Meet the Lab

Dr. Sarah Sass

Dr. Sass conducts research on the treatment and prevention of high levels of anxiety and depression, and approaches this work using various methods, including psychophysiological ones. The work aligns with culturally-informed treatment approaches and delivery methods that reduce barriers to care, particularly in rural populations. She collaborates with faculty and students in psychology, counseling, education and engineering. Her teaching areas include courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels.
ssass@uttyler.edu
903.566.7239
Curriculum Vitae for Dr. Sass

Kyle O'Brien

Kyle O'Brien is a Ph.D. Clinical Psychology student under Dr. Sarah Sass in the UT Tyler HEAL. He graduated from Texas A&M University - Central Texas with a B.S. In Psychology and went on to complete his basic biomedical sciences while contributing to research at UTMB on domestic violence in rural populations. Kyle has strong research interests in the areas of anxiety, depression, suicidality, well-being, psychophysiology, and psychopharmacology. At UT Tyler he has contributed to research projects using EEG event related potential techniques to develop attention bias tasks and explore attention bias in anxiety as well as attention bias modification in depression. Kyle has assisted in ongoing research for work-life balance and well-being as well as spirituality in adverse childhood experiences. His collaborative multidisciplinary research includes working alongside Dr. Indic in the Engineering department on using machine learning techniques to develop an algorithm using wearable watch sensors in the detection of suicide ideation, as well as collecting in-vivo data from a Ketamine infusion clinic. Currently Kyle is working collaborative with Dr. McCullumsmith & Dr. Schmitt at UTHSC and RAE Health on multidisciplinary research developing BRAIN health, a benzodiazepine taper clinic using wearable sensors and proprietary algorithms in stress, craving, sleep, and suicide ideation detection alongside neuropsychological assessments and self-report battery in the treatment of long-term benzodiazepine use with CBT and ACT group therapy techniques. Kyle will be graduating Summer 2026 and will be starting his post-doctoral fellowship at UT Health Tyler. 
kobrien@uttyler.edu

Jinu Mathew

Jinu completed his B.S. in Biomedical Science at Texas A&M University. His doctoral research interests include anxiety and depression in rural populations. He is also currently researching how emotion-attention tasks impact populations with varying levels of anxiety through the use of EEG. Jinu will be starting his pre-doctoral internship at UT Health San-Antonio in Summer 2026
jmathew@uttyler.edu

Priscillia Ihionkhan
Priscillia Ihionkhan is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at The University of Texas at Tyler. Her research examines the psychological impact of childhood food insecurity, with a particular focus on anxiety, depression, body image concerns, and disordered eating among college students and other underserved populations. Broadly, she is interested in how sociocultural and environmental factors shape mental health outcomes and in developing culturally responsive approaches to care. Priscillia earned her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington and her M.A. in Psychology from Stephen F. Austin State University. She will begin her predoctoral internship at the Texas Tech University Counseling Center in Summer 2026.
pihionkhan@uttyler.edu

Isabella Ferrara

Isabella is a second-year doctoral student. She received her B.S. in Psychology from Texas Christian University. Her research interests include eating disorders, emotional regulation, anxiety, and family dynamics.
iferrara@uttyler.edu

Benjamin DiGiovanna

Ben is a first-year doctoral student whose received his B.A. in Psychology the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and his M.S. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas at Tyler. He is an Air Force veteran and reservist whose general research areas target mental health challenges that disproportionally affect veteran communities, such as depression, anxiety, trauma, and suicidality. His goals are to investigate and validate emerging treatments, tools, and brief interventions that improve care for veterans, while also supporting military readiness and resiliency. Presently, Ben collaborates across labs to integrate psychophysiological and neuroscience methods (EEG, HRV,  eye tracking) for attention and anxiety with innovative applications in UT Tyler's ELEVATE lab.

MASTERS STUDENTS
Ashley Arreola Langarica
Daniel Bankard
Benjamin DiGiovanna
Karlie James
Sarah Tran
Bailey Robertson

RECENT LAB ALUMNI
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Joe Coleman
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