Predoctoral Trainees
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Name: Sophia Blyth Education: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2031, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2027. San Diego State University; B.A. in Psychology, 2023, Harvard University Mentor: Will Pelham Research Interest: Social and peer network influences on adolescent alcohol and other substance use, including patterns of substance use disclosure to peers and parents. Appointed: 2025 |
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Name: Stephanie Pedrahita Education: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2031, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2027, San Diego State University; M.A. in Psychology, 2023, San Diego State University; B.A. in Psychology, 2018, University of California, Los Angeles Mentor: Ksenija Marinkovic Research Interests: The excitation/inhibition (E/I) balance as a mechanistic framework for understanding how repeated alcohol exposure, particularly binge drinking, alters neural excitability. Investigating whether alcohol-induced shifts in GABA and glutamate signaling lead to long-term hyperexcitability, with the aim of identifying early biomarkers for alcohol use disorder prior to cognitive or memory decline. Appointed: 2025 |
| Name: Matteo Peretti Education:Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2031, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2027, San Diego State University; M.Sc. in Family Medicine, 2018, McGill University; B.A. in Psychology, 2013, Concordia University Mentors: Igor Grant and David Moore Research Interests: How substance use, including alcohol, relates to cognitive and physical functioning, mental health, and quality of life among older adults, particularly people with HIV and LGBTQ+ populations. Appointed: 2026 |
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| Name: Riley Tolbert Education:Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2032, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; M.S. in Clinical Psychology, Anticipated 2028, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; B.A. in Psychology, 2025, University of California, San Diego Mentor: Igor Grant and Thomas Marcotte Research Interest: Acute (momentary), short-term (day-to-day/event-to-event), and long-term effects and patterns of alcohol and cannabis use and co-use from adolescence through adulthood. Theoretically, I conceptualize substance use as a dynamic psychological process that emerges and shifts over time within complex social and economic contexts. Methodologically, I seek to integrate real-time, real-world ambulatory assessment, longitudinal methods, and experimental laboratory and neuroimaging approaches to examine how substance use patterns develop and vary across interacting temporal and biopsychosocial levels. Appointed: 2026 |
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Postdoctoral Trainees
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Name: Madison Kelm
Education: Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, 2025, The Pennsylvania State University
Mentor: Sarah Mattson
Research Interest: Effects of prenatal alcohol +polysubstance exposure and comorbid postnatal risk factors (e.g., psychological distress, maltreatment) on biobehavioral development from infancy through adolescence; advanced quantitative methods applied across multiple timescales and levels of assessment.
Appointed: 2025
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Name: Emily Kemp
Education: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, 2024, Louisiana State University (Predoctoral Internship at the Medical University of South Carolina)
Mentor: Will Pelham
Research Interest: The role of affect (e.g., irritability, callous-unemotional traits) in developmental pathways to alcohol misuse among youth with externalizing problems.
Appointed: 2025
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Name: Michael Miller-Perusse
Education: Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, 2026, SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program; M.S. in Clinical Psychology, 2023, San Diego State University; B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience, 2018, University of Michigan—Ann Arbor
Mentor: David Moore
Research Interest: My research aims, broadly, to understand and improve treatment and prevention outcomes at the intersection of HIV and substance use, including alcohol and other drugs. I am particularly interested in stigma and resilience as determinants of, and treatment targets to improve, health disparities in these areas.
Appointed: 2026
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Name: Zachary Tatom
Education: Ph.D. in Human Genetics, 2024, Virginia Commonwealth University
Mentor: Abraham Palmer
Research Interest: Cross-species analysis of genes, biological pathways, and processes underlying alcohol consumption behaviors in rats, mouses, and humans using network biology approaches.
Appointed: 2025
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