Virtual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition
Society of Pediatric Psychology
Virtual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition
This year the Student Advisory Board (SAB) was honored to host the inaugural SPP Virtual Three-Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition, a pre-conference event sponsored by the Society of Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference (SPPAC) Planning Committee. We extend our deepest gratitude to the Conference Chairs, Drs. Naadira Upshaw and Lauren Harrison, for their generous sponsorship and for providing the Judge’s Choice winner with the unique opportunity to present their winning 3MT live at SPPAC in New Orleans.
The 3MT is an internationally recognized competition designed to help cultivate students’ academic, presentation, and research communication skills. Our distinguished judges were selected based on their research proficiency, career stage, and professional experience. Contestants included seven SPP students and trainees with a wide variety of research interests and training experiences. Presentations were judged based on the contestants ability to 1) clearly communicate the background, significance, findings, and impact of the research (comprehension and content), and 2) deliver an enthusiastic presentation using appropriate language for a lay audience (engagement and communication). The audience was also allowed an opportunity to select their favorite presentation
Randall Smith, a graduate student from the University of Memphis, was awarded the Judge’s Choice Award for his outstanding presentation on “The Relations between Cost Delay Discounting, Delay Reward Discounting, and Diabetes-Specific Microaggressions among Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Type One Diabetes.” Callie Goodman-Doughty, a graduate student from Palo Alto University, was awarded the People’s Choice award for her compelling presentation on “Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Migraine by Ethnicity, Financial Stress, and School Structure.” Please join us in congratulating our winners and thanking the judges and contestants who participated in this wonderful event!
Ronald T. Brown, PhD
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Dr. Ronald T. Brown is Professor and Dean of the School of Integrated Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He received his baccalaureate degree from Emory University and his doctoral degree from Georgia State University. He also has received training at the Harvard Institutes for Leadership training for Presidents, Senior Level Administrators and in the area of crisis management. Ron has served as a President, Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs, a Dean and Professor at four research universities. He also has served on numerous national committees and task forces including a recent appointment to the Board of Scientific Affairs of the American Psychological Association, Task Force on Promotion and Tenure Guidelines for Minority faculty. He has served as the President of the Society of Pediatric Psychology and the Association of Psychologists of Academic Health Centers. He has published over 300 journal articles and book chapters and 12 books, two of which are second editions. He has raised over 40 million dollars in philanthropy and external grant revenue. Dr. Brown has served as the editor of three major journals in the fields of pediatric and clinical psychology and served on the Behavioral Medicine Interventions and Outcomes study section of the National Institutes of Health.
Emily L. Ach, PhD
Stanford University School of Medicine/Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital
Dr. Emily Ach earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Ohio State University. Throughout her graduate training, her focus was on children and adolescents coping with serious medical conditions with particular interest in pediatric oncology patients and their families. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at UCLA on the Consultation-Liaison track, followed by a post-doctoral fellowship on the Consultation and Liaison Service at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital. She is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and Director of Psycho-Oncology/Hematology in the Department of Pediatrics.
Stephen Molitor, PhD
Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Stephen Molitor is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Medical College of Wisconsin and serves patients within the Children’s Wisconsin system. Dr. Molitor completed his graduate training at Virginia Commonwealth University and a postdoctoral fellowship specializing in pediatric psychology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Molitor’s clinical work focuses primarily on supporting patients with solid organ transplants. His research interests include understanding the cognitive development of children and adolescents experiencing chronic illnesses.
Judge’s Choice Award Winner:
Randall Smith
University of Memphis
Dr. Kristopher Berlin
Graduate Student
3MT Title: The Relations between Cost Delay Discounting, Delay Reward Discounting, and Diabetes-Specific Microaggressions among Children and Adolescents Diagnosed with Type One Diabetes
Randall “Randy” Smith, B.S, is in his first year in the Master of Science in General Psychology (MSGP) program at the University of Memphis under the mentorship of Dr. Kris Berlin. Randy earned his Bachelor of Science degree in psychology with a minor in history at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). After graduation, he joined the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, where, under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Rohan, he conducted research in psychosocial factors affecting quality of life, adherence, resiliency, and the development of interventions among the local pediatric hematology-oncology patient population. Randy's current research interest is in type 1 diabetes, particularly resiliency and the neurocognitive effects of this diagnosis on a pediatric patient population.
People’s Choice Award Winner:
Callie Goodman-Doughty
UCSF/Palo Alto University
Dr. Amanda Wagstaff
Graduate Student
3MT Title: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Pediatric Migraine by Ethnicity, Financial Stress, and School Structure
Callie Goodman earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a third-year doctoral candidate at Palo Alto University in the Clinical Psychology PhD program, studying two emphases: pediatric behavioral health care and health psychology. She is also a graduate student trainee at University of California San Francisco's Pediatric Headache Psychology practicum program and is investigating how aspects of diversity may interact with the physical and psychological well-being of children and adolescents with headache disorders. Callie is passionate about integrating psychology into medical settings to reduce health disparities and attend to the whole child’s health to increase access, affordability, and availability.
