Project Coordinators

Ashby Cogan | Project Coordinator

Contact: acogan@berkeley.edu

Ashby Cogan is a Project Coordinator with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. Ashby works primarily on the National Institute of Aging (NIA) Study, supporting personnel training and operations, conducting assessments, and supporting participants through the research study. Before coming to the GBSMRC Ashby’s first experience in the science of behavior change was through the lens of applied behavior analysis in work with non-human learners. After this spurred post-baccalaureate studies at UC Berkeley, Ashby worked with Dr. Ann Kring as a site coordinator on an R01 study examining lifelong health outcomes in a 1950s birth cohort and administered multimodal assessments including fMRI. Ashby’s research interests include treatment development and implementation, particularly, how to help clinicians and clients get the most out of their treatment sessions and how to help learning from treatment transfer to the rest of life. A trained mezzo-soprano, Ashby enjoys opera, hiking, and shaping behavior by successive approximation in dog sports.

Rafael Esteva Hache | Project Coordinator

Contact: rafael.esteva@berkeley.edu

Rafael Esteva Hache is a Project Coordinator and Sleep Therapist with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. As lead project coordinator in our National Institute of Aging Study, he oversees all study processes for this study. As a community facilitator and project coordinator in our National Institute of Mental Health study, he supports and trains community mental health leaders and service providers in implementing TranS-C with their clients. Additionally, he conducts client assessments, performs various data tasks, and manages our continuing education credit system for clinicians who train in Sleep Treatment. Before coming to Cal, Rafael worked in Peru as a campaign manager for congressional and presidential elections, and did research on electoral systems and their role in political and economic development. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale in 2019 with a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics. Rafael hopes to pursue a doctorate degree in clinical psychology. He is interested in treatment development, optimization, adaptation, and implementation for underserved populations, including LGBTQ+ and Latinx populations. In his leisure time, Rafael enjoys dancing salsa, cooking, and reading magical realism.

Yimei Jiang | Project Coordinator

Contact: yimei@berkeley.edu

Yimei is a Project Coordinator with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. She works on the National Institute of Aging (NIA) study, and her primary responsibilities are twofold: 1) study coordination, recruitment, supporting clients and study personnel to facilitate study progress, and 2) data coding, training undergraduate research assistants, and providing support to therapists on study measures. Yimei graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2023 with a BS in Psychology, Actuarial Science, and a minor in Statistics. During her undergraduate, Yimei worked under the guidance of Dr. Jessie Chin to research people’s decision-making processes and learning behaviors. Yimei’s research interests include mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and treatment development. Outside of research, she enjoys dancing, cooking, and photography.

Sophia Oliver | Project Coordinator

Contact: smoliver@berkeley.edu

Sophia (she/her) is a Project Coordinator and Sleep Therapist with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. She graduated summa cum laude from UC Davis with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Public Health Sciences. Sophia began as a Research Assistant for Dr. Allison Harvey in June 2021 working on projects involving memory support strategies, habit formation, and implementation and dissemination science. Throughout undergraduate, she participated in translational neuroscience research at UC Davis, and completed her honors thesis under the guidance of Dr. Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz examining how sleep quality may impact posttraumatic stress symptoms in those who have been exposed to community and gun violence. Her responsibilities within the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic include clinical assessments and treatment, recruitment, phone screening, scheduling, data acquisition, and training of undergraduate research assistants. Sophia’s research interests include transdiagnostic treatment development, violence exposure, and the effects of sleep quality on mental health outcomes. She will be applying to Clinical Psychology Ph.D.‘s in 2024.

Estephania Ovalle | Project Coordinator

Contact: estephaniao@berkeley.edu

Estephania Ovalle is a Project Coordinator and Sleep Therapist for the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic in Dr. Harvey’s lab. She graduated from UCLA in 2021 with a BA in Psychology and a minor in Cognitive Science. She began her research career working in Dr. Matthew Lieberman’s Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab. At UCLA, Estephania worked on various projects, as well as an independent research project in the Culture and Anxiety lab for Mental Health Advances (CALMA), under Dr. Denise Chavira. She also worked as a CBT coach with the Depression Grand Challenge and as a mindfulness coach on the Youth Mindful Awareness Program study. Her responsibilities in the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic include data management, providing sleep treatment, study coordination, and developing study protocol. Estephania’s research interests include treatment development and understanding the cognitive and behavioral differences in individuals experiencing mood-related disorders. In her free time, Steph enjoys traveling, painting, and watching horror films.

Nena Salazar | Project Coordinator

Contact: n.salazar@berkeley.edu

Nena Salazar is a Clinical Project Coordinator and Sleep Therapist in the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. She previously attended the UC Berkeley post-baccalaureate certificate program, where she conducted research as part of a treatment development team in the areas of treatment dissemination, implementation, habit formation, and transdiagnostic approaches to mental health. She completed her B.A. in psychology at Naropa University, where she trained extensively in mindfulness and compassion practices in conjunction with Eastern and Western psychology studies. She has worked in the Harvey lab since January of 2021 and now oversees the day-to-day operations of our large-scale habit formation study focusing on sleep and circadian functioning in young adults. Nena hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology. Her research interests include treatment development, dissemination, and implementation; habit formation, mindfulness, trauma, psychosis, and transdiagnostic approaches to mental health and disorder.

Julia Spencer | Project Coordinator

Contact: juliamarie_s@berkeley.edu

Julia is a Project Coordinator and Therapist with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. She has a BS in Molecular biology from Mills College and a Post Baccalaureate certification through the UC Berkeley Research Psychology program. Julia has 3 years of experience working as a patient care manager through Alameda Health Systems at Highland hospital, 3 years of experience as a research associate and clinical interviewer in a lab focusing on the effects of stress on mental health and has been working with Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic for the last year and a half. Julia’s research interests include the relationship between mental health and sleep outcomes, particularly considering resilience and coping from early life stressors. In the future, Julia plans to be working on a PhD in Clinical Psychology

Crystal Woo | Project Coordinator

Contact: crystalw@berkeley.edu

Crystal is a Project Coordinator with the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic. She graduated from UCLA in 2023 with a Cognitive Science B.S. and a Food Studies minor. She began as a research assistant in the Bjork Learning and Forgetting Lab. During this time, she worked on various projects and participated in different steps of the research process. Her responsibilities within the Golden Bear Sleep and Mood Research Clinic include scheduling, phone screening, administering assessments, and study coordination.