Melissa A. Faith, Ph.D., ABPP, Director
Allie Schuck, Ph.D., Co-Director
PEDS Lab Alumni Spotlight
We are always excited to watch our lab members progress to their next career stages. Many of our undergraduate lab members go on to psychology doctoral programs or medical school. Many of our graduate student, intern, and postdoctoral fellow lab members go on to lead rich professional careers as scientist-practitioners. Below are spotlights on some of our lab alumni. Click on their names or photographs to learn more about what they accomplished while they were in the lab and what they are doing now.
Diana (Boone) Kalpakian, PhD
Former Postdoctoral Fellow & PEDS Lab Co-Director
Dr. Dianna (Boone) Kalpakian was a research postdoctoral fellow in the PEDS lab from 2020-2022, then transitioned to Johns Hopkins faculty and PEDS lab co-Director from 2022-2023. During her time as a research fellow in the lab, Dr. Kalpakian was an author on 9 publications and 13 posters that were presented at national conferences. One of those posters received a prestigious Student Poster Award from the Society of Pediatric Psychology. She was also co-presenter/author and moderator for two symposia presentations at national conferences. As a postdoctoral fellow, Dr. Kalpakian was principal investigator with Dr. Faith’s mentorship on a successfully-funded grant, which allowed her to pilot a new adherence intervention for youth with sickle cell disease. Since completing fellowship, Dr. Kalpakian has continued to collaborate with Dr. Faith on numerous manuscripts, posters, and grants. Dr. Kalpakian's research interests include identifying parenting and family practices associated with youth weight status, adjustment to chronic illness, and other chronic illness factors. Dr. Kaklpakian’s research interests also include developing and disseminating evidence-based interventions to improve children’s healthy lifestyle behaviors, adjustment to illness, and adherence.
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Ashly Healy, BA
Former PEDS Lab Manager and Undergraduat Student
Ashly Healy was an undergraduate member of Dr. Faith’s PEDS Lab from 2019-2021 and was the PEDS Lab Manager from 2020-2021. During her time in the lab, Ashly was an author on five publications and six research posters that were presented at national conferences. She also received the American Psychological Association's Division 54 Student Poster Award while she was in the lab. Ashly continued to publish under Dr. Faith’s mentorship after leaving the lab and was an author on two additional manuscripts and two grants with Dr. Faith after transitioning to doctoral training. Ashly began her clinical psychology Ph.D. training at Texas Tech University upon matriculating from the lab in 2021. Her primary research interests are links between adherence behaviors, child adjustment, and neurocognitive outcomes in pediatric chronic illness.
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Danette Beitra, Ph.D., ABPP
Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Danette Beitra, Ph.D., ABPP, was Dr. Faith’s 2015-2016 postdoctoral fellow. She went on to accept a pediatric health psychologist position at an academic medical center, specializing in consultation-liaison services. During her one-year postdoctoral fellowship in the PEDS lab, Dr. Beitra published two manuscripts and authored four posters presented at national conferences. During her time in the lab, she was awarded the APA Division 54 Student Poster Award for research merit and the APA Division 54 Exemplary Methods/Statistics Award by the Pediatric Research/Innovative Statistical Methodology (PRISM) committee. Dr. Beitra continues to collaborate with Dr. Faith and is a co-investigator on one of Dr. Faith’s current NIH-funded studies. Dr. Beitra is currently an associate professor at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and is the Director of Programmatic Development at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Florida. She continues to maintain active teaching, supervisory, program development, and research initiatives.
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Ally Schimmel-Bristow, Ph.D.
Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Ally Schimmel-Bristow, Ph.D., was a PEDS Lab combined research and clinical postdoctoral fellow from 2022-2023, then transitioned to Johns Hopkins faculty and PEDS Lab Co-Director from 2023-2025. While in the lab, Dr. Schimmel-Bristow was an author on eight peer-reviewed publications, one book chapter, and 17 posters presented at regional and national conferences. One of these posters received a prestigious Diversity Award from the Society of Pediatric Psychology. She also co-authored and co-presented two symposia at national conferences during fellowship. Since completing fellowship, Dr. Schimmel-Bristow has continued to collaborate on publications, conference presentations, and research initiatives focused on improving outcomes for youth and families managing chronic medical conditions. Her research interests include psycho-oncology, psychological adaptation to serious medical illness, adherence, onco-fertility, health equity, and developing and disseminating evidence-based interventions to improve outcomes for patients and families navigating cancer treatment. Dr. Schimmel-Bristow is currently a Clinical Health Psychologist at Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute, where she provides comprehensive evidence-based psychological care to individuals with cancer, primarily with adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients. She also continues to collaborate with Dr. Faith in research, supervisory, program development, and training initiatives.
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Rachel Glock, BA
Former PEDS Lab Manager & Undergraduate Student
Rachel Glock was an undergraduate member of Dr. Faith’s PEDS Lab from 2020-2023 and was the PEDS Lab Co-Manager from 2022-2023. During her time in the lab, Rachel was an author on three publications and seven posters that were presented at national conferences. She received a Society of Pediatric Psychology Student Travel Award and a University of South Florida Student Travel Award in 2023 to facilitate national conference travel. She was also an author on a poster that was awarded a prestigious Student Poster Award at the Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference in 2023. Rachel maintained a position as a registered behavior therapist throughout her time in the lab. Upon matriculatign from the lab, Rachel began her clinical psychology Ph.D. program at East Carolina University. She continued to collaborate with Dr. Faith following the transition and has authored multiple additional papers and chapters since that time. Rachel's primary research interests include parenting, family adjustment, and adherence in pediatric chronic illness.
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Ana El-Behadli, Ph.D.
Former PEDS Lab Doctoral Student
Ana-El-Behadli was Dr. Faith’s doctoral student from 2015-2019 and graduated with a clinical psychology Ph.D. from UT Southwestern Medical Center. Ana went on to complete a predoctoral internship in pediatric health psychology at Children’s Health in Dallas, Texas and a postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric health psychology at Stanford University School of Medicine. She then accepted a faculty position as a pediatric health psychologist specializing in pediatric solid organ transplant at Dell Children’s Hospital and as assistant professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UT Austin Dell Medical School in Austin, TX. During her time in the PEDS lab, Dr. El-Behadli published four manuscripts, presented two conference symposia, and presented 14 posters at national conferences. During her time in the lab, she also received multiple awards and scholarships, including: APA Scholar Award (2016), SPPAC Exemplary Methods and Statistics Poster Award (2017), UTSW Student Research Award (2017), APA Student Poster Award (2017), UTSW Carmen Miller Michel Award (2019), and APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to an Outstanding Graduate Student (2020). Further, Dr. El-Behadli held multiple student leadership positions in national pediatric psychology societies. After accepting her own faculty position at Dell Children's Hospital, Dr. El-Behadli went on to continue collaborating with Dr. Faith on a current, NIH-funded study.
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Nicholas Smith, Ph.D., ABPP
Former Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Smtith was a clinically-focused postdoctoral fellow from 2020-2022. During his fellowship, his time was evenly split between pediatric hematology/oncology with Dr. Faith and general consultation-liaison services with other faculty. During his time with Dr. Faith during fellowship, Dr. Smith co-authored four publications with Dr. Faith as well as four posters that he and Dr. Faith presented at national conferences. He also served as Principal Investigator on a grant he wrote under Dr. Faith's mentorship as well as Co-Investigator on a subsequent grant with Dr. Faith. Following fellowship, he went on to accept a full-time faculty position at USF Health and assistant professorship at University of South Florida, specializing in disruptive behavior disorders among children with or without chronic health conditions. Dr. Smith continues to collaborate with Dr. Faith as Co-Investigator for a joint-authored grant and has and as a close collaborator for disruptive behavior-related publications and projects. He continues to maintain active teaching, supervisory, program development, and research initiatives in his current faculty role.
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Hannah Thomas, M.A.
Former PEDS Lab Manager, Undergraduate Student, and Master's Student
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