Lab Members

Julia Parish-Morris, Ph.D.

Director

Julia Parish-Morris is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Scientist at the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a developmental psychologist, Dr. Parish-Morris studies clinical language and social attention phenotypes across the lifespan in individuals with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric differences. Specifically, she uses computational approaches – including NLP and machine learning – to quantify social communication, with a focus on understudied subgroups like autistic girls. Dr. Parish-Morris graduated magna cum laude from Smith College, and earned her PhD in Developmental Psychology at Temple University, with postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pennsylvania and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She has lectured about communication and social attention at conferences and workshops both nationally and internationally, and is the recipient of multiple prestigious fellowships and awards from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Autism Science Foundation, and the American Psychological Association. 

Post-Doctoral Researchers

Ashlee Yates Flanagan, Ph.D.

Dr. Yates Flanagan, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Autism Research and is mentored by Julia Parish-Morris, PhD. Dr. Yates Flanagan received her doctorate in School Psychology from Tulane University and holds a master's degree in Counseling from New York University. She completed her APA-accredited internship with the University of Tennessee Psychology Consortium, where she also trained in the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities program. As a result of Dr. Yates Flanagan’s leadership role during her internship, she was listed as a 2022 Emerging Leader for the Association of University Centers on Disabilities. As a fellow at the Center for Autism Research, she serves primarily in two distinct roles: clinician and researcher. 

Ultimately, Dr. Yates Flanagan’s research aims include co-constructing culturally responsive research designs for children on the autism spectrum and families identifying as Black, that explore early identification of ASD, gaps in services related to ASD, and caregivers’ perspectives and experiences of ASD services. 

Current Clinical Research Assistants

Amanda Lee

Amanda Lee is a Clinical Research Assistant within the SoAL Lab. She primarily leads the Sex and Gender in Autism (SAGA) Study, which investigates sex differences and gender development in children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder, with a focus in females and gender diverse populations that have been traditionally understudied in research. She also assists in Floreo, an intervention study meant to improve police safety skills with Autistic individuals. Her research interests include social communication development in neurotypical and neurodivergent groups and bridging the gaps between community stakeholders and their access, inclusion, and collaboration in research and healthcare.

Amanda received her B.S. in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience with a double major in Psychology from Virginia Tech in 2021. Prior to joining the SoAL Lab, Amanda was the Lab Manager for Dr. Anna Fisher’s Cognitive and Social Development Lab at Carnegie Mellon University, where she helped lead two studies: the Conversations Project: Let’s Talk About Racism, a strengths-based learning experience with youth that explores historic roots and present-day manifestations of systemic racism, and the Diverse Books Project, an intervention study examining how diverse children’s books can be used to foster positive racial socialization in children. Amanda plans to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology in order to strengthen her research interests and continue working alongside community members. 

Meg Lyons

Meg works at the SoAL lab as a clinical research assistant. She assists a variety of studies under Dr. Julia Parish-Morris including the Digitizing Human Vocal Interaction study, the Sex and Gender in Autism Study (SAGA), and many of the collaboration studies the lab supports. Meg also trains student interns on transcription for various projects and grants within SoAL as well as maintains communication with the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) at the University of Pennsylvania.

Meg graduated summa cum laude from the George Washington University in May 2023, receiving a B.A. in Honors Psychological and Brain Sciences as well as a B.A. in Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies. As an undergrad, Meg worked with Dr. Michelle Stock in the Health Cognitions and Behavior Lab aiding research that utilized social psychological theories to understand risky health cognitions and behaviors with a focus on racial and gender discrimination. Meg intends to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology to further her interests in child development and behavioral healthcare.   

Sarah Schillinger

Sarah works at the SoAL Lab as a clinical research assistant. She supports several of Dr. Parish-Morris's studies, including the Sex and Gender in Autism (SAGA) study which explores differences in the development of children with autism based on gender and based on congruence versus incongruence with assigned sex at birth. She also supports and manages student interns for several language projects, which aim to predict autism diagnoses through analyzing early infant vocalizations and social interactions between young children and caregivers.

Sarah earned a B.A in Psychology from Grinnell College in 2023 with concentrations in Neuroscience and Linguistics. As an undergraduate student, she worked with Dr. Ann Ellis exploring how preschoolers scan faces of same and other races, and worked with Dr. Paula Yust studying friendship in preschool-aged children. Additionally, she worked at the Grinnell College Preschool as an assistant teacher for four years. She hopes to continue working with children and conducting research with a PhD in Clinical Psychology.

Calli Faulk

We are so excited to welcome Calli to the lab! 

Bio coming soon.

Current Undergraduate Students:


Keshvi Chheda

Keeana Dicette

Mia Gallagher

Eva Levy

Jessica Lip

Jana McClary

Ivana Obima

Allison Pearlman

Genevieve Raju

Nisa Rufaida

Emely Seda

Nirvaa Shah

Marion Schroder

Nyla Taliaferro

Samantha Valdes

Sanjana Vinjamuri

Annie Wu

SoAL Lab & Undergraduate Students, Summer 2024