Lara Minassians

Years in Lab: 2021-present

I graduated with honors from Occidental College (Oxy) with a degree in Psychology and minor in Critical Theory & Social Justice. Throughout my time at Oxy, I was a lead research assistant in the Behavioral Medicine Lab with my advisor, Dr. Patricia Cabral, investigating the varied health outcomes and experiences among underrepresented and marginalized groups. As a research volunteer in the Pediatric Pain Management Clinic at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Gold, I was involved in helping to coordinate tasks in different research projects on the topic of secondary traumatic stress, neurofeedback, and acceptance and commitment therapy. I was also a research intern at Embodied, working towards helping improve the social, emotional, and cognitive skills of children with autism. I am very excited to be a part of the vasopressin treatment trial working towards improving the health outcomes of children with autism through the innovative and important research taking place in the lab.