Research Assistants

Rachel Miller, MSc. (she/her)

Research Assistant II | Yale School of Medicine

Rachel is a Research Assistant II working under Dr. Davis for the Department of Psychiatry. In 2020, Rachel completed her master’s degree in psychology from Trinity College Dublin. For her master’s thesis, Rachel used mediation modeling with the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) dataset to determine the impact of negative emotionality on the development of emotional and behavioral difficulties from middle childhood through adolescence. The ultimate goal for this project was to provide further insight into the etiological factors contributing to psychosocial dysfunction in children as well as to construct a model which could potentially predict poor mental health outcomes using negative emotionality as a primary determinant. Currently, Rachel’s research interests include risk and resiliency factors of childhood trauma and the impact of parental attunement on mental health outcomes.

Victoria Hart-Derrick, B.A. (she/her)

Research Assistant I | Yale School of Medicine

Victoria is a Research Assistant I for the Department of Psychiatry. Prior to joining UPLIFT, Victoria received a B.A. in Psychology from Stanford University in 2022 and worked for two years as a Postgraduate Research Associate within the Yale Child Study Center. Her research experience involves behavioral and neuroimaging methodology with EEG, fMRI, and recently PET. Having worked with perinatal women receiving Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder and now participants with BPD and history of trauma, she believes the best science is born from compassionate care and methodology.

Victoria aims to continue examining the development, maintenance, and remittance from problem behaviors associated with Emotion Dysregulation, particularly suicide behaviors and negative posttraumatic cognitions that contribute to increased suicide risk. Victoria plans to pursue a PhD. in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, Victoria enjoys going to trivia, trying new foods, and listening to Taylor Swift!

Dayna Freeman, B.S. (she/her)

Research Assistant I | Yale School of Medicine

Dayna Freeman is a Research Assistant I in the Department of Psychiatry. She received her B.S. in Psychology with a Concentration in Clinical Psychology from Boston College in 2023. As an undergraduate, she researched hippocampal changes in memory processing in older adults and worked as a clinical social work intern at the Brookline Senior Center. 

Dayna’s research interests include understanding the relationship between emotional regulation and compulsive behaviors, specifically disordered eating behaviors and substance use, in anxiety and mood-related disorders. She plans to pursue a PhD. or PsyD. in Clinical Psychology. A fun fact about Dayna is that as an undergraduate she worked in a lab that studied African Grey Parrots, a species that can talk, where she helped train them to identify objects and count!