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Principal Investigator

Samuele Zilioli Ph.D.

Dr. Samuele Zilioli is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences at Wayne State University, Detroit. He received his Ph.D. in Cognitive and Neural Sciences from Simon Fraser University.

His research focuses on the biopsychological mechanisms by which social status and racial differences affect health and behavior. To achieve this goal, he works with individuals of various ages and conducts both laboratory experiments and correlational field studies.

Graduate Students

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Jacqueline Rodriguez is a fifth year Social Psychology graduate student. Jackie earned her BS honors degree in Psychology with a minor in Biological Science from Florida State University. Her research focus includes how stress influences biological and psychological processes and the resulting physical health outcomes. 

Jacqueline Rodriguez MA

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Tiffany Eldridge is a second year Social Psychology graduate student. Tiffany earned her BA honors degree in Psychology and Leadership from William Jewell College and her MS degree in Psychology from Pittsburg State University. She is interested in the negative effects of perceived racism and structural racism on health outcomes, as well as potential interventions to buffer those effects. 

Tiffany Eldridge MS

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Elissa Kim is a second year Social Psychology graduate student. Elissa earned a BA in Psychology and a minor in Communications from Pepperdine University. Her research interests lie in studying how health markers can be linked to mediators/moderators of stress within minority communities to shine light on stress management. She hopes to learn more about older populations through the lens of the biopsychosocial model. 

Elissa Kim BA

Lab Manager

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Dan Saleh received his BS from Wayne State and has been working as the lab manager since 2016. Dan has more than 10 years of experience coordinating large NIH projects targeting community samples from Detroit. Currently, he is the project coordinator of The Heart of Detroit Study.

Daniel Saleh BS

Data Manager

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Julian Bruinsma graduated from Wayne Sate with a BS in psychology and a minor in public health. They build, maintain, and organize databases for the lab.

Julian Bruinsma BS

Project Coordinator

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James Mallare is a community health educator (CHES) with a concentration in child and adolescent health behaviors and school-based health policy and carries out his role in various health settings. He has assisted in research initiatives that cover experiences across the life span from childhood and adolescent nutrition to cognition and physical activity in the older adult population. His areas of interest are in nutrition and chronic disease in low socio-economic populations and the professional preparation of community and school health educators at institutions for higher education. 

James Mallare MS CHES

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Katherine Knauft is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Psychology at Wayne State University, Detroit. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Miami University. Her research focuses on the psychological and physiological pathways that link stressful experiences to health and behavior. 

Katherine Knauft PhD

Lab Alumni

Ledina Imami received her Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology at Wayne State. After graduating she completed a post-doc in the lab of Dr. Christopher Agnew at Purdue University. She is now a Visiting Assistant Professor of Psychology at Wabash College.

Ledina Imami PhD

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Yanping Jiang received her Ph.D. in Health Promotion, Education, & Behavior at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on understanding the psychological and biological mechanisms underlying the effects of psychosocial stressors on mental and physical health. After completing her postdoc in the lab, she joined as faculty the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers University.

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Yanping Jiang PhD

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