Social, Positive, & Health Psychology

Welcome!

​I am a fifth-year graduate student in the Social/Personality Psychology PhD program at the University of California, Riverside. As a researcher in Sonja Lyubomirsky's Positive Activities and Well-Being Laboratory, I study the behavioral and biological health effects of various positive activity interventions. My research focuses on how we can harness the potential of positive psychological interventions to influence human health. 


​Throughout my graduate career, I have integrated my training in social, health, and positive psychology by using experimental methodology to examine the relationship between psychological well-being and physical health. Across two complementary lines of research, I seek to uncover whether and how positive activities like expressing gratitude or behaving prosocially may 1) move individuals to put more effort into self-improvement across multiple domains, including health, and 2) influence biological indicators of health, such as decreases in pro-inflammatory gene expression.