Alexandra L. Terrill, PhD

Alexandra L. Terrill, PhD, received her PhD in clinical psychology from Washington State University, with specialized training in clinical health psychology. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington in rehabilitation psychology. During her fellowship, she was involved in research on aging with physical disabilities associated with chronic conditions. Dr. Terrill is currently a faculty member at the University of Utah, Division of Occupational Therapy. Her research encompasses three basic areas: (1) stress, coping/adjustment, and chronic health conditions; (2) using strengths-based interventions (positive psychology); and (3) aging. Her broad goal is to improve our understanding of how social, psychological, and biological processes interact to affect individuals aging with a chronic condition and develop interventions that enhance productivity and quality of life from early to late adulthood. She is particularly interested in investigating and enhancing protective factors involved in the prevention of and adjustment to chronic medical conditions and associated disability.

Brandon Abbs, PhD

Brandon Abbs, PhD, earned his PhD in psychology from the University of Iowa and a BA in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was most recently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. During this fellowship, he was involved in research projects on the relationship between maternal infection during pregnancy and a child’s risk for schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, and early cognitive decline. He studied this relationship using neuroimaging and neuropsychology. He is currently a senior medical writer for a biotechnology company in Boston, where he composes documents needed to conduct clinical trials in oncology and to inform people about specific cancer types and available treatments.