Attention, Impulsivity and Regulation (AIR) Our Team | UC Davis MIND Institute

Attention, Impulsivity and Regulation (AIR) Program Research Team

  • Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D.
    Director, ADHD Program

    Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D.

    Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D., is a Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the MIND Institute and leads the AIR/ADHD Program. Her research focuses on understanding and improving attention and impulsivity in children and adults, particularly those with ADHD, using cognitive neuroscience and behavioral techniques. She is developing tech-based tools, like virtual reality games, to boost attention and self-control. Her work, which incorporates fMRI, eye-tracking, and other methods, has earned numerous NIH and federal grants supporting studies in ADHD, autism, and substance use disorders. She is active in training translational scientists across UC Davis Health and is the Director of the Clinical and Translational TL1 Postdoctoral Training grant, a member of the CTSC Kitchen Cabinet,  Associate Director of the Mentored Clinical Research Training Program and is the Director of the UC Davis Schools of Health Mentoring Academy.

  • J. Faye Dixon, Ph.D.
    Clinic Director, ADHD Program

    J. Faye Dixon, Ph.D.

    Faye Dixon, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist with 30 years of experience in child mental health, focusing on depression, anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, and learning differences. She joined Julie Schweitzer's ADHD Program at UC Davis School of Medicine in 2008. She now consults on the MINT, DelTA, and VRAM studies and serves as the clinical director for the AIR Lab, overseeing community outreach and the ADHD Parent Education Group. She also volunteers in the UC Davis Psychiatry Department and has extensive experience training psychology and medical students.

  • Jared Borden, M.A.
    Research Coordinator

    Jared Borden, M.A.

    Jared Borden, M.A., is the Research Coordinator for the Mapping Impulsivity's Neurodevelopmental Trajectory (MINT) study in the Attention, Impulsivity, and Regulation (AIR) Laboratory. He received a Bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Physics from Colgate University and Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

  • Postdoctoral Trainee

    Catrina Calub, Ph.D.

    Catrina Calub, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral researcher at the UC Davis School of Medicine, working in the Clinical and Translational Science Center training program under Julie Schweitzer, Ph.D. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in a specialized healthcare program at Oregon Health and Science University and earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Her research is focused on understanding how behavioral, cognitive, and cultural factors relate to ADHD, with the aim of improving treatments for the condition. She received the 2022 CHADD Young Scientist Research Award for her work and potential contributions to ADHD research. Recently, she also received the Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation ADHD Award to study early childhood risk and protective factors for outcomes in youth with ADHD using data from the NIH-supported ECHO program.

  • Prerona Mukherjee, Ph.D.

    Prerona Mukherjee, Ph.D.

    Prerona Mukherjee, Ph.D., holds a Master’s degree in Cognitive Science and a Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, where her research focused on emotion and information processing in schizophrenia. With a background in computer science, she has extensive experience in the software industry.

    Her research investigates the interaction between emotion and cognition, particularly regarding self-control and attention in conditions such as ADHD and schizophrenia. She is interested in enhancing outcomes like academic achievement and resilience through innovative tools, including smartphone applications and virtual reality. Additionally, she is active in mental health outreach and volunteering.

Our Collaborators

University of California, Davis Collaborators

Deborah Bennett, Ph.D., - UC Davis Center for Health and the Environment

Joy Geng, Ph.D., - Center for Mind and Brain

Amanda Guyer, Ph.D., - Human Experiences and Affective Development Lab

Ana-Maria Iosif, Ph.D., - Division of Biostatistics

Peter Mundy, Ph.D.,- UC Davis MIND Institute

Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D., - Solomon Lab, UC Davis MIND Institute

Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Ph.D., - UC Davis MIND Institute, UC Davis Environmental Health Sciences Center

Outside Collaborators

Catherine Fassbender, Ph.D. - Department of Psychology, DCU Glasnevin Campus

Stephen Hinshaw, Ph.D. - Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley

Sam McClure, Ph.D. - Department of Psychology, Arizona State University

Murat Pakyurek, MD, Department of Psychiatry

Wouter van den Bos, Ph.D. - Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany, University of Amsterdam