HeRD Lab Team

Principal Investigator

Jenny M. Cundiff, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology  
Email: jmcundiff1@ua.edu 
​Phone: (205) 348-5083
Office Location: Gordon Palmer Hall 183
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Dr. Cundiff examines how our social lives contribute to poor physical health, and is particularly interested in how broad social factors like socioeconomic status and race may come to influence health through differences in everyday social interactions and experiences.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SMPsg7sAAAAJ&hl=en​

Graduate Students ​

Chris Wendel, M.S.
​Email: cjwendel@crimson.ua.edu
Chris is 5th-year Clinical Health Psychology doctoral student working with Dr. Jenny Cundiff. He is interested in early environment, adversity, resilience, and later mental and physical health outcomes. 

Clinical Internship: Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus Ohio
Robert D. Faulk, M.S., M.A. 
Email: rdfaulk@crimson.ua.edu
Office Location: Gordon Palmer Hall 186
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"Bobby" is a 4th-year Clinical Health Psychology doctoral student working with Dr. Jenny  Cundiff. He hails from Mobile, Alabama where he attended the University of South Alabama. There he earned his B.A. in Psychology, M.S. in Experimental Psychology, and M.A. in Sociology, and he was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. His primary research interests revolve around the relations among socio-environmental factors (e.g., stress, parenting, social status) and psychophysiological functioning. 

Google Scholar
Adrian C. Williams, M.S.
Email: acwilliams26@crimson.ua.edu
​
​Adrian is a 3rd-year Clinical Health Psychology doctoral student working with Dr. Jenny Cundiff. His research interest focuses on the psychological and biological mechanisms linking social-environmental influences on health. He is particularly interested in elucidating how social risk and protective factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, social relationships, stress, discrimination) translate into biological changes that impact mental and physical health.

Adrian is also a Pre-doctoral Scholar in the Health Policy Research Scholars program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

​https://healthpolicyresearch-scholars.org/meetthescholars/adrian-c-williams/
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Research Assistants  ​

Ronica Peramsetty 

​​Roni is a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Criminal Justice and is originally from Tuscaloosa, AL. She is working as a research assistant in Dr. Jenny Cundiff's lab to analyze the biological mechanisms that link social and environmental factors to health. She is particularly interested in Clinical Psychology and plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Psychology after graduation. Her ultimate goal is to aid others in their overall well-being and personal development. 
Gavin Stoel 

Gavin is a senior at the University of Alabama working toward a bachelor's degree in both biology and psychology. He is a pre-medical student as well and hopes to attend medical school and specialize in psychiatry once he finishes his undergraduate degree.
Aimee Azar

Aimee is a senior at the University of Alabama majoring in Psychology with a minor in Addiction and Recovery studies. She plans to pursue a Master's in Mental Health Counseling with the goal of becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor in the future. 

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 Lab Alumni


​Riley O'Neill​

​Riley is from Alpharetta, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 2020 and worked as an undergraduate Research Assistant in the Health Relationships and Disparities Lab with Dr. Cundiff. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D in Clinical Psychology at the University of Arizona.  
Nicoletta Valenzano
​
​Nicoletta is a senior at the University of Alabama working on dual-degrees in Psychology and Public Health, with interests in mental and physical health issues pertaining to overall public health and their implications on society.