Our Team
The people behind the work
A collaborative group spanning clinical science, behavioral genetics, and public policy — from faculty and staff to graduate students and undergraduate research assistants.
Principal Investigator
Jonathan D. Schaefer, Ph.D., L.P.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Schaefer is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University and a licensed clinical psychologist. He joined Vanderbilt in 2023, where he directs the Schaefer Lab and the Vanderbilt University Twin Research Center (VUTRC) and teaches Abnormal Psychology and Psychiatric Epidemiology.
His research examines how environmental exposures — socioeconomic disadvantage, environmental toxicants, victimization, substance use — affect mental health. Using twin and longitudinal designs, his work tests whether these associations reflect causal processes or statistical confounding, and seeks to identify the modifiable mechanisms behind causal effects, generating actionable insights for interventionists, policymakers, and consumers.
A second line of work aims to destigmatize mental health problems and broaden the uptake of evidence-based treatments. His research and popular-science writing shows that when people are followed long enough and assessed frequently, almost everyone will meet criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at some point in their lives.
Before Vanderbilt, Dr. Schaefer earned his B.A. at Swarthmore College and his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Duke University, then completed postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota supported by a K01 Career Development Award from NIDA. He was named an APS Rising Star in 2025.
He is particularly excited to work with trainees interested in (1) the environmental determinants of mental health, (2) behavioral genetics, and (3) using AI and mobile-phone technology to improve the measurement of both mental health and people’s social and physical environments.
Staff
Haley Komorowski
Lab Manager
Haley graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Honors Program at Auburn University in May 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Rehabilitation and Disability Studies. She gathered research experience working on clinical trials involving study treatment for various types of dementia and neurodegenerative diseases. Haley is currently pursuing a Master of Neuroscience degree with the University of Florida. She has experience working with and recruiting vulnerable populations for research studies, neuropsychological assessments, and coordinating IRB proposals. As the Lab Manager, Haley oversees Research Assistant training and recruitment for studies, manages IRB applications and REDCap data, and more.
Matías Martinez
Postdoctoral Researcher
Matías is a postdoctoral researcher interested in how social environments and school policy impact youth’s mental health, behavior, and human capital accumulation. He holds a B.S. in Economics and a Master’s in Public Policy from Universidad de Chile, and a M.A. and Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach, drawing theoretical frameworks from different disciplines in the biopsychosocial and social sciences. He follows a quantitative approach employing causal inference and longitudinal methods typically used in policy evaluations and developmental psychology. Outside of the Lab, Matias enjoys watching the Packers and la U. de Chile, hiking, climbing, and playing tennis, volleyball, and fútbol-soccer.
Graduate Students
Ankita Mohan
Graduate Student
Ankita is a graduate student in the Vanderbilt University Clinical Science Doctoral Program and a UCEDD trainee at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center. She joined the Schaefer Lab in 2024, where she investigates how social and environmental factors shape neurodevelopment and mental health outcomes. Her work aims to bridge research, policy, and practice. She holds a B.A. in Public Policy from William & Mary and an MHS in Social Factors of Health from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In her free time, Ankita enjoys exploring the Nashville food scene, hiking with her dog, reading, and watching football (Go Birds)!
Ali Sloan
Graduate Student
Ali is a doctoral student in the Clinical Science program. After graduating from Duke University with a B.S. in Neuroscience in 2020, she joined Teach for America and served as a high school special education teacher while pursuing her M.Ed. in Curriculum and Teaching from Boston University. She then worked as a research assistant in the Early Psychosis Program at Vanderbilt University Medical Center for two years before starting her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt. Ali is interested in researching the mechanisms linking different dimensions of childhood adversity to symptoms of psychopathology. Outside of the lab, Ali enjoys drinking coffee, watching football, and hanging out with her friends and pup (fittingly named Duke)!
