Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Rachel McDonald graduated magna cum laude and a presidential honors scholar, with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in women and gender studies, from West Virginia University. Following graduation, she simultaneously worked as a research coordinator at the Kennedy Krieger Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Roma Vasa and Amy Keefer, while obtaining a  Masters in psychological sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2020, she joined the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at Montclair State University (MSU), under the mentorship of Dr. Erin Kang. Her work at MSU focused on neural correlates of emotion dysregulation, and the constructs broader impact on the mental health of autistic youth. Rachel’s work has been recognized through various awards at national and international organizations. In 2024, Rachel joined The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University’s clinical psychology pre-doctoral internship program as the first resident within the Child-Autism Track. Rachel worked with Dr. Petya Radoeva in the Neuroimaging and Development Lab. Under Dr. Radoeva’s mentorship, she has extended her research in autism to include ascertainment of neural imaging using MRIs and closely examined the relationships between neural correlates and mental health conditions. She is looking forward to continuing her work at Brown as a postdoctoral fellow in the Adolescent/Young Adult Biobehavioral T32, mentored by Drs. Anthony Spirito and Steven Sheinkopf. Rachel is incredibly grateful for the unwavering support of her partner, mentors, family, and friends.