Our Team: Miller Lab
Meghan Miller, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Meghan Miller, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and the MIND Institute. Her research uses a developmental psychopathology framework to understand the early emergence of neurodevelopmental disorders, with a particular focus on ASD and ADHD. The long-range goal is that this work will help identify factors that account for the transition from risk to disorder, and will be highly translational, delineating core shared processes to be targeted by transdiagnostic prevention and early intervention efforts. Dr. Miller is also a licensed clinical psychologist.
Heather Elahi, M.S.
Examiner
Heather Elahi is a clinical psychology graduate student at Alliant International University. She received her B.S. in Public Health and a M.S. in Clinical Psychology from Walden University. Her research interests focus on the co-occurrence of ASD and ADHD. She is particularly interested in exploring early detection, developmental trajectories, and overlap in symptomatology in ASD and ADHD.
Girija Kadlaskar, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Girija Kadlaskar, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow in the Autism Research Training Program. She received her Ph.D. in Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences from Purdue University where she examined sensory processing, particularly touch, in infants at risk for, as well as in older children diagnosed with, ASD. Her current research is focused on understanding the developmental trajectories of sensory processing differences in infants at risk for ASD and ADHD. The long-term goal is to examine whether differences in sensory response patterns could serve as reliable early risk markers for ASD and ADHD. Dr. Kadlaskar is also an examiner for the LAAMB and Early Risk Studies.
Kimberly Marrs, M.S., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathology Clinical Fellow
Kimberly Marrs, M.S., CCC-SLP is a staff research associate and pediatric speech-language pathologist. She completed her clinical fellowship year through the Northern California Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program and is an Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) certified therapist. Kimberly received her Bachelor of Arts degree from UC Davis and Master of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from California State University, Sacramento. Kimberly is an examiner on the TEDI and LAAMB studies.
Jocelynn Morales-Martinez, B.S.
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Jocelynn Morales-Martinez is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator with the Early Risk Study and the LAAMB Study at the MIND Institute. She received her B.S. in Psychology with a Biological Emphasis and a minor in Spanish from the University of California, Davis. Her research interests include the early manifestation of autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in infants and the impact early intervention has on later development and cognition. In the future, Jocelynn hopes to continue her education to work with autistic children and their families in a school or clinical setting.
Natalie Oropeza, Ph.D., M.A., Ed.S.
Examiner
Natalie Oropeza (she/her/ella) is a postdoctoral fellow with the LEND program and the UC Davis MIND Institute. Natalie graduated with her Ph.D. from Palo Alto University in Clinical Psychology and has her master’s degree and teaching credentials in Special Education. Her passion for working with children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families have been present since childhood as she has navigated educational, medical, and clinical settings as an advocate for her family and community members with neurodevelopmental disorders. Her clinical and research interests include supporting bilingual English-Spanish families, autism, ADHD, speech acquisition, special education, chronic sorrow, and sibling relationships.
Tonya Piergies, B.A.
Ph.D. Student, Developmental Psychology
Tonya Piergies is a Developmental Psychology Ph.D. student. In 2019, she earned her B.A. from Carleton College, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Neuroscience. Her research interests are focused on tracking social communication and self-regulation development from infancy through the preschool period among children at increased likelihood for ASD and ADHD. Tonya is also an examiner for the LAAMB, Early Risk, and TEDI studies.
Jenna Sandler, B.A.
Junior Specialist
Jenna Sandler is a Junior Specialist in the Miller Lab at the UC Davis MIND Institute. She received a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Linguistics from Brandeis University. Her research interests center on the assessment and early detection of ASD and ADHD, including individual variability in presentations, masking, and how to best provide support to neurodivergent children and their families. Jenna plans to pursue graduate education and a career in clinical psychology, focusing on a pediatric population.
Andrea Schneider, Ph.D.
Examiner
Dr. Andrea Schneider has over 20 years of experience working in the field of neurodevelopmental disorders. As a researcher and licensed psychologist, she integrates translational research with her clinical background that provides unique insights individuals affected by fragile X-related disorders, autism, and ADHD. Dr. Schneider received her Ph.D. from the University of Postdam.
