Kaitlyn Cortez

Kaitlyn Cortez is currently a doctoral student in the Clinical-Community Psychology program at USC and a trainee in the Behavioral-Biomedical Interface Program (BBIP). She received a B.S. in Neuroscience and Behavior from the University of Notre Dame in 2018 and a M.S. in Applied Developmental Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022. After graduating with her B.S., Kaitlyn worked as a project coordinator for the Infant Communication Lab under Dr. Jana Iverson, assisting on a longitudinal study of motor and language development in typically developing infants and infants with an elevated likelihood for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While completing her M.S., Kaitlyn also worked as an intern at the Neonatal Developmental Follow-up Clinic at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, a clinic providing comprehensive and family-centered follow-up care for infants who have spent time in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Kaitlyn is currently interested in the trajectory of social and emotional development, specifically negative affect and emotion regulation, in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.