Dara R. Oliveira
Boston University
Dr. Kristin Long
Undergraduate Student
3MT Title: Characterizing Experiences of Racism and Discrimination in Family-Medicine Primary Care
As a fourth-year undergraduate student at Boston University, Dara Oliveira is pursuing a major in Psychology with a minor in Portuguese and Brazilian Cultural Studies. Currently, she is a research assistant at the Child and Family Health Lab working under Dr. Kristin Long, where she is actively engaged in an anti-racism project. This project focuses on characterizing and addressing disparities in social determinants of health screening within primary care family health clinics. In the past, Dara contributed to research on sickle cell disease, investigating how social determinants of health impact the management of the disease within low-income families of children and adolescents affected by sickle cell anemia. Dara’s interest lies in examining structural racism and discrimination, particularly within the healthcare system, and understanding the various mechanisms that perpetuate inequities.
Eva Darow
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Dr. Cynthia Gerhardt
Post-baccalaureate Trainee
3MT Title: A multi-method study of the unique experiences and distress amongst caregivers of young childhood cancer survivors
Eva Darow obtained her B.S. in Psychology from Loyola University Chicago. Currently, she is a clinical research coordinator in Dr. Cynthia Gerhardt’s lab and coordinates several studies focused on family adjustment to childhood cancer. Eva’s research interests include family adjustment and coping in the context of pediatric chronic health conditions, as well as developing interventions aimed at improving psychosocial outcomes. This upcoming fall, Eva will be attending the University of Utah to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, where she will work with Dr. Cynthia Berg and examine diabetes self-management among emerging adults.
Jan Mooney
Emory University/Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Dr. Soumitri Sil
Post-doctoral Fellow
3MT Title: Policy solutions for comprehensive, lifespan care for AYA with SCD: What can pediatric psychologists do?
Jan Mooney (she/her) is a pediatric psychology postdoctoral fellow in the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and Emory University School of Medicine (Hematology T32 Program). She recently graduated from the Health Psychology PhD Program at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, after completing her predoctoral internship in clinical health psychology at Henry Ford Health. Broadly, she is interested in understanding pain as a complex body experience, as well as how this experience may be influenced by our cognitive orientation to it (e.g., acceptance, avoidance) and by larger systems and structures (e.g., racism, sexism, healthcare, law/policy). During fellowship, she aims to gain relevant skills and accrue mentored experience with a wide range of approaches to clinical practice and empirical study related to quality of life in youth with chronic sickle cell disease pain. She envisions a future career that would involve providing and studying acceptance-based interventions for children and families exposed to medical and contextual stressors, and/or contributing to systems-level change through health policy research and advocacy.
Kashope Anifowoshe
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Dr. Sarah Jaser
Post-baccalaureate Trainee
3MT Title: Behavioral Intervention Reduces Intrusive Parenting Behaviors in Mothers of Adolescents with Type 1 Diabetes
Kashope Anifowoshe is a Clinical Trials Associate in the Jaser Lab at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Jaser, Kashope coordinates research studies focused on developing and evaluating psychological and behavioral interventions to help adolescents with type 1 diabetes, and their caregivers, better manage their disease. Her role involves participant recruitment, data collection, and contributing to publications. Kashope’s passion lies in improving the quality of life for those with chronic illnesses through evidence-based biopsychosocial treatments. Her experience at Vanderbilt has solidified her commitment to pursuing a career in Clinical Psychology research. This fall, Kashope will begin the Clinical Psychology PhD program at The University of Alabama under the supervision of Dr. Jenny Cundiff, where she hopes to further her training in developing and disseminating effective interventions for populations with chronic health conditions.
T. Zachary Huit
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Dr. Diane Chen
Post-doctoral Fellow
3MT Title: Navigating Transphobia: Experiences in Sociocultural Context for Transgender and Gender Diverse Youth and Families
T. Zachary “Zach” Huit received his MA and PhD in Clinical Psychology from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). He completed an APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship in Pediatric Psychology at University of Vermont Medical Center. Zach is a current Postdoctoral Psychology Fellow at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago in the Gender & Sex Development Program. He has experience with LGBTQIA+ youth and young adults, various trauma contexts (sexual assault/trauma and family violence), adolescent eating disorders, and general pediatric health. Zach’s current research focuses on transgender and gender diverse (TGD) communities, with his dissertation focused on sibling and family relationships and socio-ecological context for TGD youth. His current postdoctoral research continues to build this line of research, focusing on TGD well-being as well as gender-affirming healthcare contexts. Zach is particularly passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion in professional and healthcare contexts and hopes to continue this work throughout his career.