Lab Members

Ph.D Students

Melody Asghari

Melody Asghari received both her B.A. degree with Honours in Psychology and M.A degree in Clinical Developmental Psychology from York University. Melody is currently completing her Ph.D. degree in the Clinical Developmental Psychology program at York University under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Connolly. Her research focuses on adolescent development and mental health with a central focus on interpersonal relationships, specifically romantic relationships, dating aggression, girls’ aggression and prevention/intervention for youth involved in sex trafficking. Melody’s dissertation focuses on the development of a screening tool used for identifying risk factors associated with sex trafficking involvement.
Email: masghari@yorku.ca

 

Kyla Baird

Email: bairdka@yorku.ca

 

Massimo Di Domenico

Massimo is currently on internship.

Email: mdidomen@yorku.ca

 

Dr. Kyla McDonald

Kyla McDonald received her B.Sc. degree with Honours in Psychology from Trent University (2011) and completed an M.A. (2013) and Ph.D. in Psychological Science (life span development stream) at Ryerson University (2017), where she studied the development of trust in preschoolers. Kyla is currently pursuing additional training in York University’s Clinical Developmental doctoral psychology program under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Connolly in the Teen Relationships Lab. She completed her doctoral-level Academic Breadth Comprehensive requirement research at the Hospital for Sick Children examining stress and coping in parents of children with neonatal brain injury. Her current research interests focus on protective factors for at-risk youth, the role of culture in romantic relationships, and prevention/intervention for youth involved in sex trafficking. Kyla’s dissertation aims to build a specialized model of care for youth survivors of human trafficking in the child welfare system using a participatory action framework.
Email: kylamcd@yorku.ca

 

Katherine Wincentak


Katherine Wincentak is finishing her Ph.D. in Clinical-Developmental Psychology.  Throughout her training and career, Katherine has worked with diverse research and clinical populations, with a commitment to leadership in program development, community collaboration, and knowledge mobilization.  She has presented her work at international conferences and she has co-authored peer reviewed papers on adolescent social development and teen dating violence. Currently, her research is focused on understanding the capacity of young people to demonstrate resilience after experiencing significant adversity.
Email: wincentak@yorku.ca

 

M.A Students

Katherine Benvenuto

Katherine Benvenuto received her B.Sc. degree with Honours in Psychology from York University (2017) and has been working in the Teen Relationships Lab since 2015. She has worked on the YR-CAS project and Sex Trafficking project in addition to participating in research on adolescent romantic relationships and the impact of early adversity on emerging adult sexuality. Currently, Katherine is a first year masters student in the Clinical Development Psychology program at York University under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Connolly in the Teen Relationships Lab. Her current research interests include romantic relationships, sexual and mental health, emotion regulation, early adversity, risk and resilience factors among at-risk youth, and the prevention and intervention of sex trafficking.
Email: kb15@my.yorku.ca

Research Assistants

Riana Fisher

Riana is very enthusiastic to be part of The Teen Relationships Lab as a Research Assistant. She received her Honours BA in Psychology at York University, where her interest in research was quickly developed. She plans to pursue graduate studies in clinical psychology. Her main research interests include trauma and adversity, high risk family and romantic relationships, and resiliency. She is eager to learn more about these topics in The Teen Relationships Lab.
Email: rianaf93@my.yorku.ca