Current Graduate Students

Alyssa Izquierdo (She/Her)

Alyssa is currently a 7th year graduate student in the Impulse Lab. Alyssa received her Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and psychology from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. Prior to graduate school, she worked for 3 years as a research coordinator at Massachusetts General Hospital. She worked on a longitudinal study that explored the pathophysiology of low-weight eating disorders in young women. During graduate school, Alyssa’s program of research involves investigating mechanisms that underlie and differentiate disordered eating behaviors using multiple methods, including neuroimaging, behavioral measures, and self-report. Her publications to date have examined how nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior co-occur with eating disorder pathology in clinical and non-clinical populations. Alyssa is currently preparing her dissertation project, which will examine neural sensitivity to reward and punishment and how these processes relate to disordered eating in adolescent girls and boys over time. Alyssa completed the Anxiety and Eating Disorders externship at Children’s National Hospital during the 2023-2024 academic year and will be applying to clinical internships in Fall 2024. 

Leo Augustus Miller (He/Ze/Xe)

Leo is currently a 4th year doctoral student in the Impulse Lab. Leo received Zir B.S. in psychology, with a minor in neuroscience and certificate in sexuality studies from the University of Kentucky. Prior to graduate school, he worked for two years within University of Kentucky Healthcare as a Mental Health Associate in behavioral health units, and as a research assistant on projects involving LGBTQ* adoptive families, treatment innovation, and investigating transdiagnostic mechanisms that influence alcohol use, eating disorders, and substance use. During graduate school, Leo’s program of research currently is to fill the gaps inside specific treatment interventions for eating disorders and alcohol use, alongside investigating the potential role of LGBTQ* minority stress and Gender Dysphoria in the development and maintenance of problematic drinking and disordered eating in LGBTQ* individuals. He is also working to investigate neurobiological measures with LGBTQ* individuals. Leo considers himself a scholar-activist, where zir actively engages in activist work with LGBTQ individuals and has a strong passion to use zir research to educate others.

Michelle Lindsey Harlan (She/Her)

Michelle is currently a 3rd year doctoral student in the Impulse Lab. Prior to beginning her training at George Mason, Michelle obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Art History with minors in Psychology and Italian Studies from Elon University in 2020 and her Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2021. Michelle then worked for two years as a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Center for Translational Research at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. During graduate school, Michelle’s program of interest will investigate the impact of emotional distress and socio-cultural factors on the development and maintenance of comorbid restrictive and disordered eating behaviors, depressive symptoms, and suicidality in adolescents and young adults.

Rebecca Rose Mendoza (She/Her)

Rebecca is currently a 3rd year doctoral student in the Impulse Lab and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow (NSF GRFP). Rebecca received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Science, Technology and Society Studies from San Diego State University in 2023. Prior to graduate school, she worked for two years as a research assistant in the Body Image, Sexuality, & Health (BISH) Lab at San Diego State University. During graduate school, Rebecca’s program of interest will broadly include examining the sociocultural factors that influence eating disorder development and maintenance of disordered eating and body image concerns, especially in child and adolescent populations.