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Faculty

Carla Kmett Danielson, Ph.D.
Director of the Invictus Lab
danielso@musc.edu

Dr. Danielson received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Case Western Reserve University in 2003. She completed a Pre-Doctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology at the Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship Program at MUSC, followed by a 2-year, NIMH-supported Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the NCVC. Broadly, Dr. Danielson's research interests focus on treatment and prevention with high-risk adolescent and traditionally underserved populations, including basic and translational science studies that inform applied clinical research. Her particular areas of research and clinical expertise are in: 1) evaluating and disseminating integrated treatments for comorbid PTSD and substance use problems, as well as HIV sexual risk behaviors, among trauma-exposed adolescents, and 2) understanding the pathways from trauma and stress exposure to mental health problems. Dr. Danielson has been continuously extramurally funded (e.g., NIDA, NIMH, NIAAA, Brain & Behavior Foundation, SAMHSA) as an MUSC faculty member. Her studies include randomized controlled trials (RCTs), assessment and lab-based studies that focus on biomarkers and mechanisms underlying the etiology of PTSD, addiction, and other psychopathology among trauma-exposed young people (e.g., current NIMH R01 examining threat-related negative valence systems, child victimization, and anxiety), and mixed methods investigations related to m-Health intervention development and evaluation. 

Colleen A. Halliday, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
hallidca@musc.edu

Dr. Halliday is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1999 and completed her internship at the Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship Training Program. She joined the MUSC faculty in 1999. After a career hiatus due to child rearing beginning in 2005, she rejoined the faculty full time in 2015. Dr. Halliday currently serves as the Director of Research Training for the internship program.

Dr. Halliday's research interests broadly pertain to understanding, preventing, and addressing disparities in antisocial behavior, other mental health problems, and substance use children and adolescents. 

Cristina M. Lopez, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
lopezcm@musc.edu

Dr. Cristina M. López is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing and the Mental Health Disparities Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). She received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Florida State University. She completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical University of South Carolina (Charleston Consortium), followed by an Instructor position with Family Services Research Center (FSRC) from 2012-2013.

Dr. López’s research interests include identification of barriers to treatment engagement in mental health services, the use of culturally tailored interventions as a means of engaging specific high-risk ethnic groups in prevention and behavioral health services (e.g., HIV prevention, prevention of child maltreatment), increasing visibility and access of trauma related services to Latino and other underserved populations (e.g. Telemedicine), and assessment of provider-level factors that affect youth and family involvement in outpatient community-based therapy. In addition to her role as a researcher, Dr. López is a licensed clinical psychologist and serves as a clinical supervisor for pre-doctoral psychology interns at a school-based MUSC mental health clinic at Stall High School in North Charleston.

Austin Hahn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
hanha@musc.edu

Dr. Hahn received his bachelor's degree in child psychology from the University of Minnesota and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of South Dakota. He completed a predoctoral internship in Clinical Psychology at the Charleston Consortium Psychology Internship Program at MUSC followed by a NIDA-supported postdoctoral fellowship in the Addiction Sciences Division. Dr. Hahn's program of research is focused on (1) identifying malleable risk factors underlying substance use and risky sexual behavior; (2) innovative intervention approaches for reducing substance use and risky sexual behavior; and (3) advanced analytic approaches to understanding complex risk behavior. In addition to his research, Dr. Hahn is also a licensed clinical psychologist.

Staff

Charli Kirby
Invictus Lab Manager

Charli Kirby is the Lab Manager for the Invictus Lab. Formerly a research assistant in the Addiction Sciences division, she has worked at MUSC since 2018 and has been with the Invictus Lab since 2023. She has previously worked with adults, civilians, veterans, individuals, and couples with myriad co-occurring conditions and social circumstances, including PTSD, substance/alcohol use disorders, and relationship conflict. Charli received her BA in psychology & criminal justice from Anderson University. Prior to her work at MUSC, she was the first lab coordinator for the Center for Research in the Behavioral Sciences Research Lab at her alma mater and a victim services intern at her county's sheriff department—an experience that informs and drives her work still today. Charli is responsible for the daily coordination of the Lab and of the research study funded by Dr. Danielson’s K24 award, Mentorship and Research in HIV and Addiction Prevention Among Traumatized Youth. She is also the site coordinator for Dr. Danielson’s active R01 clinical trial, Evaluation of Clinical Effectiveness, Cost, and Implementation Factors to Optimize the Scalability of Treatment for Co-Occurring SUD and PTSD Among Teens.

