PSC Director
Lynda Gibson, PhD
lgibson1@illinois.edu
Dr. Lynda Gibson is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Psychological Services Center at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Northeastern Illinois University, and she received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Child Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Dr. Gibson completed her doctoral internship with the Dallas Independent School District’s Department of Psychological and Social Services, and her postdoctoral residency was completed at the University of Chicago Medicine and Comer Children’s Hospital—with a specialization in child trauma.
Dr. Gibson is the principal investigator for the Safe First Steps Training and Consultation Program, which is an early intervention research program designed to support providers in addressing the wide-ranging impact of childhood exposure to trauma and community violence. Dr. Gibson is also the program director for the Safe First Steps School, Parent, and Community Engagement (SPACE) Program, which is a school-based initiative that was developed to support families who are experiencing intergenerational trauma.
Dr. Gibson continues her partnership with the University of Illinois Chicago’s Urban Youth Trauma Center as a research collaborator on their state and federal grants that are designed to increase awareness about the needs of children and families and disseminate trauma-informed intervention models for schools and community-based organizations.
PSC Associate Director
Amy Cohen, PhD
amycohen@illinois.edu
Dr. Amy Cohen received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Criminology from the University of Miami. She received her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University, where her research and clinical work focused on applied behavior analytic (ABA) strategies for learners with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Dr. Cohen completed her doctoral internship at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital, specializing in delivering evidence-based psychotherapy to children, adolescents, and families. She received advanced training during her postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina in the division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, where Dr. Cohen specialized in the assessment of developmental disabilities, with a focus on the early identification and diagnosis of ASD. Additionally, Dr. Cohen completed a secondary, interdisciplinary fellowship through the South Carolina Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND).
Dr. Cohen returned back to her home state to join the University of Illinois faculty as a Clinical Assistant Professor in 2015, serving as the Director of the Psychological Services Center since 2017. In her role at the PSC, Dr. Cohen also directs the University of Illinois Autism Clinic, where she trains doctoral level clinicians in the assessment and diagnosis of ASD across the lifespan. Dr. Cohen’s research interests include the symptomatology of ASD in women and girls, and supporting the transition to motherhood in caregivers with ASD. In addition to her work in the PSC, Dr. Cohen is a co-investigator on a federally funded grant investigating the association between child and maternal gesture use and dyadic language in order to inform intervention for early language development in Fragile X syndrome.
PSC Office Manager:
Sara Dubson, B.S.
dubson@illinois.edu
I graduated from Illinois State University in 1993 with my B.S in Criminal Justice and Sociology. I’ve worked at the University of Illinois since 1996 and I’ve been at the PSC since 2010. In my time away from the office I enjoy spending time with my family and rescuing and fostering dogs.
PSC Assistants:
Yang Lu, M.S.
Yang is a doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program. He is originally from Shanghai but spent over a decade in Southern California, where he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a specialization in Clinical Psychology at the University of California—San Diego. His research examines the relationship between social contexts and alcohol consumption. Currently, he is working with large datasets to investigate risk factors for poor intoxication self-awareness. In his free time, Yang likes to take photos of friends, natural landscapes, and good food.
Alysia Berglund, B.A.
Alysia is a doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program. She is originally from Honolulu, Hawaiʻi and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Her research interests involve examining differences in emotional and cognitive processes in people on the schizophrenia-spectrum, identifying risk and resilience factors for individuals at risk for psychosis, and destigmatizing serious mental health problems. In her free time, she enjoys painting and baking sweets.
Catherine Conway, B.S.
Catherine Conway is a doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Western Michigan University, and is originally from Nashville, TN. Her research interests include the underlying mechanisms of cognition-emotion interactions in depression and anxiety-related disorders, and how alterations in these pathways may predict maintenance of these conditions or likelihood of remission. In her free time, she enjoys being outdoors, reading, or laying on the couch with her pug.
Megan Finnegan, M.S.
Megan Finnegan is the neuropsychology coordinator at the PSC working under the supervision of Dr. Wendy Heller. Megan is a dual doctoral student in the clinical-community psychology and neuroscience programs. Her research focuses on developing new methods to identify patterns in the activity of brain networks, characterize neurobiological markers of risk and resilience to depression and anxiety, and to apply these insights to inform advancements in biologically informed artificial intelligence. She enjoys learning new programming languages, travels abroad, and backyard gardening.
