Lab Member Kait Gilleran Recognized for Research on Diversity Issues

The iART team congratulates Kait Gilleran, MA, a fifth-year student in the PsyD Program, who was recently awarded the 2026 New Jersey Psychological Association Foundation Scholarship for Research on Diversity Issues.  

Kait was given the award for their dissertation titled “Exploring Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome Symptoms: The Protective Role of Ethnic Identity.” Findings from this project showed that attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS) symptom severity did not differ significantly across racial/ethnic groups in a diverse sample of emerging-adult college students, although experiences of discrimination and adulthood trauma exposure did. Higher affiliation with one’s ethnic identity was associated with less severe APS symptoms, regardless of racial/ethnic group and accounting for participants’ experiences of discrimination and adulthood trauma exposure.   

Kait successfully defended their dissertation in the summer of 2026 and will present it this fall at the annual conference of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis. The iART team wishes them success in their internship and in their future clinical and research pursuits.