Kayla Visser
EMPOWERR Program Coordinator
843-792-8356

Kayla Visser is the Program Coordinator for the EMPOWERR Program. Passionate about community level health, she previously served as a co-chair with Healthy Tri-County in the Charleston area and was recognized as “Community Champion of the Year” in 2021. Her professional interests include reducing unplanned pregnancy, STIs, drug and alcohol dependence, homelessness, and trafficking in adolescents and young adults, specifically those in or aging out of the foster care system. She has been involved in adolescent health education since 2019, is trained in many evidence-based risk reduction interventions, and is skilled in providing trainings around Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for alcohol and other substances to community partners. Kayla oversees the day-to-day operations of both the Risk Reduction and Prevention programming and the Family Tree substance use treatment programming at EMPOWERR.

Madison Lance
Health Educator

Madison Lance is a Health Educator for the National Crime Victims’ Research & Treatment Center’s EMPOWERR Program. She completed her BA in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies from Bucknell University in 2022. She is a trained Tobacco Treatment Specialist and has experience working with students in various capacities. Through her passion for teen wellness, she creatively engages students across Charleston, Berkley, and Dorchester counties.

Carly Polk, LPC
Human Services Coordinator

Carly Polk, LPC, currently works full time at MUSC’s National Crime Victim Research and Treatment Center as a Human Services Coordinator II. She completed her Bachelor of Science at Clemson University with a major in Psychology and a minor in Sociology in 2016, and completed her Master’s degree in Clinical Counseling at the Citadel in 2019. Prior to MUSC she worked as a forensic interviewer/Child and Family Therapist at Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center, providing trauma treatment to children and their families. She is trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy With Commercial Sexual Exploitation Components (TF-CBT-CSEC), Problematic Sexual Behavior Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (PSB-CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Risk Reduction Through Family Therapy (RRFT).

Ciara Robinson
Human Services Coordinator

Ciara Robinson is a Human Services Coordinator II with Family Tree. She has been working for MUSC Family Tree for 1 year working with families and treating adolescents struggling with substance use. Previously, she worked for the Department of Mental Health, for over 6 years, as a school-based clinician working with youth from elementary to high school and later working with adults. Ciara earned her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in family therapy modalities and is currently working on her license to be a Marriage and Family Therapist. In her career she has used several modalities to support youth and adults such as Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, Solution Focused Behavioral Therapy, and most recently Risk Reduction Through Family Therapy.

Tiarra Deleston
Human Services Coordinator

Tiarra Deleston is the Youth Recovery Support Specialist for Family Tree at the MUSC National Crime Victims’ Research & Treatment Center. Tiarra graduated with her bachelor’s in public health and human services and is a currently candidate for her MSW. She has been a case manager with a history of working with vulnerable children and adolescents in total for 6 years. Prior to her employment at MUSC, Tiarra was an intensive foster care case manager for the Department of Social Services.

Erin Bisca, LPC
Human Services Coordinator

Erin Bisca, LPC currently works part-time at MUSC’s National Crime Victims’ Research & Treatment Center as a Human Service Coordinator II, and part-time at the College of Nursing as a project therapist. She completed her BA in Biology with a minor in Neuroscience from the College of Charleston, and received her Masters degree in Clinical Counseling from The Citadel in 2017. Prior to MUSC, she worked as a forensic interviewer and therapist at Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center, providing trauma treatment to children and their families. She is trained in multiple trauma treatment modalities, to include Risk Reduction Through Family Therapy, Cognitive Processing Therapy, Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Alternatives for Families Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

Michaela Buckhannon, LISW-CP, MAC
Human Services Coordinator II- Family Tree SUD Therapist

Michaela Buckhannon, is a full time clinical social worker at MUSC’s Addiction Sciences Program within the Institute of Psychiatry. She is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW-CP), Masters Addiction Counselor (MAC), Certified Prevention Consultant (CPC), and approved to Supervise Social Workers with LLR in the State of South Carolina. She graduated with her Masters in Social Work from the University of Michigan in 2017. She has previously worked in community settings, non-profits, county government, hospitals, and school systems within the State of Michigan. She has provided cognitive behavioral therapy and substance use treatment since 2017 at two different health systems. Michaela is trained in Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), and Risk Reduction Through Family Therapy (RRFT). Michaela believes that people are not solely defined by their experiences or identities, but that they are resilient and have the power to adapt and grow. She has experience working with adolescents, adults, and families and the unique challenges they face. As a social work professional, she provides a safe and confidential environment, is a voice of compassion, and a facilitator of opportunities for growth in the process of change.