Carrie Silver, Ph.D.
Examiner
Dr. Silver is a licensed clinical psychologist at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Her interests include diagnostic assessment of neurodevelopmental and mental health concerns in children. She also has specialized training in providing evidenced based therapy with at risk youth including those with a history of trauma. Dr. Silver earned her B.A. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Suffolk University.
Mak Soller, B.S.
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Mak Soller is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator in the Miller Lab at the MIND Institute. They received a B.A. in Psychology and two minors in Human Development and Sociology from the University of California, Davis. Mak's research interests are centered on how early identification and behavioral intervention of autism and ADHD might impact affected children over the course of development, specifically in the school setting. In the future, Mak hopes to continue their education to provide neurodivergent children with answers and support, provide family members of neurodivergent youth with resources and support strategies to help their children succeed, and provide support and intervention strategies to educators to help their students succeed in the school setting.
Kimberly Tena, B.A.
Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator
Kimberly Tena is an Assistant Clinical Research Coordinator at the MIND Institute. Kim joined the Miller Lab following a research assistantship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she coordinated industry and federally funded projects at the Center for Autism Research. Kim's research interests center on support service accessibility, the transition to adulthood, and the impact of socio-cultural factors during diagnostic assessments. Kim earned her B.A. in Psychology and B.A. in Sociology from Stony Brook University.
Yue Yu, Ph.D.
Examiner/Postdoctoral Fellow
Yue Yu, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral fellow at the MIND Institute. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis. Her clinical interests include assessment and treatment of ASD in children, and research interests include psychosocial outcomes in families of children with ASD. She is also interested in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions for ASD. Dr. Yu is also an examiner for the LAAMB and Early Risk Studies.
Collaborators
Ana-Maria Iosif, Ph.D.
Biostatistician
Ana-Maria Iosif, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2007. Her primary methodological research interest lies in the analyses of data with complex structure, including repeated measures, longitudinal assessments with dropouts, and clustered data with informative cluster size. Her interdisciplinary work focuses on mental health and she enjoys a very productive collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Burt Hatch, Ph.D.
Collaborator
Burt Hatch, Ph.D. completed a postdoctoral fellowship through the MIND Institute’s Autism Research Training Program in 2020. He received his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Otago, where he studied emotional and social information processing in children with ADHD as well as the impact of behavioral interventions targeting infant sleep on early childhood functioning. His current research is focused understanding the extent to which different disorders that emerge across infancy to childhood-particularly autism spectrum disorder and ADHD- overlap in terms of particular risk factors and functional outcomes. He is currently a Researcher and Lecturer in Psychology at the Institute for Social Neuroscience in Victoria, Australia.
Erica Musser, Ph.D.
Collaborator
Erica Musser, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Florida International University. Her work focuses on the development of typical and atypical behavioral, cognitive, and emotional functioning in youth, especially among youth with ADHD. Dr. Musser is a Co-Investigator on the LAAMB Study.
Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Collaborator
Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California Davis. She is a past Joint Editor of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research focuses on earliest manifestations of ASD and infant screening and diagnosis. Since 2003, she has directed a prospective investigation that follows children at familial risk for ASD from birth through adolescence. She and her team are also developing a video-based screening tool for autism in infancy. In a new project, she and colleagues in Engineering are exploring artificial intelligence approaches to detection of ASD-relevant behaviors in video. She has published over 150 papers and three books on autism-related topics and her work on early diagnosis has appeared on the television show 60 Minutes.
Collaborator
Meagan Talbott, Ph.D. is a developmental psychologist and an Assistant Professional Researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her Ph.D. from Boston University and subsequent T32-funded post-doctoral training through the Autism Research Training Program at the UC Davis MIND Institute. Dr. Talbott’s research focuses on early communication and language development in infants at-risk and toddlers with autism spectrum disorders, with the overall goal of improving early identification and targeted treatments. One of Dr. Talbott's ongoing NIH-funded studies involves a collaboration with our team and families enrolled in the LAAMB Study. This study involves validating the TEDI, a distance-based telehealth screener and assessment of ASD symptoms and infant development.