Shirley Yen, PhD
Lab Director
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Dr. Shirley Yen is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Dr. Yen's programmatic line of research focuses on the assessment of suicide risk in vulnerable populations, and the development of interventions to decrease risk for suicidal behaviors. Dr. Yen’s most recent project is the development of a brief, hybrid (in-person + digital) intervention, Skills to Enhance Positivity (STEP), that is designed to reduce suicidal behaviors in at-risk populations by targeting positive affect. The initial pilot studies of STEP, which involved youth admitted to the inpatient unit due to suicide risk, yielded promising results, and she is currently testing this intervention in a larger NIH-funded, multisite study. Along with MPI Dr. Lisa Uebelacker, Dr. Yen is also embarking on a multi-site study of a yoga-based Intervention for teens with depression, with the specific goal of making yoga more accessible to diverse youth. Dr. Yen is also Training Director of the APA-accredited clinical psychology internship program at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Harvard Medical School. Currently the President of the North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, Dr. Yen is also on two editorial boards, is a Board Member of the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, and is on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Sadhguru Center for a Conscious Planet.

Fun fact: Shirley loves her career as a psychologist, but her fantasy alternative career would have been to be a backup dancer for any hip hop artist. But since that ship has sailed, she instead finds herself following Zumba and shuffling workout videos on YouTube.

  • Natalia Macrynikola, PhD

    Staff Scientist
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    Dr. Macrynikola is a licensed clinical psychologist whose work centers on digital mental health, suicide prevention, and the intersection between the two. Her research focuses on developing and evaluating brief emotion-focused and mindfulness-based digital interventions, as well as understanding their mechanisms. Her work has also focused on identifying risk and protective factors for depression and suicide ideation, including in newer social contexts in the digital space (i.e., social media). Dr. Macrynikola completed her postdoctoral research fellowship at Harvard Medical School, where she also served as clinical director at the Division of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, overseeing the refinement and implementation of a brief digital intervention designed to increase access to care. She earned her PhD in health psychology and clinical science from the City University of New York in 2022.

    Fun Fact: When she’s not in the lab, you’ll find her at Fenway Park, waiting to catch her first foul ball. Another fun fact is that Natalia had a prior career as a graphic designer, lending her extraordinary talents to our projects by creating neat content videos!

  • Jackson Doerr, BS

    Clinical Research Coordinator
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    Jackson graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Northeastern University in 2022. His research interests center on adolescent suicide prevention, and he plays a major role in the lab in coordinating the multisite NIH-funded RCT currently under way to evaluate the efficacy of the STEP intervention. Jackson’s future aspirations include continuing his education in a mental health related field. While Jackson claims he has no fun fact, we’ve noticed that his easygoing and lighthearted personality makes him exceptionally skilled at connecting with all adolescents.

    Fun Fact: Jackson has a superpower for making complex data analyses in R look effortless.

  • Emily Berthiaume, BS

    Clinical Research Coordinator
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    Emily earned her bachelor’s degree in health sciences with a minor in pharmaceutical sciences from Northeastern University in 2023. She has a passion for developing adjunctive interventions to support individuals for whom conventional treatments have fallen short. She is also particularly interested in working with sexual and gender minority youth, as well as individuals with autism and ADHD. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in social work while continuing her research, with the ultimate goal of earning her doctorate in counseling psychology.

    Fun Fact: Emily knows every history fact under the sun and is a real trivia buff, she has lived and worked in Kenya and Japan, and she is a very talented painter, often surprising her friends with artworks and trinkets of her own creation.

Our Partners

  • Brown University