Jennifer (Ghahari) SMITH, ph.d.

Jennifer is the Research Director and leads the research wing of our work, conducting ongoing quantitative research to help us better understand anxiety and improve the efficacy of the therapy we offer. She oversees the SAS Interdisciplinary Research Internship Program - guiding, supervising and mentoring our cohort of research interns.

Jennifer is a sociologist by training (she earned an inter-disciplinary doctorate from Rutgers). She has taught Sociology and Research Methods at the college level for over a decade at both public and private universities. She also worked as a quantitative research analyst and project manager for Fortune 500 companies, as well as non-profits such as The Nature Conservancy. Her published work focuses on issues at the intersection of Moral Psychology and ethical decision making.

Kate Campbell

Kate is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in autism, the psychology of socialization, child/adolescent trauma and disparities in racial/socioeconomic mental health.

Kate joins us with a BS in English with Honors from The United States Military Academy at West Point. She is currently transitioning out of the Army, as a Company Executive Officer, where her position focused on training, management and logistics. Since 2016, Kate has sought to help others across a variety of roles, such as: Senior Writing Fellow (where she helped mentor and tutor cadets of all disciplines with their writing); Junior Fellow at The Center for Junior Officers (where she wrote quarterly articles focusing on mental health, diversity and inclusion within the armed forces) and as a Crisis Counselor at The Trevor Project (where she helped support LGBTQ+ youth via a text/call crisis intervention hotline).

Kate is currently applying to doctoral degree programs in psychology.

Maria Karla Bermudez

Maria is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in trauma in children, PTSD, and immigrant mental health.

Emigrating to the U.S. from Cuba as a child has led Maria to be especially empathetic to the needs of others. A fellow at Project Rousseau, she assisted the local immigrant community across several paths including: education, welfare, language and health/mental healthcare. Further, for the past several years she has actively volunteered with UNICEF@NYU (as President), MedicZero@NYU (as Chapter President), Heart to Heart and the Red Cross. 

Maria is currently an undergraduate at New York University, majoring in philosophy. In the pre-med track, she aspires to become a primary care physician.

Ananya Udyaver

Ananya is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in somatic symptom disorders, dissociative identity disorder and cannabis-related disorders.

Ananya’s volunteer work and outreach support has spanned several avenues over the past few years. She has held elected positions in various local humanitarian, cultural and educational organizations. Further, she has volunteered in a multitude of caring capacities at her local food pantry, hospitals, crisis center, assisted living facility and hospice care facility.

Some highlights of her recent research work include: examining the disparities that exist in mental health resources for Latinx communities; the analysis of DNA sequences at the Waksman Institute; publication of a detailed research paper on the CRISPR method for treating Cystic Fibrosis; and she recently worked on a project to analyze the microbiome of dental calculus of ancient skeletal remains found on the medical campus of VCU.

Ananya is currently an undergraduate at Virginia Commonwealth University, majoring in biology with a minor in chemistry. She is in the Guaranteed Admission Program through the VCU School of Medicine and aspires to become a psychiatrist.

Sara Wilson

Sara is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in affective disorders, mindfulness, consciousness & the self and health & wellbeing.

Sara has been active both on and off campus over the past few years. She was selected to partake in an honors’ project that conducted research regarding the benefits of mindfulness meditation on neurotypical vs. non-neurotypical people; it yielded promising results across physiological measures. While interning with Universal Music Group, she designed a mental health campaign with a comprehensive understanding of discriminatory barriers within the mental health sector and potential ways to mitigate such inequalities through activism and education. Currently, Sara is both Musical Director and member of “The Swinging ‘Gates,” Colgate’s first all-female, audition-based acapella group. Additionally, she is an active member of Colgate's Philosophy Society.

Sara is currently an undergraduate at Colgate University pursuing a double major in psychological science and philosophy and aspires to become a clinical or research psychologist.

Jordan Denaver

Jordan is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in CBT, trauma and resilience.

She is concurrently beginning work in Haverford College’s developmental psychology, researching how children overlap social categories (e.g., race and gender) and the development of social dominance orientation. She is an active member in both the “Women in STEM” and “One Love” clubs as well as a member of Haverford’s Varsity Women’s Lacrosse team. In partnership with her lacrosse program, Jordan utilizes her on-field skills to tutor, mentor and coach Harlem Lacrosse students.

Jordan is currently an undergraduate at Haverford College, majoring in psychology and minoring in neuroscience. She aspires to pursue a career in clinical psychology.

Ryann Thomson

Ryann is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in psychedelic therapy, the biology of mental illness, brain stimulation therapy, and PTSD.

She has been a research intern at Kutztown for the past year, studying the use of successive relearning on statistical concepts, comparing recognition vs. active recall and the effect on students’ grades. In addition, she is Secretary of her school’s Model United Nations and a member of the Psychology Club. Off-campus, she recently volunteered and assisted team members at a hospice facility.

Ryann is currently an undergraduate at Kutztown University, double majoring in psychology and Spanish. She aspires to pursue a career in cognitive neuroscience research.

