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

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

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

Elly Goldstein, B.A.

Clinical Research Coordinator

Elly graduated from Johns Hopkins University in December of 2018 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Spanish. As an undergraduate, she did research on the quality of mental health care in Argentine prisons and worked with the undocumented community in Baltimore to improve access to social resources. In the future, she hopes to pursue a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology.

For more information: LinkedIn

Jérémie Kautzmann, M.S.

Clinical Sleep Research Coordinator

Jeremie is a clinical research coordinator in charge of recruitment, data collection and data management. He graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2021 with a Master's degree in Integrative Physiology with a focus on sleep and circadian research.

For more information: LinkedIn

Olivia Larson, MA

Graduate Student Researcher

Olivia is a PhD student in the University of Pennsylvania's Clinical Psychology program. She received her Bachelor's degree in Cognitive Science from McGill University and her Master's degree in Psychology from Penn. She is currently completing a clinical practicum at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety and also treats clients with insomnia at the Philadelphia VA as a study therapist. Her research focuses on understanding the complex interplay of sleep and memory in mental disorders.

For more information: LinkedIn

Emma Palermo

Research Assistant/Honors Thesis Student

Emma is a current senior at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in psychology and minoring in neuroscience and statistics. Alongside working in the SNaP Lab and Slow-Wave Lab, she has been involved in several research projects focusing on the mechanisms and treatment of anxiety and depression and development of mobile health interventions for emotion regulation. Currently, Emma is conducting her senior honors thesis on the relationship between sleep and emotion regulation under the supervision of Dr. Goldschmied and works as an RA on the SWIP study.

For more information: 

Luke Boag

Social Media Strategist

Luke Boag is pursuing a major in Mathematical Economics and a minor in Consumer Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. His work centers on streamlining social media marketing with a focus in improving recruitment. For the SNaP Program, Luke also performs website maintenance and created the branding for the SNaP Program. Luke is passionate about mental health leading him to working at the lab. 

For more information: LinkedIn

Maia Curry

Social Media Manager

Maia Curry is currently pursuing her Bachelors in Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School for Communication. She manages social media platforms and digital marketing for the SNaP Program. Her interests in mental health and sleep led her to taking on this position centered around driving recruitment through social media. 

For more information : LinkedIn