MEET OUR TEAM

SES Lab Team

Feel free to get to know our team members!

Principal Investigator

Camelia Hostinar
Dr. Hostinar is the lab director and an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at UC Davis. She completed her doctoral training in Developmental Psychology at the University of Minnesota (Institute of Child Development) and her postdoctoral training at Northwestern University. Dr. Hostinar investigates the ways in which childhood poverty and other forms of early-life adversity influence later development and health. She has particular interest in protective factors that may buffer children and adolescents from chronic stress and subsequent physical or mental health problems. Her work examines developmental processes at multiple levels of analysis, incorporating endocrine and immune biomarkers, electrophysiological data, genetic assays, and behavioral measures. She seeks to improve understanding of the role of early-life stress in shaping self-regulatory skills, and to illuminate how stress-buffering processes such as supportive social relationships exert their effects.
Contact: cehostinar@ucdavis.edu

Graduate Students

Anna Parenteau
Anna is a PhD student in the developmental psychology program at UC Davis. She completed her Bachelor's degree in child psychology at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development. Anna is interested in studying how early life stress and environmental factors may impact psychobiology and health outcomes in children and adolescents. In addition, she aims to examine ways in which children can be protected from the deleterious effects of stressful environments, through mechanisms of social support, emotion regulation, and characteristics that allow parents to effectively buffer stress responses in their children. Outside of the lab, Anna likes to explore her new surroundings in Northern California, ride her bike, and spend time with friends.
Contact: aparenteau@ucdavis.edu

Geneva Jost
Geneva is a PhD student in the developmental psychology program at UC Davis. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in biology and global studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before coming to Davis, Geneva taught high school science in Washington D.C., and studied cognitive development in the context of urban education systems at Johns Hopkins and Harvard University. Geneva is interested in investigating the effects of school-based stress on adolescent development, health, and wellbeing. Outside of the lab, she enjoys watercolor painting, taking photos, and spending time with friends.
Contact: gmjost@ucdavis.edu

Sally Hang
Sally is a Ph.D. student in the developmental psychology program at UC Davis. She completed both her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Master's Degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Behavioral Neuroscience at Humboldt State University. Sally's research background involved investigations on brain-derived neurotrophic factors (BDNF) and factors that mediated those concentration levels. She is currently interested in utilizing the biopsychosocial model to investigate biomarkers, health disparities, poverty, and learning gaps. Outside the lab, Sally enjoys walking her dog, writing her blog, reading, and spending time with family and friends.
Contact: salhang@ucdavis.edu

Lab Manager

Sydney Yi
Sydney completed her Bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Human Development at UC Davis. Broadly, she is interested in researching how cultural and familial contexts affect child socio-emotional development. Her ultimate goal is to pursue a doctorate in Child Clinical Psychology, so that she may one day teach, conduct research, and have her own private practice working with underrepresented and marginalized populations. In her free time, she enjoys writing, reading, drawing, and being with her quarantine cat, Suki.
Contact: sydyi@ucdavis.edu

Research Assistants

Brianna Fu
Brianna is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Human Development and minoring in Education. She is particularly interested in developmental psychology, specifically the impact of early childhood stress on cognitive and behavioral development. Brianna loves to work with children and is currently volunteering at a child therapy center. By gaining experience and insight in Dr. Hostinar's lab, she hopes to pursue a career in pediatric occupational therapy. In her free time, Brianna enjoys spending quality time with her friends, family, and Netflix.
Contact: btfu@ucdavis.edu

Indira D'Souza
Indira is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Global Disease Biology with minors in Political Science and Human Rights Studies. She is interested in health disparities, the social determinants of health, and how policy can affect differences in health outcomes. Indira is involved with the board teams at R.I.V.E.R at UC Davis and Students for Reproductive Freedom, and is the Reproductive Health Committee Head at Joan Viteri Memorial Clinic. She hopes to pursue a Master's degree in Public Health in the future with a specialization in policy. In her free time, Indira enjoys eating dessert and spending time with her six housemates.

