Cali Salafia is a Ph.D. candidate in HDFS who plans to defend her dissertation and graduate in Spring 2025. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in philosophy from the University at Albany (SUNY) in 2017 and obtained a master’s degree in health psychology from Central Connecticut State University in 2020.

Cali has worked with her advisor and mentor, Dr. Keith Bellizzi, throughout the program on an NIH-funded longitudinal study examining resilience trajectories among over 550 individuals newly diagnosed with breast, prostate, and colorectal cancer. She was fortunate to engage in nearly every aspect of this project, from participant recruitment to presentations and publications. During her doctoral training, Cali developed research interests focused on medical decision-making and family communication regarding cancer risk and treatment. Her dissertation focuses on examining the sources of health information that women diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer utilized to inform their surgical decision-making. She carried out an online survey of more than 200 women, asking them to report the sources they used, how these sources influenced their surgical treatment decisions, and their level of decisional regret regarding their surgical treatment. Cali has just accepted a T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in Psycho-Oncology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, set to begin at the end of Summer 2025. She looks forward to moving to New York City and gaining additional training to pursue an academic research career.

Outside of work, Cali enjoys coffee shops, hiking in New Hampshire, reading fiction, hot yoga, and spending time with her loved ones.

Antonia Caba completed her PhD in Fall 2024. She earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from Miami University in 2018 and her master’s in public health from Yale School of Public Health in 2020. In her time at UConn, Antonia worked on quantitative and qualitative research projects related to the determinants of health and wellbeing among LGBTQ+ adolescents and young adults. Under the mentorship of Dr. Ryan Watson, Antonia contributed to an NIH-funded, longitudinal study of Black and Latinx sexual minority men’s HIV prevention practices and a national survey of LGBTQ+ adolescents’ health and wellbeing in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign. Antonia’s dissertation focused on the role of social media and the internet in LGBTQ+ adolescents’ identity development.

Currently, Antonia is a Research Associate at the UConn School of Social Work, where she is a member of the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood-UConn School of Social Work Research Partnership. She supports the evaluation of state- and federally funded early childhood initiatives and systems in order to ensure access to high-quality early childhood care and education for Connecticut families.

Outside of work, Antonia can be found cooking, baking sourdough bread, hiking, working on embroidery projects, and exploring and traveling throughout New England and beyond!

Ida Ghaemmaghamfarahani is a first-year PhD student specializing in Adulthood, Aging, and Gerontology under Dr. Keith Bellizzi’s mentorship. Originally from Tehran, Iran, Ida began her academic journey with an engineering degree from the University of Tehran. However, her deep interest in mental health and human behavior led her to pursue a master’s in clinical psychology. There, she explored how stressful life events affect psychological well-being in older adults, focusing on the roles of social isolation and emotion regulation. During her graduate studies, Ida joined the Iranian Research Center on Aging, where she researched cognitive aging and psychometrics, developing skills in assessment and measurement tools for older populations. She also gained clinical experience through a 3-month psycho-oncology observership in the palliative care unit at Firoozgar Hospital, a teaching hospital in Tehran, where she learned about the psychological needs of individuals facing advanced-stage cancer, and a 6-month clinical internship working with individuals with disabilities. These experiences broadened her understanding of therapeutic practices for diverse needs. After completing her master’s, Ida worked as a research assistant at the Tehran Institute of Psychiatry, collaborating with the WHO Collaborating Center for Mental Health in Iran on national suicide prevention projects.

Since moving to the U.S. in 2020, Ida has continued her research journey, working with Protect International Risk and Safety Services Inc. and at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, where she now contributes to NIH-funded projects on dementia and caregiving. At UConn, Ida is interested in exploring how chronic illnesses and aging-related challenges affect quality of life in older adults, with a focus on finding insights to support healthy aging and well-being.

Outside of her academic work, Ida enjoys walking her dog, spending time with her husband, and watching documentaries that delve into human behavior and the mind.