STARRC
Stress, Trauma, and Recovery Research Collaborative (STARRC)
The Stress, Trauma, and Recovery Research Collaborative (STARRC) is devoted to increasing our understanding of how people cope with and recover from a range of highly stressful or traumatic events experienced across the lifespan. We study negative emotions associated with trauma exposure (e.g., fear, anxiety, disgust, anger, shame, guilt), as well as a variety of problems commonly experienced by people with a history of traumatic events including:
- Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
- Substance Abuse
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Sexual Dysfunction
- Chronic Pain
- Depression/Suicide
- Insomnia
- Difficulties Managing Emotions
- Interpersonal Problems
The aim of STARRC is to apply the knowledge gained from research in order to improve existing treatment and prevention programs and to develop new empirically-informed approaches designed to help improve outcomes for people exposed to trauma.
posted July 15, 2019
Alyssa Jones Selected for NIAAA Fellowship to Receive Advanced Interdisciplinary Training in Alcohol Research
Congratulations to 5th year graduate student Alyssa Jones who was awarded a predoctoral fellowship at UK from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA; T32 AA027488): Interdisciplinary Training in Alcohol Research (PIs Mark Fillmore & Mark Prendergast). As part of this fellowship, Alyssa will work with Dr. Badour on a project focused on examining how trauma-related shame moderates the association between daily fluctuation in PTSD symptoms and alcohol use among community-recruited adults with PTSD who misuse presecription opioids.
posted May 29, 2019
Caitlyn Hood Receives 2019 NIDA Director's Travel Award
Congratulations to 4th year graduate student Caitlyn Hood who was selected for the 2019 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director's Travel Award. This award will support her travel to attend the 81st annual meeting of the College for Problems on Drug Dependence in San Antonio, Texas. Caitlyn will also have the opportuntiy to participate in a Grant Writing and Career Development Workshop as part of this award.
posted May 15, 2019
Welcome Incoming Graduate Student Jordyn Tipsword!
We are excited that Jordyn Tipsword will be joining the STARRC lab next year as a 1st year doctoral student in the clinical PhD program. Jordyn graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2019 with a B.A. in Psychology and Spanish. She completed an undergraduate honors thesis in collaboration with our lab fexamining the indirect effect of trauma-related shame on PTSD symptomatology via avoidance coping. We are thrilled that Jordyn will now be joining our team as a graduate student.
posted May 15, 2019
Alyssa Jones Receives Two Awards at the UK Department of Psychology Honors Day
Congratulations to 4th year graduate student Alyssa Jones who received two awards from the UK Department of Psychology: The Outstanding Scientist-Practitioner Award for her excelence in integration of science and practice of clinical psychology and the Jesse G. Harris Dissertation Award for her dissertation project entitled: Targeting Trauma-Related Shame: An Experimental Test of Two Brief Interventions among Women with Histories of Interpersonal Violence. Great work Alyssa!
posted May 15, 2019
Dr. Badour Receives College of Arts & Sciences Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentoring
Dr. Badour was selected for the 2019 Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentoring from the College of Arts & Sciences at UK. Thank you to all the fantastic research assistants and graduate students who made this possible. We could not do the work we do without each and every one of you!
posted May 15, 2019
Congratulations to our 2019 STARRC alumni!
Congratulations to all our graduating seniors and former graduates who are moving on to new adventures. You will be missed!
- Melanie Berexa: Teaching English in Spain
- Tessa Blevins: Clinical psychology PhD program at The Ohio State University
- Mya Bowen: Clinical psychology PhD program at the University of Memphis
- Kortni Dubose: School psychology PhD program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Alec Gibson: Law school at the University of Kentucky
- Abby Grieff: Master of social work program at The Ohio State University
posted May 15, 2019
Dr. Badour Selected for 2019 Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program
Dr. Badour was selected to participate in the 2019 Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program (CDLP) through the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA).
The mission of the Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Award Program (CDLP) is to inspire the next generation of ADAA's leaders. The program is designed to encourage early career clinicians and researchers to engage in creative discourse about anxiety, depression and co-occurring disorders in a diverse, multidisciplinary community. The CDLP is a competitive program that provides for an intensive mentoring and professional development opportunity offered at ADAA's annual conference.
posted May 15, 2019
Alex Brake Matches at Clinical Psychology Internship at Brown University!