Kaiya Brand
Graduate Student
Kaiya is a second-year graduate student in the Vanderbilt Clinical Science Doctoral Program. She earned a B.S. in Psychology from College of Charleston, where she volunteered in many college-based and medical labs. After graduating, she worked for two years as a Program Coordinator in The Prisciandaro Lab at the Medical University of South Carolina. In this lab, she explored relationships between substance use disorders and bipolar disorder using fMRI approaches. Kaiya joined the Schaefer lab in April of 2025. She studies the effects of socioeconomic status on substance use disorders and other co-occurring psychiatric disorders. Outside of the lab, Kaiya loves surfing, skating, yoga, reading, and anything outdoors!
Nora Ballard
Graduate Student
Nora is a graduate student in the Vanderbilt University M.S. program in Cognition and Development at Peabody College, and joined the Schaefer Lab in 2026. Her research investigates the intersection of artificial intelligence use and mental health, with a focus on how the frequency, intensity, and domain-specific patterns of everyday AI interactions relate to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes, including ADHD, internalizing disorders, and externalizing disorders. She is particularly interested in naturalistic approaches to studying AI behavior, including the development of privacy-preserving pipelines for collecting real-world chat log data. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Denver. In her free time, Nora enjoys hiking, rock climbing, and cooking.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
The lab is powered by a large team of Vanderbilt undergraduates.
Tristan Bron
Senior
Psychology major; exploring socioeconomic status and alcohol use.
Robert Fisher
Senior
Triple-majoring in Psychology, Law/History/Society, and German; honors thesis on substance use as a causal risk factor for incarceration.
Ruhi Patel
Senior
Psychology and Gender & Sexuality Studies; honors thesis on the interplay between SES, sex, and antisocial behavior; interested in risk factors for externalizing psychopathology through an intersectional lens.
Emily Fitzgerald
Junior
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society; interested in longitudinal twin studies of substance use and mood.
Xixuan (Leya) Li
Junior
Psychology and Economics; honors thesis on childhood socioeconomic status and substance use disorders.
Ashwin Maheshwari
Junior
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society; collaborating on work examining how the salience network accounts for differences across psychopathologies; interested in how behavioral differences across substance use disorders, ADHD, and OCD affect healthcare outcomes and educational attainment; aspiring dentist.
Aidan Nazareth
Junior
Triple-majoring in Psychology, Communication of Science and Technology, and Culture, Advocacy & Leadership, with an area focus in mental health and pop culture; honors thesis on the interaction between social mobility, income inequality, and depression.
Sam Brabeck
Sophomore
Medicine, Health & Society and Cognitive Studies; interested in social determinants and maternal mental-health access.
Virginia Feng
Sophomore
Medicine, Health & Society; interested in twin studies of AI use for mental-health support; works on participant recruitment.
Maggie Ragland
Sophomore
Neuroscience and Psychology; studies SES and alcohol use; planning medical school.
Alumni
Former lab members and where they are now.
Graduate students
Weichen Sun
M.Ed., Quantitative Methods, Vanderbilt University · 2026
Now: Applying to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs; continues to collaborate with the lab
Undergraduates
Eunice Ahn
Vanderbilt University
Now: Master’s student in Professional Counseling at the University of Pennsylvania
William Carter
Vanderbilt University
Now: Fellow at Project Horseshoe Farm, a community-health non-profit in rural Alabama
Jazz Divinity
Psychology (minor in Business), Vanderbilt University
Noah Hall
Psychology, Vanderbilt University
Chloe Kim
Psychology (minors in Spanish and Data Science), Vanderbilt University
Joseph Lanigan
Vanderbilt University · 2024
Lilian Li
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society (minors in Biological Science and Child Psychology & Mental Health), Vanderbilt University
Mazli Mehr
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society, Vanderbilt University
Cristian Umana Hernandez
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society, Vanderbilt University · 2026
Charlotte Wulf
Psychology and Medicine, Health & Society, Vanderbilt University · 2024
Yiwen Xing
Psychology (minor in Communication Studies), Vanderbilt University
Nandi Zhang
Vanderbilt University
Now: Research assistant in the Jiang Lab for Social and Affective Neuroscience at the University of Iowa