and secondarily from Dr. Larry Mullins. At OSU, her research focused on the aforementioned variables with an emphasis in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRD). Her dissertation was the first study to empirically investigate the relationship between stigma, thwarted social belongingness, and depressive symptoms in youth with IBD. Prior to OSU, Kate received her B.S. at Georgia State University where she served as a research assistant and study coordinator for Dr. Lindsey Cohen’s Child Health and Medical Pain lab (CHAMP). As an undergraduate and post-bachaccalaureate research assistant Kate split her time between the CHAMP lab researching novel interventions pertaining to reduction and management of pediatric acute/chronic pain and co-morbid internalizing symptoms. She also worked on the Grady Trauma Project researching psychophysiological responses and the intergenerational risk of PTSD and anxiety in mother-child dyads previously exposed to trauma.
Rachelle Ramsey, Ph.D
Dr. Ramsey is an Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics. She is also a Pediatric Psychologist and Researcher in the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children's. Dr. Ramsey completed her doctorate at Oklahoma State University and her residency at Cincinnati Children’s. Her research lab currently focuses on improving health outcomes and adherence among children and adolescents with asthma. Housed in the Center for Health and Technology Research, the Ramsey lab systematically develops and tests digital interventions to help patients better manage their condition and improve their self-management skills.
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During her time at OSU, Rachelle examined processes by which child and family factors place children with chronic illnesses at risk or contribute to their resilience. Her thesis project documented the mediating role causal attributions in the parent distress- child depressive symptom relation in families of children with juvenile rheumatic diseases (Ramsey et al., 2013). Rachelle was also interested in barriers to healthcare utilization and adherence as is relates to child adjustment. Her dissertation project examined the impact of barriers to healthcare and illness intrusiveness on child depressive symptoms in children with JRDs.
Kevin Hommel, Ph.D
Dr. Hommel is a professor at the University of Cincinnati, Department of Pediatrics. He is also Pediatric Psychologist, Researcher, and the Director of the Center for Health Technology Research through for the Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology at Cincinnati Children's. Dr. Hommel's research broadly focuses on adherence and self-management assessment methodology, behavioral treatment of non-adherence and promotion of self-management behavior, the impact of adherence and self-management interventions on health outcomes in pediatric chronic conditions, and the use of technology to promote optimal self-management across conditions. His research program is focused on self-management and treatment adherence and the use of technology to promote health behavior in pediatric chronic conditions, particularly inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). His observational and clinical trial research has been federally funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and by the pharmaceutical industry.
During his time at OSU, Kevin was involved in studies dealing with both adult and pediatric rheumatic diseases. Additionally, Kevin was also involved in Dr. Chaney and Dr. Mullins research on college students with chronic asthma. Specifically, he focused on the quality of life in young adults with asthma. His dissertation focused on learned helplessness in youth with JRD.
Janelle Wagner, Ph.D
Dr. Janelle Wagner is a Research Associate Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) with appointments in the College of Nursing and Pediatrics. She is also a faculty member of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at MUSC. Dr. Wagner received her Masters and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Oklahoma State University. She completed an internship and fellowship in Pediatric Psychology at MUSC. She was chosen as an American Epilepsy Society Neurobehavioral Fellow in 2005 and received the William R. Turk Research Award in Pediatric Epilepsy in 2007. Dr. Wagner has been funded as a Principal Investigator twice by the Epilepsy Foundation and by Parents Against Childhood Epilepsy (PACE) to examine youth perceptions of epilepsy, depression screening, and cognitive-behavioral self-management intervention for youth with epilepsy. She has also contributed as a Co-Investigator on two epidemiological studies funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During her time at OSU, Janelle examined cognitive appraisals and adjustment in families with juvenile rheumatic diseases. Her thesis examined the contribution of parent adjustment and children's perception of illness intrusiveness in JRDs. Janelle's dissertation focused on the Cognitive Diathesis-Stress model and depression in youth with JRDS.