Congraulations to 5th year graduate student Alex Brake who matched for clinical internship at the Brown University Alpert School of Medicine Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program in Providence, Rhode Island. This is an outstanding internship program and we are very proud of Alex and excited for his next steps!
posted Dec 13, 2018
STARRC alumna to join the Peace Corps
Former STARRC undergraduate research assistant Diana Ishimwe was selected for a position in the Peace Corps. She will be stationed in the West African country of Benin. Diana's interests are in understanding posttraumatic stress disorder in children from war torn countries or who have found shelter in refugee camps before moving out of the country. She is interested in studying the effect of PTSD in children’s family dynamics and on the forming of relationships. Congratulations to Diana on her achievement. We wish you the best of luck during your service!
posted Aug 24, 2018
Caitlyn Hood Selected for Two NIDA Fellowships to Support Her Research Training In Substance Abuse
Caitlyn Hood was selected for two competive fellowships in substance abuse research through the National Insitute on Drug Abuse. First, Caitlyn participated in the 2018 Medical University of South Carolina Drug Abuse Research Training (DART). The DART program pairs undergraduate, graduate, and medical students with a faculty research mentor for a 10-week intensive research fellowship in substance abuse research. Caitlyn was also selected for a predoctoral T32 training fellowship at UK (T32DA035200): Research Training in Drug Abuse (PI: Craig Rush). As part of this fellowship Caitlyn will work with Dr. Badour on a project focused on prescription opioid misuse and PTSD.
posted Aug 24, 2018
STARRC Graduate Students Travel to Ecuador as Part of Interdisciplinary Health Outreach Program to Provide Clinical Services To Rural Communities
Alyssa Jones, Jessica Flores, and Caitlyn Hood traveled to Ecuador with Dr. Mary Beth McGavran to participate in Shoulder to Shoulder Global, a UK global health initiatives organization that integrates academic and community partners to improve the health and well-being of an underserved community in Santo Domingo, Ecuador. The students provided psychoeducation and brief psychological interventions to members of the community alongside health professionals and trainees from other disciplines.
posted Aug 24, 2018
Two STARRC Graduate Students Selected for Funding from the UK Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women
STARRC graduate students Alex Brake and Caitlyn Hood were selected to receive funding from the UK Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women to support their research. Alex Brake received a graduate fellowship award to support his dissertation project: Modeling the experience of posttraumatic stress symptoms and contamination feelings among survivors of sexual assault. Caitlyn Hood received the Mary Byron Research Assistantship to support her masters research: The effect of violence history, PTSD, and trauma-focused disclosure on pain sensitivity in college women. Caitlyn declined this award in order to pursue training in substance abuse research on a National Institute on Drug Abuse T32 award.
posted Aug 24, 2018
Jessica Flores Receives Honorable Mention in Ford Foundation Fellowship Competition
Jessica Flores was selected from over 1,800 applicants to receive honorable mention for her meritorious application to the Ford Foundation Fellowship 2018 predoctoral competition. The Ford Foundation seeks to increase the diversity of the nation's college and university faculties by increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, to maximize the educational benefits of diversity, and to increase the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
posted Aug 24, 2018
Alex Brake Wins UK College of Arts and Sciences Dean's Graduate Fellowship Competition
Alex Brake was awarded a graduate research fellowship from the UK College of Arts & Sciences for the Fall, 2018. This award will provide Alex with a stipend and protected research time to complete his dissertation research, which is focused on understanding associations between mental contamination and PTSD symptoms in women who have experienced sexual trauma.
posted Aug 24, 2018
STARRC Hosts Two Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows
We were fortunate to have two excellent summer fellows join our team this summer: Mya Bowen & Harper Jones
Harper is a rising senior at Wooster College who participated in the APA Summer Undergraduate Psychology Research (SUPRE) program. The UK Psychology Department was one of only 6 programs nationally to receive this competitive fellowship to offer talented undergraduates who have little to no prior laboratory experience the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge of how scientific research is conducted as part of a 10-week intensive research fellowship.
Mya is a rising senior at Transylvania University who participated in the UK Summer Training in Alcohol Research (UK STAR), a competitive NIH-funded fellowship that supports undergraduate students to complete a 10-week intensive research internship in a lab conducting research focused on alcohol and its effects.
posted Aug 24, 2018
Alyssa Jones Selected for Mentored Research Fellowship
Congratulations to 4th year doctoral student Alyssa Jones for being selected for the UK Center for Clinical and Translational Scence Professional Student Mentored Research Fellowship (PSMRF). This 12-18 month fellowship will provide Alyssa with a stipend to participate in clinical and translational research within the STARRC lab.
