HABIT Lab - People - Department of Psychology

James Murphy, Ph.D. (he/him/his) Director Education and Training Dr. James Murphy is a Dunavant Professor of Psychology at the 福利片国产 of Memphis and previously served as the Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program. He completed his doctoral degree at Auburn 福利片国产 in 2003 and an Addiction Research Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brown 福利片国产 in 2006. Dr. Murphy鈥檚 addiction research has been continuously funded by the National Institute on Health for the past 20 years. He has served as a grant reviewer for several NIH study sections and is an Associate Editor for the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. He is a fellow in APA Division 50 (Society of Addiction Psychology) and Division 28 (Psychopharmacology) and has served as a mentor or co-mentor on over 15 federally funded dissertation or early career development fellowship awards (i.e., NIH F and K awards). He has published over 220 papers and chapters related to the etiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders. Dr. Murphy has developed novel brief intervention approaches that reduce drinking and drug use and tested the effects in a number of randomized clinical trials with young adults, military veterans, and other high-risk populations. His research has helped to establish the efficacy of brief alcohol interventions with a variety of young adult populations, expanded their reach by developing novel computerized and mobile technology-delivered adaptations, and identified the particular components that are most efficacious. His research also explores novel behavioral economic predictors of substance use severity and treatment outcome, and he has developed novel behavioral economic approaches to enhance addiction treatment.
Ashley Dennhardt, Ph.D (she/her/hers) Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2013 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of Arts, Psychology & Spanish, 2006 福利片国产 of Iowa, Iowa City, IA Dr. Ashley Dennhardt is a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her B.A. from the 福利片国产 of Iowa in 2006, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the 福利片国产 of Memphis in 2013 with a clinical internship at the Memphis VA Medical Center. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the HABIT lab that allowed her to continue her research on brief interventions and factors that contribute to substance use and poor response to intervention. She served as project director of several NIH-funded studies during this time. Dr. Dennhardt continues to work alongside Dr. Murphy in the HABIT lab as a Research Assistant Professor and teaches several UofM Global courses. Her research interests include addictive behaviors, brief interventions and behavioral economic and affective factors that contribute to poor response to substance use interventions.
Will Davis, B.G.S. (he/him/his) Doctoral Student Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2024-present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of General Sciences, Psychology, 2022 福利片国产 of Kansas, Lawrence, KS. Will graduated from the 福利片国产 of Kansas in 2022 with a degree in Psychology. He now studies the behavioral economics of substance use, substance use treatment, and harm reduction strategies.
Ebonie White, B.A. (she/her/hers) Doctoral Student Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2024-present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 2020-2023 Winthrop 福利片国产, Rock Hill, SC Ebonie graduated from Winthrop 福利片国产 in December 2023 with a B.A. in Psychology. She had experience with research in Winthrop's Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program and furthered her research interests in the Diversity in Addiction Research Training Program at the Medical 福利片国产 of South Carolina. The overarching goal of her research is to help address and reconcile disparities associated with receiving and maintaining help for substance use. She is particularly passionate about examining ways to impact substance misuse in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, racially marginalized communities, and other underserved populations.
Destinee Cruthird, B.A. (she/her/hers) Masters student Education and Training Master of Science, Psychology, 2023-present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 2020 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Destinee graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, in Psychology at The 福利片国产 of Memphis in 2020. Her current interests include examining heavy drinking in college-aged adults particularly with a family history positive for alcohol misuse. Through mixed methods research she hopes to focus on the behavioral economics model to better understand choice behavior as a means of decreasing alcohol misuse.
Avery Buck, B.A. (she/her/hers) Doctoral student Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2023-present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of Arts, Psychology and English, 2023 Butler 福利片国产, Indianapolis, IN Avery graduated from Butler 福利片国产 in 2023 with a B.A. in psychology and English. She is a first year in the doctoral program and is so excited to be learning alongside the HABIT lab. Broadly, she is interested in addiction treatment disparities and the development and dissemination of substance misuse treatments that are directly responsive to unique social and systemic variables.
Jacob Tempchin, M.S. (he/him/his) Doctoral student Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2022 鈥� present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Master of Science, Quantitative Methods The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City, NY Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy Princeton 福利片国产, Princeton, NJ Jacob has obtained an M.S. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences from The Graduate Center of the City 福利片国产 of New York, an advanced certi铿乧ate in Comparative Effectiveness & Implementation Research Training from the New York 福利片国产 School of Medicine, and a B.A. in philosophy from Princeton 福利片国产. His primary research interest is to study the adaptation and implementation of brief alcohol interventions in primary care and community settings.
Hannah E. Colgonis, M.S. (she/her/hers) Doctoral student Education and Training Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2020 鈥� present 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Master of Science, Psychology, 2020-2023 福利片国产 of Memphis, Memphis, TN Bachelor of Science, Psychology, 2018 福利片国产 of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK Hannah graduated from the 福利片国产 of Tulsa in May 2018 with a B.S. in Psychology. Hannah is in her fourth year in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. Her current interests involve substance use, substance use treatment, and barriers to care in the LGBTQ+ community. Her master鈥檚 thesis focused on trans and gender diverse individuals鈥� thoughts about and experiences with treatment for drug and alcohol use. The ultimate aim of her work is to increase access to competent, sensitive care for historically underserved communities.