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Julie Hicks Patrick, PhD
Department of Psychology
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
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Healthy Aging Lab Members

Members of the Healthy Aging Lab at WVU engage in high-level scholarship, effective teaching and meaningful professional service. Career goals vary across students, although most become faculty members at the institutions of their choice. See the Lab Alumni section for information regarding the current activities of Healthy Aging Alumni. 

Doctoral Students in the Lab

S. Alison Bolling, M.S. is a first-year doctoral student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Ph.D Program at West Virginia University (WVU) and joined the WVU Healthy Aging Lab in Fall 2023. She earned her MS in Psychological Science at UNCW.  Alison's research is primarily focused on individual well-being in family caregiving dyads as well as the decision making process in becoming a family caregiver. Currently, Alison is working on proposing a topic for her M.S. thesis and anticipates defending in 2024.

Carly E. Pullen, M.A. joined the lab in Fall 2021. Her interests include functional disability, ageism, intergenerational relations, and family processes. She proposed her M.S. thesis and anticipates defending in 2023. 

Amber Rusch, B.A., is a third-year doctoral student in the Lifespan Developmental Psychology Ph.D. Program at West Virginia University (WVU). She has been a member of the WVU Healthy Aging Lab since Fall 2021 and is a research fellow on the WVU Behavioral and Biomedical Sciences (BBS) T32 Training Program. Amber's research is largely focused on risk factors for cognitive decline, including examinations of adversity across the lifespan, health disparities (including aging in Appalachia), and social determinants of health as predictors for cognitive decline. Currently, Amber is examining the effects of adverse childhood experiences and social determinants of health as predictors of subjective cognitive decline for her Master’s thesis. 

Julie Hicks Patrick, PhD leads the Healthy Aging Lab. Dr. Patrick earned her doctorate from The University of Akron (OH). Prior to joining the faculty at WVU, she held positions at the Myers Research Institute at Menorah Park in Beachwood (Ohio) and at the Center on Aging at Bradley University (Peoria, IL). She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America, served on the Executive Committee of APA's Division 20 (Aging), and is the Editor of the International Journal of Aging and Human Development (Sage Publishing). She regularly reviews grant applications for the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Aging. She is the P.I. of the AGE-ADAR Scholars Program.