Kaylin Ong

Kaylin is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in mindfulness and art therapy, mental illness within ethnic populations, and generational trauma.

She has sought to help others as both a mentor and tutor across several organizations. Notably, since 2022 she has served as Director of Curriculum Development at the Relationship Foundation, a New York non-profit that specializes in mitigating the effects of mental illness disorders in those with adverse childhood experiences. Further, for the past two years she has volunteered as the Service and Outreach Coordinator at Claremont Colleges’ Project Sunshine where she assembles care packages for pediatric patients, and collaborates events between campus organizations physician alumni.

Kaylin is currently an undergraduate at Pomona College, majoring in English with a chemistry minor. She aspires to obtain a master’s degree in health education before continuing to medical school on path to become a child/adolescent psychiatrist.

Adithi Jayaraman

Adithi is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in OCD, particularly OCD in the South Asian community, and Exposure Therapy.

She has been selected to serve as research assistant in 4 psychology and neuroscience labs across Harvard University, Columbia University, and Dartmouth College. Research projects have included topics such as depression and the relationship between creativity and anxiety.

Since 2022, Adithi has been quite active at Dartmouth in the following roles: Co-President of Dartmouth Student Mental Health Union; member of the JED Crisis Response Policies Group; Projects Chair at Dartmouth Chapter of Rotaract; and a peer supporter at the Dartmouth Mental Health Union. Additionally, she is the Director of Communications for Harvard Alumni for Mental Health (HAMH), an international organization dedicated to raising awareness and understanding about mental health.

Adithi is currently an undergraduate at Dartmouth College pursuing a major in Psychology. She aspires to become a clinical psychologist.

Kendall Hewitt

Kendall is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in attachment styles, relationship development, teenage development, and anxiety.

She recently completed an internship in London with Core Arts; while there she worked within several classes to help promote positive mental health among patients experiencing mental illness. Active on campus, Kendall works as an event services assistant, participates in club gymnastics and is involved in the alumni association. Additionally, in the psych realm, Kendall is an ongoing member of the Psychology Club and contributive writer of mental health topics for the HerCampus publication. Additionally, every weekend she participates in the SafeRides program, which offers non-judgmental, free rides to students to cut down on the dangers of drinking and driving.

Kendall is currently an undergraduate at James Madison University, majoring in both psychology and writing rhetoric and technical communications. She aspires to pursue a career in psychology where she can utilize technical, communicative writing.

Kelly Valentin

Kelly is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in Psychiatric Epidemiology, Pharmacokinetics and Psychopathology.

She serves on the Junior Board of Directors for the international non-profit Range of Motion Project, which seeks to provide free prosthesis and prosthetic care for those in need across the USA, Guatemala, and Ecuador. Additionally, she is a Community Care Coordinator at One Free Community, which advocates for improved care and resources for the neurodivergent community.

Kelly is currently an undergraduate at Paul Quinn College majoring in the liberal arts general track. She aspires to pursue a graduate degree in epidemiology and biostats and subsequently work as a psychiatric and chronic disease epidemiologist.

Jack Eisinger

Jack is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in adolescent development, motivation and social psychology.

Utilizing his business and data science studies, he has been working at SGP International to design and create an app to facilitate art curation in a more enjoyable and user-friendly manner and volunteers at 180 Consulting where he collaborates with team members to develop innovative, data-driven solutions. Additionally, Jack has been conducting research at the Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK) Lab in Houston, where he helped run a project to measure proficiency and progression of employee learning.

In an effort to help others, Jack was the president of his temple’s youth group for four years, and performed over 500 hours of community service at the Temple Israel, the Ossining Children’s Center, and Habitat for Humanity. Additionally, for the past year he has been mentoring 30+ refugee students to better adapt to life in the United States and help them navigate academic, social-emotional, and civic issues. On campus, he is both a member of the Neuroscience Club and an Orientation Week Advisor.

Jack is currently an undergraduate at Rice University, majoring in psychology and minoring in data science and business. He is interested in pursuing a career in the mental health sector and is considering a focus in clinical psychology.

Meghan Callahan

Meghan is a Research Intern at Seattle Anxiety Specialists, with particular interests in ASD, ADD/ADHD, OCD, and anxiety.

Over the past couple of summers, she worked as a behavior technician at a local ABA clinic as well as a clinical intern at UW’s APEX Summer Camp, where she administered 150 hours of intensive therapeutic intervention treatment over 5 weeks for children with ASD and/or ADHD. On campus, she has been active helping others in the roles of: statistics teaching assistant, chemistry tutor and mentor. Additionally, Meghan has served as an ambassador for her university’s College of Environment and Life Sciences where she helps mentor current and prospective neuroscience students. Further, she is a member (and former VP of Membership Experience) of the Alpha Delta Pi Sorority and has begun working as a research assistant in the Collaborative Cognitive Neuroscience Lab this fall.

Meghan is currently an undergraduate at the University of Rhode Island, majoring in molecular neuroscience. She aspires to pursue a career as a clinical psychologist.