Contact: iadsouza@ucdavis.edu

Marcela Ohlgart
Marcela is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Davis, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience. She is interested in mental health in youth and adolescents and how mental illnesses can affect their development. Her aspirations are to pursue a career in the health field working with children. In her free time Marcela likes to read, listen to music, work out, travel, and go on adventures with her friends.
Contact: mjohlgart@ucdavis.edu

Michelle Wong
Michelle is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior and minoring in Psychology. She is interested in how stress affects mental health, and the intersections between the physiology and psychology of the human brain. After her undergraduate career, Michelle hopes to pursue a medical degree while also studying medical journalism or narrative medicine. She is currently a journalist for the California Aggie, UC Davis’ student-run newspaper. In her spare time, she likes to listen to music, volunteer with children, watch films, and spend quality time with friends & family.
Contact: mhlwong@ucdavis.edu

Maya Sahtout
Maya is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Anthropology with a Sociocultural emphasis. She is interested in how the environment and a variety of stressors can impact the health of individuals and in the social determinants of health. Through Dr. Hostinar's lab, she hopes to gain insight on the implications of stress on the development of individuals, especially in children. She plans on going into the medical field and into public health in order to serve underserved populations and diminish health disparities. She has worked at a daycare for the past four years, volunteers in Shifa Community Clinic, and she is a peer mentor for students in the University Honors Program. In her free time, Maya loves to read, watch Netflix, hike, travel, and play soccer.
Contact: masahtout@ucdavis.edu

Annette Wong-Toi
Annette is a third-year undergraduate student at UC Davis, double majoring in Psychology and Communication. After graduation, she hopes to continue her studies in graduate school to work in mental healthcare settings. She is interested in the factors that contribute to the development of a child's personality, as well as the role that humor plays in someone's social and emotional well-being. Through Dr. Hostinar's lab, she hopes to learn more about how a child's family can affect the way they experience and manage stress. When she has free time, Annette loves playing piano, hanging out with friends, and taking naps!
Contact: awongtoi@ucdavis.edu

Diya Nambiar
Diya is a first-year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Psychology with Biological Emphasis. She is interested in finding methods to help people cope with mental illness and studying the implications of cultural and social factors. After completing her undergraduate education, Diya aims to pursue a medical degree and become a psychiatrist to help individuals understand and validate the importance of mental health. Through research, she hopes to gain hands-on experience, better understand how our surrounding environment can impact our mental health, and explore various fields of psychology. In her free time, Diya enjoys singing, volunteering, being active, dancing, going on adventures, cooking, and socializing!
Contact: dsnambiar@ucdavis.edu

Natalie Webster
Natalie is a senior undergraduate student majoring in psychology with a biological emphasis and minoring in history. She is interested in looking into the effects of childhood adversity and trauma on physical health, mainly the development and course of chronic pain conditions. After graduation, she hopes to spend some time teaching or researching internationally and then enter a graduate program for clinical psychology. As a part of the SES Lab, she hopes to learn more about the effect of increased stress and adversity levels on health outcomes throughout an individual’s life. In her free time, she loves walking in nature, reading, taking care of her plants, fostering kittens, and snuggling with her dogs.
Contact: nmwebster@ucdavis.edu

Bhakti Patwardhan
Bhakti is a fourth year undergraduate at UC Davis majoring in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior; and she plans to minor in psychology. She is also an undergraduate research intern in Dr. Bliss-Moreau's Comparative and Translational Affective Science lab, and has extensive experience volunteering in the healthcare environment. She is interested in the interplay between physiological factors such as neural cascades, cortisol levels, or health, and psychosocial factors such as constructs of emotion, stress, and perceptions of social environment. She aspires to pursue a PhD and eventually become a university professor. In her free time, she loves sketching, listening to instrumental music, and reading mystery and fantasy books.
Contact: bpatwardhan@ucdavis.edu

Adriana Argueta Balan
Adriana a fourth- year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Psychology with minors in Education and Public Health Sciences. She is passionate for mental health awareness and destigmatizing mental health in underrepresented communities. She is also passionate about discovering different methods in order to help people cope with mental health illness. After her undergraduate career, she aspires to pursue graduate school to further her education in the health field. In her free time, she likes to work out, listen to music, road trips, go on adventures with her friends, play soccer, volleyball and swim.
Contact: amarguetabalan@ucdavis.edu

