Highlights
Student Profile: Diana Whalen
by Susan McLaughlin
With a vociferous thirst for knowledge and a strong desire to help people, Diana Whalen (A&S G '13) is taking her bachelor's degree in psychology and pursing her interest in research as a doctoral candidate in Pitt's Department of Psychology. In addition, her hard work and academic accomplishments have earned her a position as a fellow with the University, Community, Leaders and Individuals with Disabilities Center.
“I studied developmental psychology during my undergraduate experience here at the University and just fell in love with doing research,” Whalen said. “It’s amazing to me to be able to use my work to have a positive impact on people’s lives.”
Currently in the third year of the Department of Psychology’s clinical and developmental PhD program, under the direction of Ronald Dahl, MD and Jennifer Silk, PhD Whalen is focusing on child-based research. Specifically, she’s studying children with mothers who have borderline personality disorder; how that impacts their parenting style and if that leads to differences in the ways their children develop.
“One component of my research relates to looking at emotional vulnerability in adolescents by studying their pupil dilation,” Whalen explains. “The child looks at a computer screen where a series of emotional faces appear. We then examine their pupil dilation to this emotional content and compare their reactions to children in a control group. My advisor has been using this technology since 2005 and all indicators are that pupil dilation studies work well. I hope to complete my work by the end of the year.”
Whalen hopes that her findings will help with developing preventative measures and treatments for mothers struggling with borderline personality disorder. She also hopes that by offering early interventions to the children, they can also be helped and not fall into a negative cycle.
“The University of Pittsburgh offers such a strong graduate program—I have been so fortunate to meet people from other programs and explore collaboration opportunities. Plus, the opportunity to work at world class facilities like Western Psychiatric Institute has given me invaluable experience,” Whalen concludes.
