Meet the SNaP Program!
Philip Gehrman, PhD
Director
Dr. Gehrman is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and a clinical psychologist at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. He directs the Sleep, Neurobiology and Psychopathology lab at Penn. He has an active research program exploring the mechanisms and treatment of sleep and circadian dysregulation in the context of mental health disorders. Dr. Gehrman’s clinical specialization is on the delivery of cognitive behavioral and chronotherapeutic interventions for insomnia, circadian rhythm disorders, and other sleep disorders. The overarching goal of his work is to advance the understanding of the links between sleep and mental illness through translational research that spans biology to therapeutics.
For more information: LinkedIn
Jennifer Goldschmied, PhD
Slow Wave Lab Director
Slow Wave Lab
Dr. Goldschmied is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine and the Chronobiology and Sleep Institute of the University of Pennsylvania . She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Science in 2016 from the University of Michigan, and completed her clinical psychology residency at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Dr. Goldschmied’s research focuses on understanding the role of sleep in modulating mood and the processing of emotional stimuli, particularly in the context of mood disorders with the ultimate goal of determining if we can use sleep to improve emotional outcomes.
For more information: LinkedIn
Holly Barilla, M.S.
Project Manager
Holly currently runs multiple studies within the Sleep, Neurobiology and Psychopathology Lab as well as the Philadelphia VA Medical Center (PVAMC). Holly graduated from Wagner College with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Studies. She received multiple awards for her charity work and involvement in the NYC community. She continued her education at the University of the Sciences of Philadelphia where she received her master's degree in Health Psychology. Holly's master thesis focused on content analysis of nightmare data in Vietnam veterans. Holly is a certified CRC, phlebotomist and a member of the Sleep Research Society. Her research interests include exercise and its impact on sleep.
For more information: LinkedIn
Ruda Lee
Graduate student
rudalee@sas.upenn.edu
Ruda is a PhD candidate in Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in Linguistics and Cognitive Science from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and her M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Sungshin Women’s University before receiving a second M.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a licensed clinical psychologist in South Korea. Her research seeks to bridge clinical psychology and sleep neurophysiology by identifying clinically meaningful EEG-based biomarkers of sleep disturbances associated with psychopathology, with a particular focus on measures of cortical arousal and sleep depth.
my linkedin link: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruda-lee-6a89732b1/
Noah Love
Graduate student
noahlove@sas.upenn.edu
Noah S. Love is a PhD student in the University of Pennsylvania’s Clinical Psychology program, under the mentorship of Dr. Philip Gehrman. He received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Biola University, where he also graduated as a perpetual member of the Torrey Honors College. Before beginning his PhD, Noah spent three years at the Positive Psychology Center, where he worked closely with Dr. Martin Seligman.
Noah’s research focuses on the biology and psychology of rest, which he explores via investigation into the interactions between sleep, leisure, fatigue, and wellbeing. The overarching goal of Noah’s work is to understand the role of rest in a life of flourishing.
Nayeli Nunez Cruz, B.S.
Nayeli.NunezCruz@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Nayeli graduated from Delaware State University in 2021 with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. As an undergraduate, she did research on the effects of psychological and socio-environmental risk factors on sleep discontinuity and neurocognitive performance. She has helped run multiple studies in the SNaP Lab and is a certified phlebotomist. In the future, she hopes to pursue a master's degree in School and Mental Health Counseling.
Colin Echeverri, B.S.
Clinical Research Coordinator
Colin.Echeverri@PennMedicine.upenn.edu
Colin graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 2025 with a Bachelor's degree in Psychology. As an undergraduate, he worked in a behavioral health research lab focused on the relationship between young adults and alcohol use, and published a paper on drinking motives and alcohol's acute effects in a social laboratory setting. In the future, he hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology that furthers research into the bidirectional relationship between sleep and alcohol use.
For more information: LinkedIn
SNaP Lab collaborators
Christine So
Assistant Professor
Christine So Website
Dr. So is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Washington State University. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston after completing a predoctoral internship at the University of Pittsburgh Western Psychiatric Hospital. She completed the MIRECC advanced postdoctoral fellowship at the Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center under the mentorship of Dr. Philip Gehrman and Dr. Katherine Miller, where her research focused on mechanisms underlying nightmares. At WSU, Dr. So leads the Laboratory for Understanding Nocturnal behaviors and Affect (LUNA), where we broadly investigate how disrupted sleep acts as both precipitating and perpetuating factors of mental health and well-being
Katherine Miller, PhD
Dr. Miller received a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Tulsa after completing a pre doctoral internship at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. She completed a three year postdoctoral research fellowship within the VA's Advanced Fellowship Program in Mental Illness Research and Treatment. Two years of the fellowship were completed at the National Center for PTSD, Dissemination and Training Division, within the VA Palo Alto Health Care System and one year was completed at the Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center within Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. She is currently a research psychologist working on her VA sponsored Career Development Award. Dr. Miller's research and clinical interests are broadly focused on the treatment of chronic sleep disturbances related to traumatic events. She has a particular interest in understanding the phenomenology, pathophysiology, and treatment of trauma-related nightmares.
Elaine Boland, PhD
Dr. Boland is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine with a concurrent appointment as a clinical psychologist at the Cpl. Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2014 from Temple University, and completed the Philadelphia VA MIRECC Advanced Postdoctoral Fellowship in 2017.
Dr. Boland's research focuses on the intersection of sleep, circadian rhythms and mental health. Toward that end, she received a Career Development Award from the Department of Veterans Affairs Clinical Science Research and Development Service in 2017 that is examining reward processing impairment as a potential underlying mechanism of the insomnia and depression comorbidity.
For more information: LinkedIn
Olivia Larson, PhD
Dr. Larson completed her Ph.D. in clinical psychology under Dr. Gehrman's mentorship at the University of Pennsylvania in 2026. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow conducting research with the Cognitive Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University. Her overarching research goal is to understand how sleep transforms emotional memories and how we can fine-tune this naturally unfolding process to improve mental health outcomes. Clinically, she treats clients with sleep disorders through Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine.
For more information: LinkedIn