Carley Roberts
Carley is a fourth year undergraduate majoring in psychology and minoring in education. She has a passion for mental health awareness and bringing to light the themes of connection and relational resilience, with an interest in studying these as buffers against adverse childhood experiences. As part of Dr. Hostinar's Lab, she hopes to study the ways that resilience techniques can prevent long term effects of stress in the body throughout development, and to further this research in graduate school to pursue a career in teaching as well as the mental health field. Outside of her studies, Carley enjoys being immersed in nature, rock climbing or hiking with friends, and relaxing with her cats.
Contact: crberts@ucdavis.edu

Devin Teichrow
Devin is a senior undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Psychology. He is interested in personality psychology, with personality development and causes of individual differences in development being of particular interest. Devin hopes to attend graduate school to understand what makes people’s personalities different, with some examples of factors leading to change being lead and toxin exposure, differential cognitive abilities, and life goals. In his spare time, he enjoys reading non-fiction and comic books, watching Formula 1 and other types of car racing, and watching tv.
Contact: djteichrow@ucdavis.edu

Henna Kaur
Henna is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Davis majoring in Genetics and Genomics. She is passionate about creating awareness and facilitating open dialogues about mental health. Through the SES lab, she hopes to gain more insight into the variety of factors that affect mental health, such as stress, and how they physically manifest. After she graduates, she hopes to go into the healthcare field. Outside of lab, she is currently part of MannMukti at UC Davis, and is a peer mentor for the College of Biological Sciences. In her free time, she likes to read, play soccer, get food with friends, and play cards with her housemates.
Contact: hdakaur@ucdavis.edu

Rachel Oh
Rachel is a fourth-year undergraduate at UC Davis majoring in Biopsychology. She is especially interested in developmental psychology and childhood factors that affect adolescent health and well-being. She is also passionate about helping underserved populations and addressing health disparities. Outside of the lab, Rachel is an undergraduate volunteer for Willow Clinic, which focuses on the health of community members who are experiencing homelessness and addresses inequities in healthcare. By gaining experience in the SES Lab, she hopes to pursue a profession in the dental field and specialize in pediatrics. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her friends and family, playing golf, baking, and going on walks with her dog, Mocha!
Contact: roh@ucdavis.edu

Isaac Barsky-Ex
Isaac is a third-year undergraduate majoring in psychology with an emphasis in biology. He is interested in the biological and psychological effects of stress and how this can be a precursor for mental disorders. He plans on continuing his education at a medical school, where he will study to be a psychiatrist. Outside of the lab, Isaac volunteers at a youth crisis hotline and is co-president of Active Minds, a club that raises awareness of mental health challenges for college students. In his free time, Isaac enjoys hanging out with his friends and going rock climbing.
Contact: iwbarskyex@ucdavis.edu

Christine Xu
Christine is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Davis, majoring in Psychology with a biological emphasis. She is also an undergraduate research assistant in Dr. Trainor's Behavioral Neuroendocrinology lab. She is interested in how adversities and the environment affects the social development of children and adolescents. She hopes to learn more about the impacts of stress on an individual's physical and psychological health, as well as how inherited traits may play a part in their response to it. She plans on pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Psychology after her undergraduate career. In her free time, she likes to read novels, listen to music, watch shows with her friends, and spend time with her cat and family.
Contact: cnexu@ucdavis.edu

Lab Alumni

Mickey Sanchez
Nick Alen
Rajveer Sahota
Anthony Lagunda
Selena Alvarez
Kristen Li
Emma Godfrey
Cliff Huang
Jazleen Nijjar
LillyBelle Deer
Jessica Waltmon
Adele Nemer
Adam Nissen
Grant Shields
Katie Wyant-Stein
Jency Umana Linares
Hollie Crandell
Austin Dalmasso
Julianna Kirkpatrick
Shoshannah Bobritsky
Elis Feyzieva
Mona Karimi
Tina Le
Ann Cheng
Alison Luck
Jing Li
Jocelynn Morales-Martinez
Gurleen Lamba
Amanda Rosenberg
Jennifer La
Alexsis Andrade
Marisa Galvez
Rana McBee
Tina Shafa
Erin Morrison
Rachel Petrie
Anthony Riddle
Willa Kurland
Shannon Trinh
Zev Minow
Antonia Cartwright
Jenna DeKeater
Aleasha Jhanjar
Rebecca Cho
Temitope Awosika
Yuvraj Khanna

SES Lab Team

Principal Investigator

Graduate Students

Research Assistants

Lab Alumni

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