People

Daniel J. Taylor, Ph.D., D,BSM, D,ABSM

Dr. Taylor is a Full Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona, a licensed psychologist, and board certified in both Sleep Medicine and Behavioral Sleep Medicine. Dr. Taylor is an expert in multiple sleep related domains, including assessment, epidemiology and treatment of sleep disorders (e.g., primarily insomnia, nightmares, and circadian rhythm disorders) comorbid with medical and mental health disorders (e.g., depression, PTSD) in a variety of populations (e.g., college, young adult, military, veterans, older adults). Dr. Taylor has particular expertise in randomized controlled trials of CBT for insomnia (CBTi) or digital CBT for insomnia (dCBTi), including all Good Clinical Practice oversight and training and supervising the therapists. Dr. Taylor has been the PI on multiple randomized clinical trials and has expertise in examining Cognitive Behavioral Therapy of Insomnia (CBTi) as a primary or adjunctive treatment in patients with comorbid mental or physical health problems, with particular attention focused on improving psychosocial functioning and the comorbid disorder as a secondary or exploratory outcome. Dr. Taylor completed the 2006 NIH Summer Institute: Design and Conduct of Randomized Clinical Trials.

Dr. Taylor has started to move into the realm of dissemination and implementation research. In some respects, he has been on the forefront of CBTi dissemination efforts. He was PI of a DoD grant (W81XWH-17-1-0165) to develop an online training program for training therapists in CBTi (www.cbtiweb.org) in an effort to overcome the current barriers of too few therapists and two few, or too far, training opportunities. He is currently a Co-I, functioning as an MPI, on a grant developing Virtual Insomnia Patients (HT94252311080), which will be used to further train newly trained therapists to competence by having them deliver CBTi to an Artificial Intelligence patient based off patient audio and fidelity ratings from his previous randomized clinical trials.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/daniel-taylor

Curriculum Vitae

Google Scholar Profile

POST-DOCTORAL STUDENTS

Becca Campbell, Ph.D.

Becca Campbell grew up in Pittsburgh, PA, and earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Religious Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of Arkansas and did her internship at the University of Arizona Medical Center. Her research digs into how sleep issues and emotion regulation connect, especially when it comes to trauma-related disorders. When she’s not working, you can find Becca playing board games, diving into Dungeons & Dragons campaigns, reading, or hanging out with her dog, Luna.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/rebecca-campbell

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Samantha Nagy, M.S.

Sam is currently a fifth-year graduate student at the University of Arizona. She is originally from Detroit, MI and previously worked at Oakland University in Rochester, MI and at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. She graduated with her master’s in experimental psychology with a focus in behavioral health in August 2018 from Oakland University under the mentorship of Dr. Scott Pickett. Her broad research interests include sleep, insomnia, shift work, posttraumatic stress disorder, emotion regulation, mindfulness, and intervention outcomes. Her recent work has focused on daily sleep parameters and their association with stress, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and presenteeism in shiftworking nurses. She also has extensive experience in the treatment of insomnia, shift work disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders, as well as serving as a co-lead for the department's suicide assessment team. When she's not working, she enjoys hiking (not rock climbing!), cooking/baking, painting mediocre watercolors of plants, reading (fiction), and crafting. While she may not be a Tucson native, she’s definitely enjoying the year-round sun and good weather (despite the heat), as well as spending time scouting out local restaurants and snuggling with her two cats.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/samantha-nagy

Kelly Kim, M.A.

Kelly is a fourth-year student in the Clinical Psychology program. She was born in Korea, spent her childhood in New Zealand, and has lived in many states, including NJ, CT, PA, GA, and now AZ! She received her B.S. in Psychology and Creative Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. Her undergraduate work under the mentorship of Dr. Kathryn Roecklein at the University of Pittsburgh focused on the relationship between sleep and ADHD symptoms in depression. Upon graduation, Kelly worked for one year as a project coordinator before starting as a graduate student at UA. Her primary research interests are in methodology and temporal relationships between sleep and mental health. Much of her research utilizes intensive longitudinal designs and advanced quantitative methods (e.g., multilevel modeling) to examine daily relationships between sleep and depression and predictors of change in behavioral sleep medicine interventions, especially in special populations (e.g., shift workers, athletes, emerging adults). Outside of research, she serves on the department's DEI committee, the suicide assessment team, and co-leads a book club. In her free time, Kelly enjoys listening to podcasts, reading, playing the piano, painting, and doing outdoor activities.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/kelly-kim

Jackie Leete, M.A.

Jackie is a fourth-year doctoral candidate at the University of Arizona in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. She grew up in Fairfield, Iowa and received her undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut where she studied Neuroscience and Behavior. Her undergraduate summer research internship at Brown University in Dr. Mary Carskadon’s sleep lab sparked her interest in the field of sleep research. After graduating from college, she worked for two years at the NIH in Bethesda, MD as a postbaccalaureate research fellow under the mentorship of Dr. Jessica Gill, where she focused on blood-based biomarker research related to insomnia, sleep, and traumatic brain injury. At Arizona, Jackie has broad experiences and interests in sleep and insomnia research. In her free time, she enjoys hiking Tucson’s beautiful desert trails, playing tennis, and training for sprint triathlons.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/jacqueline-leete

Karla Vinces, B.S.

Karla is a first-year graduate student at the University of Arizona in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. She calls Fresno, CA home but has lived in Southern California for the past 5 years where she received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Irvine. Her undergraduate work, primarily under the mentorship of Dr. Sara Mednick in the Sleep and Cognition (SaC) Lab, sparked her interest in examining the pivotal role sleep plays in shaping memory formation, consolidation, and retrieval. After graduation Karla joined the Behavioral Activity Sleep and Education (BASE) Lab led by Dr. Ariel Neikrug where her work focused on the relationship between sleep and cognition in older adults with insomnia. She is looking forward to continuing her work to better understand the underlying mechanisms, risk factors, and comorbidities associated with insomnia, as well as examining their downstream influence on sleep and biopsychosocial health. In her spare time Karla enjoys cooking, reading, watching reality TV and rock climbing (especially outdoors!).

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/karla-vinces

LAB AFFILIATES

Hatty Lara, M.S., M.A.

Hatty is a fourth-year graduate student at the University of Arizona in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program. She graduated with a B.S. in Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso and an M.S. in Psychological Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. In between school, she worked as a Research Assistant at UT Southwestern Medical Center and then as a Project Coordinator at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso for cancer prevention programs. Now, she is gaining clinical training in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and insomnia interventions. Hatty is particularly interested in working with English and Spanish-speaking children and families using evidence-based practices to promote mental health in underserved communities. Her research interests include early adversity, sleep, and child development. She also serves on the department's DEI committee. In her free time, she enjoys cycling, seeing local bands, and the outdoors.

https://psychology.arizona.edu/person/hatty-lara