Who We Are
Dr. Leslie Frazier
PI Health & Development Lab
​
Dr. Frazier has a Ph.D. in Life Span Developmental Psychology from Syracuse University. She held a National Institutes of Health/National Institute Aging Post-doctoral Fellowship at the University of California San Francisco Medical School.
A developmental health psychologist, Dr. Frazier is interested in the intersections among psychosocial factors and identity/sense of self within the context of health and chronic illness in emerging adulthood and later life.
​
More recently, Dr. Frazier has begun to examine the role of self-regulation, metacognition, and agency in the domains of health and learning, and the psychosocial factors influencing disability identity.
​
The best thing about the Health & Development Lab is the people! We have an amazing team and are doing really exciting research. Message me if you'd like to get involved!
​
GRADUATE STUDENTS
Maria Bazo Perez, M. S.
Maria is a third-year doctoral student in Psychology at FIU. Her primary research interest involves risk factors related to eating disorders across the lifespan, including emerging and middle adulthood. Maria received her B.S. in Psychology at Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. Afterwards, she obtained her M.S. in Clinical and Health Psychology at Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain. Currently, Maria has a manuscript under review for publication, and plans to defend her Master’s thesis later in the Fall 2023.
Ibrahim Yakin, M.A.
Ibrahim received his BSc. in Psychology at the Izmir University of Economics in 2018. He completed an M.A. in the Health and Social Psychology program at Kadir Has University in Istanbul, Turkey in 2021. Ibrahim began his doctoral training in the Developmental Science Ph.D. program in Fall 2022. His primary research interests include mental health, addiction, eating disorders, and psychosocial factors in health and developmental psychology. He is now working on eating disorders among sexual minorities.
Priscila Figueiredo Campos, M. A.
​
Priscila Campos is a Visiting Research Scholar at FIU. She has a M.A. in Physical Education (Physical activity and Health) from Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora and B.A. in Physical Education at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. Priscila is interested in psychosocial factors that influence exercise, eating behaviors, and body image. Her current research focuses on cross-cultural validation of body image, intuitive eating, exercise dependence, and eating disorders.
​
Yung Teng (Elizabeth) Lee, MSc.
Lab Manager Eating Disorders Team
​
Elizabeth received her BSc. in Psychology from the University of Surrey in 2021. She completed her MSc. in Affective Disorders at King’s College London in 2022. Elizabeth’s interest focuses on clinical and health psychology, with a particular focus on affective disorders and emotional aspects in eating disorders.
Christopher Clifford Ph.D.
Statistical Consultant for the HDL
​
Chris just completed his PhD in Developmental Science and Quantitative Psychology at FIU. His dissertation dissertation will applied novel and innovative statistical approaches to the study of developmental data to uncover patterns related to the influence of play to promote adaptive outcomes. In his dissertation he identified best practices for developmental scientists who use regression modeling with latent factors. His primary research interests involve focuses on developmental, emotional, and quantitative analysis.
​
Research Assistants
Ellis Paulk, a Veteran, was awarded the U. S. Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal for outstanding service and dedication to duty. He graduated from FIU with a focus on pre-medical studies in the Spring of 2022 and hopes to attend FIU’s Herbert Wertheim School of Medicine in 2023.
Ellis developed an honor's thesis project to examine the influence of military sexual trauma on the risk for eating disorders in active duty and veterans of the U.S. armed forces. He has two publications in process from this important work.
​
Ellis is an RA on the ED team.
Alexandra Fiedler is a senior majoring in Psychology at Florida International University. Alexandra has developed a research project to examine how weight-related stigma becomes internalized, affects future goals, and may lead to risk for eating disorders. Alexandra hopes to one day attain a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology. She hopes to earn a PsyD and practice clinical psychology in inpatient facilities.
Alexandra is an RA on the ED Team.
Lecsy Gonzalez just completed a Master of Public Health at Cornell University, and has begun her doctoral training in clinical psychology at the University of Florida. Lecsy has collaborated on a scoping review of emotion regulation and eating disorders and has led the Possible Selves coding team for the midlife, menopause, and eating disorders project.
Lecsy is an RA on the ED team.
