Tori received a dual Bachelor’s in Spring 2022 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Psychology and Spanish. Shorly after, she joined the Nagy Lab and completed her Master’s of Science in Psychology degree in December 2024. Post graduation, Tori remains involved with several ongoing projects in the lab within a writing and data analysis role. Her research interests lie in social models/systems of health, illness, and chronic stress that operate in underserved populations, including the Latinx community.  

Elizabeth Montes holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She joined the lab in the spring of 2023 as a volunteer Research Intern, working on the Cultivando Fortaleza project. Currently, as the lab manager, Elizabeth oversees ongoing projects and is committed to making research accessible to the Latinx community by fostering and maintaining strong community connections. 

Norma completed a dual Bachelor’s degree from UWM in Psychology and Social Welfare. As an undergraduate student, she was very active in research and completed a senior thesis. Following graduation, Norma worked as a Case Manager for several years, where she served a crucial role in connecting community members with mental health and social resources. This experience allowed her to want to return to school so that she could not just connect community members with mental health services, but be the one to provide them in both English and Spanish. She chose to return to UWM once again to advance her education. Norma is passionate about community-engaged research as well as implementation science. For her master’s research,  Norma developed an innovative behavioral fidelity coding system – a process for evaluating adherence to the “Cultivating Resilience” intervention.

Prior to coming to UWM, Monica was a Research Study Coordinator at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. Her passions include examining the impact of intergenerational trauma on socioemotional development and the development of interpersonal relationships among Latinx families, mental health education, and the intentional dissemination of mental health resources among minoritized communities. In addition to being a graduate student, she is a community engagement specialist for HealWise (formerly Therapy4thePeople), a nonprofit dedicated to providing affordable local mental health resources to people of color and low-income individuals.

Sabreet Kaur Dhatt is a first-year Clinical Psychology Ph.D. student at UWM. Her research involves examining the cause of mental health disorders and symptoms in the context of culture, race, and environment to develop prevention practices and interventions for immigrant communities. In addition to identifying opportunities to build on community strengths, she is passionate about studying coping strategies and protective factors, such as mindfulness and resilience, to mitigate the impact of identity-specific and adverse life experiences. Actively involved in research at the Nagy Lab at UWM, she is working to become an independent researcher to reduce barriers to accessing treatment and mental health disparities among minoritized communities. 

Fabiola is a nursing PhD student at Loyola University in Chicago. She works clinically as a nurse while completing her research PhD degree. Her research interests lie in end-of-life care for Latinx communities. She is working with the Nagy Lab to gain experiences conducting community-engaged research with Latinx immigrant communities.

Miguel is an undergraduate RA at the Nagy Lab, with long-term plans of pursuing a Medical Degree. He joined the Nagy Lab to obtain clinical research experiences working with Latinx populations while completing his undergraduate degree.

Carisa is a second-year undergraduate student in psychology at UWM passionate about understanding mental health, particularly trauma and its impact on the development of various disorders. Her research interests include exploring trauma responses, long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences, and how mental illness can manifest across various individuals. She is motivated by both personal experience and a desire to improve the mental healthcare system. Beyond academics, she loves nature, especially hiking in peninsula state park, as well as listening to music and creating art in her free time! Her professional goals are not set in stone yet, however she will be pursuing her master’s degree in clinical psychology and potentially looking into PhD programs. Through this research and future clinical work, she hopes to advocate for a mental healthcare system that is more affordable and widely available to those in need! 

Marcia is an undergraduate RA at the Nagy Lab, with plans to pursue graduate education abroad to become a mental health clinician. She joined the Nagy Lab to gain hands-on experience in community-based mental health research while deepening her understanding of culturally responsive care for underserved populations.