Amanda Venta, Ph.D.

Director

aventa@uh.edu

Dr. Venta returned to the University of Houston as an Associate Professor of Psychology after five years on the faculty at Sam Houston State University. She received her B.A. from Rice University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Houston. She completed her pre-doctoral internship at DePelchin Children’s Center through the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, where she remains Adjunct Faculty. Dr. Venta’s clinical training focused on children, adolescents, and families, with practicum placements at DePelchin Children’s Center and Texas Children’s Hospital. She also provided psychological services within the University of Houston’s Psychology Research and Services Center and in several Houston-area schools. Her primary research interests are the development of psychopathology in youth and the protective effect of attachment security, with additional interests in emotion dysregulation and social cognition. She has recently focused on the psychological functioning of recently immigrated adolescents from Central America, with related research and clinical work. She has received research funding from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, the National Institutes of Mental Health, and the American Psychological Foundation.

Ashley Bautista, B.S.

Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program

Ashley is a third-year doctoral student in the child clinical psychology program. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2019 and then went on to work at the University of Oregon as a Research Assistant and Project Coordinator. Here she worked on a variety of early childhood studies with both English- and Spanish-speaking populations including an investigation of the intervention effects of the Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) program and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on caregivers of children 5 years old and under. Building on her past experiences, Ashley’s research interests include Latinx mental health, parent-child relationships, health disparities, and immigration. As part of the Youth and Family Studies Lab, Ashley is currently completing her master’s thesis research on the effects of family separation due to migration on the emotional well-being of children who remain in their country of origin. Additionally, she has completed clinical training with the UH Family Care Center and UT Physicians High Risk Children’s Clinic.

Maria Cuervo, B.A.

Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program

Maria Cuervo is a second-year doctoral student in the child clinical psychology program. She graduated from Swarthmore College in 2018 with a B.A. in Psychology and Political Science. After graduating, Maria worked as a research coordinator with Baylor College of Medicine. Her research interests include the development of psychopathology in youth and the protective effect of attachment security, with additional interest in understanding the effects of trauma and resilience on minority and immigrant child populations.

Dan O’Connell, B.S.

Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program

Dan is a first-year doctoral student in the child clinical psychology program. He graduated from Saint Louis University with a B.S. in Psychology and minors in Spanish and biology in 2022. Dan spent his next year abroad sponsored by the U.S.-Colombia Fulbright Program as an English Teaching Assistant. As a graduate student, his interests broadly include impacts of trauma and chronic stress on mental health, language abilities, and health disparities. He also considers protective factors, such as secure attachment and religion.

Jesse Walker, M.A.

Graduate Student, Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program

Jesse is a fifth-year doctoral student in the clinical psychology program who received his B.A. in Psychology from Clemson University in 2015. Following graduation, Jesse served as a multidisciplinary team member on federally funded projects under Drs. Carla Danielson and Tatiana Davidson at the Medical University of South Carolina. Jesse received his M.A. in clinical psychology from the University of Houston in 2021 and, during his time in the Youth & Family Studies Lab, his work has broadly focused on identifying cultural, relational, and biological risk and protective factors of depression and suicidal ideation among adolescents and young adults from underserved populations. Currently, Jesse is conducting his dissertation research entitled, “Do discrimination and adversity drive the inflammatory basis of suicidal ideation among Black and Latinx young adults?”, funded by an NRSA F31 National Research Service Award under the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). He has completed clinical practica with the Lone Star Circle of Care, the McLean OCD Institute of Houston, the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Women and Children - Southwest in Houston, TX, and is currently a practicum trainee with the Headspace Health Training Institute.

Lab Alumni

• Anna Abate, Ph.D
• Cassandra Bailey, Ph.D.
• Jennifer Harmon, Ph.D.
• Kaisa Marshall, Ph.D.
• Ashley Malchow, M.A.
• Betsy Galicia, M.A.
• Ericka Ball, Ph.D.
• Maddison Shiafo, Ph.D.
• Kalin Salinas, M.A.
• Melissa Briones, M.A.
• Tessa Long, M.A.
• Carla Munoz Gonzalez, Ph.D.
• Emalee Green, M.A.

Special thanks to all of the undergraduate students who serve as research assistants in the Youth & Family Studies Laboratory!