LEED Director
Johanna Bick, PhD
Dr. Johanna Bick is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of Houston.
She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Delaware in 2011. Dr. Bick’s work takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing on methods and theories from child clinical psychology, developmental psychology, and developmental cognitive neuroscience to understand how early adverse experiences shape child development. She directs the Laboratory of Early Experience in the Psychology Department at the University of Houston and mentors students in clinical psychology and developmental cognitive neuroscience.
Google Scholar link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=aPHU7tUAAAAJ
UH Faculty web page: https://www.uh.edu/class/psychology/about/people/johanna-bick/index.php
Contact info: Email: jrbick@uh.edu Phone: 713-743-1058 Office: Health 1, room 482
Note to 2027- 2028 prospective applicants:
Dr. Bick will be reviewing applications for our doctoral child clinical and developmental cognitive neuroscience programs for the 2027-2028 admissions cycle.
See more about our programs here: https://www.uh.edu/class/psychology/index.php
LEED Graduate Students
Haley
Laughlin
Kelly
Barry
Marguerite Knudtson
Haley is a doctoral student in the DCBN program. Her research interests include investigating the sources of individual variability of outcomes in children who experience stress and adversity.
Kelly is a fourth-year child clinical doctoral student in the lab. Her research focuses on understanding how experiences of stress impact brain development during sensitive developmental periods. She is particularly interested in identifying neural and socio-cognitive processes that confer risk for psychopathology.
Marguerite is a doctoral student on the Clinical Psychology research interests include examining the effects of early life adversity on children’s emotion regulation and behavioral outcomes through effects on neurodevelopment, and identifying family environmental factors that contribute to resiliency.
Josh
Litwin
Josh is a doctoral student in the Child Clinical Psychology program. He spent a year researching neurodevelopmental outcomes in children with congenital heart disease at Boston Children’s Hospital. Josh’s research interests involve using neuroimaging methods to better understand the relationships between environmental risk factors and cognitive outcomes.
Brookelyn Mayfield
Brookelyn is a doctoral student in the DCBN program. Her research interests include the use of neuroimaging to understand risk factors’ manifestations in behavior. She hopes to later apply what she learns to trauma and developmentally originating disorders while simultaneously applying grit, resilience, and beneficial experiences.
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
Coming Soon
LEED Undergraduates
Leslie Gonzalez
UH Junior - Psychology Student
Leslie is an undergraduate research assistant in the lab pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Human Development & Family Sciences. Her research interests include examining how exposure to structural instability and parent stress levels impacts a child’s development, as well as how children cope with or adapt to stressful situations.
Jana
Saidy
UH Senior - Psychology Student
Jana is an undergraduate research assistant in our lab pursuing a B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Biology. She is currently involved in processing ECG data. Her research interest lies in how back-and-forth communication between adults and their young children affects the child’s vocabulary growth and comprehension.
Jonas
Amaya
UH Senior - Psychology Student
Jonas is a research assistant in the lab earning his B.S. in Psychology double minoring in Biology and Human Development & Family Sciences on the Pre-Medical Track. He joined the lab in April 2025 and is passionate about understanding how early relationships shape developmental outcomes. His current research interests center on parent-child attachment and its influence on emotional regulation and cognitive growth in early childhood.
Rini
Hatty
UH Junior - Psychology and Computer Science Student
Rinijhini is an undergraduate research assistant pursuing a B.S. in Computer Science and Psychology with a minor in Mathematics. She is currently training for working with diffusion tensing imaging, using Mrtrix3 to analyze MRI scans. Her research interests include studying machine learning and how it can relate to psychology.
Drew
Cash
UH Junior - Psychology Student
About Drew:
Stay Tuned!
Xiomara
Barahona
UH Junior - Psychology Student
About Xio:
Stay Tuned!