Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Michael Liuzzi graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in psychology and journalism from Gonzaga University. He went on to receive his M.A. in psychology from San Diego State University under the mentorship of Dr. Jillian Lee Wiggins in the Translational Emotion Neuroscience & Development Lab. In 2020, he joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program under the mentorship of Dr. Christine Larson in the Affective Neuroscience Laboratory. At UWM, his research utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the longitudinal impacts of and relationships between acute trauma and psychopathology, such as depression and PTSD, in youth. His dissertation examined the neurobiology of shame, its neural correlates in youth that experienced trauma, and its potential role in the development of future psychopathology. Michael’s research, including his dissertation, was supported in part by an NIH TL1 START Mentored Research Training Program grant through the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He is currently completing his clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship (Child Track/pediatric specialty) at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and Hasbro Children’s Hospital. At Brown, Michael continued his research under the mentorship of Dr. Laura Stroud, with a focus on understanding the neurobiological impacts of early life stress on social acceptance in adolescents. Upon the completion of internship, Michael is excited to be starting his postdoctoral fellowship in pediatric psychology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. Michael is incredibly grateful for the boundless support of his family, friends, and mentors.