Dr. Elizabeth Duraney’s Oral Presentation, Suicide as a Predictor of DBT Pre-Treatment Time: Lessons Learned in a Veterans DBT Program, was recently accepted for presentation at the Suicide Research Symposium on April 15-17th! Congratulations Elizabeth!!

Authorship Team: Duraney, E.J., Van Til, K., Phansikar, M., Weiss, E., & Cawood, C.

December 12th is Veda Murthy’s, who helps run the UPLiFT Lab’s social media and website, birthday! Have a wonderful day Veda!

Our fabulous Emily Weiss will run a marathon in Tucson, AZ on Sunday, December 14th! Good luck Emily!

The lab had multiple oral talks and posters accepted for presentation at the North American Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (NASSPD) Conference in April 2026 in Toronto, Canada! Congratulations to the following lab members for their acceptances:

Dr. Emily Weiss: Oral presentation; Examining the Kappa Opioid Receptor in Borderline Personality: An in-vivo Study Using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Imaging

Dr. Elizabeth Duraney: Oral presentation; Impact of dialectical behavior therapy skill use on symptoms and behaviors: A diary card analysis

Katrina Rbeiz: Oral presentation; Variability of symptoms across sexual and non-sexual trauma

Ruoning “Ning” Li: Poster presentation; In vivo Examination of the Kappa Opioid Receptor in Borderline Personality Disorder: Relationship to Restrictive Eating Cognitions and Behavior

On November 3rd, Dr. Davis spoke to educators in the Stamford Public School system about how to foster a trauma-informed school environment and support high schoolers impacted by trauma.

We are so excited to welcome our two undergraduate interns, Madison Silcher and Michaela Snyder-Braasch, to the UPLiFT team! We can’t wait to see all that you accomplish!

On November 10th, Ning presented her thesis prospectus at the Yale Child Study Center! Congratulations on a wonderful presentation, titled “Adverse Childhood Experiences, Borderline Personality Traits, and Eating Disorder Behaviours: A Transdiagnostic Structural Equation Model Using the NESARC-III” and we are so excited to see your work come to life!

Victoria Hart-Derrick will be presenting a symposium presentation at the 2025 International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders (ISSPD) Conference in Boston, MA! The symposium, titled “Examining the latent structure of borderline personality disorder in a nationally representative sample of adults in the U.S.,” is a fabulous product of the work of Victoria, Dr. Jenn Loya, Sofie Glatt, Gabrielle Mathew, and Dr. Maggie Davis!

Symposium authorship list: Hart-Derrick, V., Loya, J. M., Glatt, S., Mathew, G., & Davis, M. T.

Tamiah Lewis, Dayna Freeman, and Dr. Maggie Davis recently had their poster, Frontal and Amygdalar KOR Availability and BPD Traits: Neurochemical Correlates of Impulsivity, Emotional Dysregulation, and Suicide Risk, accepted for presentation at the 2026 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Conference in Nassau, Commonwealth of the Bahamas. Congratulations all!

Our own Gabby won the 2025 Mary Jane Eimer Student Convention Scholarship Award! Congratulations Gabby, we are so happy for you :)

Our own Victoria won both the Mary Eimer Student Travel Award and Personality/Personality Disorder SIG Diversity Travel Award! Congratulations, we are so proud of you!!

October is National Substance Use Awareness Month. Keep an eye out for red ribbons!

On September 24th, Dr. Davis spoke alongside Dr. Sarah Fineberg for suicide awareness month in collaboration with Emotions Matter.

The UPLiFT Lab celebrates World Suicide Prevention Day. We are committed to building a world without suicide!

September 8th is 988 Day, in celebration of the 988 Crisis and Suicide Hotline. 988 is 24/7 hotline for those in crisis or who are struggling with suicide.

Victoria was the recipient of the 2025 ABCT Personality/Personality Disorders (P/PD) Special Interest Group (SIG) Student Poster Award! Her poster, Examining the implications of sexual trauma on the kappa opioid receptor system in a sample of high-risk adults with trauma related psychopathology and borderline personality disorder, will be presented at the SIG expo in New Orleans. Victoria was awarded $250 for travel costs related to the conference! Congratulations, Victoria!

We are so excited to welcome Ruoning “Ning” Li, BSc. to our team on September 2nd as a visiting graduate student from University College London! We are thrilled to have you and to see all of the amazing work you will do :)

September is National Suicide Awareness Month. This month, we will be sharing resources and educational material around suicide behaviors, with the goal of raising awareness for suicide and preventing suicide.

August 26th is National Dog Day! Today, we celebrate our cherished lab canines: Teddy, Hopper, Foz (Maggie), Rosie, Willow (Emily), Ginger (Elizabeth), and Angus (Victoria)!

We are so excited to welcome Elizabeth Duraney, PhD to our team on August 15th as a Postdoctoral Fellow! We are thrilled to have you here to see all the amazing things you will accomplish :)

Dr. Weiss had her research, The transdiagnostic role of boredom within personality disorder symptoms and risk-related behaviors: Implications for dialectical behavior therapy accepted to the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. Congratulations on this accomplishment!

 Author List: Weiss, E. R., Mullens, S., Todman, M., Barnes, S. E., Lord, K. A., & Davis, M. T.

On Wednesday August 13th, Dr. Davis spoke along with a panel of suicide prevention researchers for Stand Up for Psych and discussed the importance of our research and why we are passionate about what we do.

Dayna Freeman, B.S. had her poster, Kappa Opioid Receptor Availability and Interoceptive Awareness: Investigating Links Across Disordered Eating Behaviors, accepted to the 2025 ABCT Conference in New Orleans! Have fun in NOLA!

In June, Victoria Hart-Derrick B.A. was elected President and Chair for the Society for Affective Sciences Student Committee. Congratulations on this exciting accomplishment!

Dr. Jenn Loya’s symposium on Latent Class Analysis of Borderline Personality Disorder was accepted to the 2025 ISSPD Conference in Boston! Victoria Hart-Derrick, B.A. will be presenting on Dr. Loya’s behalf. Have fun in Boston!

The UPLiFT Lab is live on social media! Please follow us on Instagram @yaleupliftlab and Facebook, Yale UPLiFT Lab.

Our own Emily Weiss qualified for the 2026 Boston Marathon! Congratulations Emily, we are so excited to cheer you on in spring :)

On June 1st, the UPLiFT Lab participated in Emotions Matter’s Annual Walk to raise awareness for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in New York City. Pictured: Katie Myserscough (left) and Gabby Epshteyn (right)

If you or anyone you know is a Yale affiliate, look into taking INP 521, Neuroimaging in Neuropsychiatry! If you would like more information on selected course readings, please email Dr. Davis for more information.

Take a look at our Lab Affiliates tab to see our group of collaborators! If you are interested in joining lab meetings, please email Victoria Hart-Derrick (victoria.hart-derrick@yale.edu) for more information.

Thanks to the Fishman Family Foundation, the UPLiFT Lab has received funding to pursue future risk prevention outreach with Emotions Matter!

Title: Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder and Substance Use.

Recently, Dr. Davis was joined by two lived experience speakers to discuss clinical and personal nuances between BPD and risk for substance misuse.

As of July 2024, Dr. Davis has been promoted to Associate Professor within the Department of Psychiatry, with a co-appointment in the Department of Psychology. Congratulations, Professor Davis!!!

Dayna is a recent graduate from Boston College. Her research interests include general topics on emotion regulation and disorder eating pathology. We can't wait to watch her shine at UPLiFT!

Our most sincere congratulations, Ashley! We will miss you and so look forward to celebrating your success in this new chapter.