Interns

Gretchen Perhamus, M.A.

 Gretchen is a Ph.D. candidate in the Clinical Psychology Program at the University at Buffalo and currently on internship at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) as part of the Charleston Consortium Internship Program. She earned her B.A. in Psychology and Sociology from the Pennsylvania State University. After graduation, she worked for two years as an IRTA fellow in the Section on Mood Dysregulation and Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health, studying brain and behavioral correlates of pediatric irritability. Gretchen’s current research interests broadly involve applying a developmental psychopathology framework to examine the interplay between affective, social-cognitive, and psychophysiological factors in the development of youth externalizing problems. She is particularly disentangling theoretically distinct pathways to externalizing problems characterized by hyper- vs. hypo-arousal, as well as examining the potential overlap across these pathways. Gretchen will be starting as a postdoctoral fellow in the Invictus Lab starting August 2025.

Fellows

Rachel Siciliano, PhD

Dr. Rachel Siciliano completed her clinical internship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and obtained her doctoral degree in Clinical Science from Vanderbilt University in 2023. Her research focuses broadly on understanding and mitigating the impact of traumatic events in youth and families. Dr. Siciliano’s work is centered on examining biological and psychological patterns of reactivity and regulation, as well as social and contextual factors that contribute to resilience and risk in the development of psychopathology in high-risk youth. She is passionate about trauma-informed assessment and intervention, and dissemination evidence-based treatments.

Former Staff

Nathalie Slick, MS
Invictus Lab Manager & Program Coordinator II

Nathalie Slick, M.S. was the Invictus Lab Manager and Program Coordinator II for multiple studies within the lab. She completed her BS in Biology with a concentration in neuroscience from Pennsylvania State University. After college, she received her Master’s degree in Medical Science from Boston University in 2014 where she studied the ocular manifestations of chronic traumatic encephalopathy at the BU CSTE. Prior to arriving at MUSC, she worked as a clinical research coordinator in the Sports Medicine division at Boston Children’s Hospital and in the Adolescent Medicine division at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Curtisha Shacklewood, BS
CHARM Program Assistant

Curtisha Shacklewood was a program assistant for the CHARM study. She is originally from Sunrise, Florida. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor is criminology from Florida State University in 2018. She is currently enrolled in the Clinical Community doctoral program from the University of South Carolina, where she focuses on trauma, specifically community violence in underserved populations.

Kayla Hall, MS
CHARM Program Assistant

Kayla Hall was a program assistant for the CHARM study. She is originally from Glasgow, Kentucky. She received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Kentucky in 2017 and her master’s in applied clinical psychology from the University of South Carolina Aiken in 2021. Her previous research involvement includes topics such as childhood sexual abuse disclosure, substance abuse treatment outcomes, and perceptions of survivors of childhood sex trafficking. She plans to pursue a doctorate degree in clinical psychology to further her research and clinical interests in posttraumatic stress and substance abuse in adults and military veterans. Her hobbies include baking, trying new restaurants, and visiting her family in Kentucky.

Malayna Nesbitt, BS
Charleston Teen & Family EMPOWERR Program

Malayna Nesbitt was the Community Health Educator for the EMPOWERR program which aims to lower HIV infection rates and substance use among teens and young adults in the Charleston area who face higher risks. Malayna graduated from the College of Charleston receiving her Bachelor of Science in Public Health and minor in African American Studies. Malayna is also a master's candidate at the Medical University of South Carolina where she plans to receive her MPH with a concentration in Health Promotion and Health Behavior. Malayna’s general interests include health inequalities and disparities research. She was also a trained facilitator of various evidence-based interventions that are implemented into EMPOWERR’s health education programs.

Jessica Swaim, LMSW
Staff Clinician

Jessica Swaim, LMSW, was a staff clinician working with adolescents under the Family Tree Grant at MUSC’s National Crime Victims Research & Treatment Center. She completed her BS in Business Administration from North Carolina State University and her Masters in Social Work from the University of South Carolina. Prior to working at MUSC she was a forensic interviewer and trauma therapist at Dorchester Children’s Advocacy Center. She also worked as a therapist for the Department of Mental Health providing therapy to elementary and middle schoolers.

Former Lab Members: Where Are They Now?

Please click the name of each former lab member to be redirected to various websites (LinkedIn, Faculty Pages, etc.) to read more about where they are now.