Patricia Avila Cardet is pursuing a double major in Biology (BS) and Natural and Applied Sciences (BA) on a pre-med track with a Psychology minor. She is currently working as a Learning Assistant for Biology 2 and Genetics classes at FIU. She is very intrigued in expanding her knowledge about eating disorders and the power of play in our health.
Patricia is an RA on the Play and ED teams.
.jpeg)
Alejandro Acosta joined the lab in Fall 2022. Alejandro is in his senior year at FIU, working on a BA in psychology with a certificate in health humanities. After graduation Alejandro plans on attending graduate school for mental health counseling with the goal of becoming a counselor for children and adolescents.
Alejandro is an RA on the PLAY team.
Maria Rodriguez is a senior at FIU majoring in psychology with a minor in sociology/anthropology. Maria plans on obtaining a graduate degree with the goal of becoming a psychologist. Her research interests are on general psychopathology, with a curiosity for disordered eating/compulsive exercise in relation to the factors that affect it.
Maria is an RA on the ED team.
Eve Cowens joined the lab in 2023 as a senior, she is majoring in psychology and hopes to continue to graduate school. Her plans are to become a counselor and provide services for families, couples, and animal assisted therapy. She is very interested in the factors that influence disability identity.
​
Eve is an RA on the Disability Identity team.
Sabrina Joseph recently graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Biology, a second major in Natural and Applied Sciences, and a minor in Psychology. On the pre-medical track, she is currently in her gap year working towards getting into medical school for the 2024 cycle. She is interested in grasping a better understanding of how individuals internalize their disabilities alongside their identity and the psychosocial factors that may be involved.
Sabrina is an RA on the Disability Identity team.
HDL Alumni
Zahra Ava Nazarimehrvarani, Ph.D.
Ava entered the Developmental Science Doctoral Program in 2016. Her master thesis paper titled "Emotion regulation, emotional eating, and risks for disordered eating in college women during the transition to adulthood," is under review. In 2023 she defended her dissertation titled "An examination of the interrelations among emotion regulation, orthorexia nervosa, and disordered eating." Ava works in Virginia as an applied behavior analyst.
Brittany Boyd, Ph.D.
​
Brittany defended her dissertation, titled "Perceptions And Risk: The Role of Education, Body Image, Partner Availability, And Condom Negotiation on Educated Black Women’s Sexual Risk-Taking Behaviors" in Summer 2022.
​
She is now the Director of STEM Learning at City College of Chicago in Chicago Ill.
Shirley Campos is a graduate of FIU majoring in psychology with a certificate in public policy studies. Shirley hopes to earn a PhD in developmental psychology with a focus on finding effective ways to help adolescents from low-income communities overcome challenges.
Selen Ugur is an international student from Turkey, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Business at FIU. She is currently a senior and interested in further studying social and health psychology in graduate school. She played volleyball for over 10 years and got her nutrition and personal training certification from ISSA in 2021. She aims to explore the connection between emotion dysregulation and disordered eating/compulsive exercise. Selen is an RA in ED team.
Emilia Rodriguez is a recent graduate of FIU. She majored in Psychology. Emilia will begin medical school in August. Emilia was the Lab Manager on the Play team.
Qiyang (Minnie) Lin, M.A. is a doctoral student studying Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. Minnie's master's thesis examined whether playful learning approaches served as mediators or moderators of the influence of personality (optimism/pessimism) on goal orientation. Currently, her research interests are (1)What are the cognitive processes of learning that promote the ability to adapt knowledge to varying and novel real-world situations? (2) how can multimedia learning facilitate learning processes in online instruction and in virtual environments?
Anthony Sanchez is a recent graduate of FIU. He majored in Psychology and minored in Chemistry. After graduation, Anthony went on to pursue a Master's in Anatomy at the Tulane School of Medicine. He is currently in the application/interview process to medical schools with the intent of matriculating into an MD program in Fall 2023. Anthony is currently a graduate research assistant at Tulane SOM working with Dr. R. Shane Tubbs and Dr. K. Papadopoulos on nanoparticle drug delivery systems.
Steven Del Real is a certified Crisis Counselor and an RA and observer at the FIU CCF Treatment Program. Steven’s goal is to go on earn a PhD in Clinical Psychology with a focus on working with anxiety, PTSD, and addictive disorders in Military personnel and their families.
