People

Alex Cohen is a licensed clinical psychologist who focuses on understanding and improving the lives of individuals with serious mental illnesses. His work focuses on adapting biobehavioral technologies, notably automated computerized analysis of natural behavior, for assessing a wide range of clinical issues, including suicidality, depression, psychosis, mania and anxiety. His work has been featured in top psychology and psychiatry scientific journals, and he has received funding at the state, federal and international levels.

For his efforts, he was recently awarded the 2021 Lewis Opler prize from the International Society for CNS Clinical Trials. He is currently adjunct at Pennington Biomedical Research Center and LSU Health Sciences, and he maintains a team of doctoral students and undergraduate research assistants. His clinical team provides clinical services at a variety of outpatient and inpatient clinics in the greater Baton Rouge area.

Fun Fact: Alex is possibly the unluckiest, and most stubborn, of all fisherpeople in south Louisiana.

Research Interests:

• Exploring the personal narratives of individuals with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) in community mental healthcare and forensic settings to inform clinical practices.
• Investigating how individuals with SMI conceptualize and make sense of their illness to improve patient advocacy.
• Using qualitative research approaches to deepen the understanding of quantitative findings generated via natural language processing software.

Fun Fact:

Kamil likes to style and collect clothing. . . and take foodie photos.

Research Interests: 

• Attention and communication in people with schizophrenia
• Access to appropriate intervention

Fun Fact: Aubree cofounded the apparel line, HoneyPlease SD, which donates its profits to saving bees and educating people about their importance.  

Research Interests: 

•  Examining how differences in ethnic background between clinicians and clients may shape the presentation and clinical conceptualization of negative symptoms
• Investigating how social media use may influence psychosis symptoms and psychosis-related experiences
• Investigating the relationship between spirituality and psychosis-related experiences

Fun Fact: Ash is learning how to tattoo in her free time.

Research Interests:

• Using computational and mathematical models to investigate cognitive, behavioral, and neurobiological mechanisms in serious mental illness (SMI).
• Translating computational findings into quantitative tools and interventions to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment outcomes in SMI.

Fun Fact: George shares his home with a cat who is absolutely convinced she runs the place—and he hasn’t been able to prove her wrong yet.

 Research Interests: 

• Studying the relationship between language processing, cognition, and brain dysfunction, with an interest in clinical assessment and neuromodulation
• Investigating digital phenotyping of speech and language in neurodegenerative disease
• Studying how bilingual language experience shapes the neural organization of language and cognition

 Fun Fact: You can usually catch Zach listening to German rap or reapplying sunscreen. 

Research Interests:

• Developing computational approaches for psychological assessment and the early detection of psychopathology.
• Using natural language processing to identify speech markers associated with serious mental illness.
• Building AI-based tools to support clinical decisions in psychiatric assessment and treatment.

Fun Fact:

Ilia loves to travel and practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a combination that has led to him getting choked on mats all over the world.