I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health, Behavior & Society and the Graduate Center for Gerontology. I am a faculty associate in the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center and a UK Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) scholar. I received my MA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2014 and my doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2017. Before becoming faculty at the University of Kentucky, I completed my postdoctoral training at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine from 2017-2019. I am a graduate of the NIH-funded Sustained Training on Aging and HIV Research (STAHR) program at the University of California, San Diego, a past awardee of the NIH/NIA Butler Williams Scholars Program, and 2022 Association for Psychological Science Rising Star awardee.

My research is interdisciplinary in nature, spanning psychology, public health, clinical science, injury prevention, and transportation science. I take a lifespan approach to understand the complex associations between normal age-related changes, pathology-related neurocognitive burden, and outcomes that reflect an individual’s ability to maintain safe and independent function in later life. The overall goal of her research is to prevent unintentional injuries, support and sustain functional independence in later life, and promote healthy aging through unique behavioral and cognitive solutions.

Doctoral Student (2021 - present): Lauren Roach, MPH

Graduate (University of Kentucky):

Research Design in Gerontology (GRN 650, Co-taught)

Human Aging and Adjustment (GRN 620, Co-taught)

A Study of the Older Person (GRN 600, Co-taught)

Psychology of Aging (GRN 610)

Graduate (The Ohio State University)

Injury Epidemiology (PUBHEPI 6432, Invited Lecturer)

Undergraduate (The Ohio State University)

Injury: A Public Health Problem (PUBHEPI 4432, Invited Lecturer)

Undergraduate (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Psychology and Aging (PY425)