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Lab Members

Meet the current and former team members of the Exercise & Health Lab. We welcome requests for information about our work and collaboration opportunities. Find open lab positions here.

Principal Investigator

Siobhan Phillips, PhD, MPH

Siobhan Phillips, PhD, MPH

Professor of Preventive Medicine (Behavioral Medicine) and Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences

smphillips( at )northwestern.edu

PhD: University of Illinois Urbana Champaign (2011)
MPH: Harvard University (2012)

View Phillips's Faculty Profile

Phillips's Bio

Phillips’s interdisciplinary research is focused on understanding the determinants and health outcomes of physical activity participation and the translation of this research into practice. Phillips is a behavioral interventionist by training and has worked with data from prospective, cohort and national datasets. She has extensive training, experience and expertise in designing, conducting and analyzing randomized exercise interventions to maximize adherence and cognitive and physical functioning as well as in using accelerometers to objectively measure physical activity. Phillips has worked with older adults, individuals with multiple sclerosis, college students, prostate cancer survivors, breast cancer survivors and childhood cancer survivors. She has published over 70 articles in the areas of physical activity, aging, cancer and implementation sciences.

Her current research interests include understanding the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying the relationship between physical activity and health and disease outcomes; identifying the determinants of physical activity behavior change and maintenance; the intersection of cancer and aging, the role of physical activity in the primary and secondary disease prevention; and the translation of research in these areas to practice using technology and innovative study designs and methods. In her free time, she enjoys reading, running, spending time with her family and traveling.

Research Staff

Hannah Freeman

Hannah Freeman

Project Coordinator

hannah.freeman( at )northwestern.edu

Freeman's Bio

Freeman graduated from Boston University in 2016 with a BA in neuroscience. Prior to joining the EHL, she was working with the Young Women’s Study and Adult Survivorship research teams at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She is interested in women’s health and oncology, with a focus on improving quality of life through mobile technologies. When not at the lab, Hannah enjoys spending time outdoors, cycling and volunteering at community gardens.

Julia Frey

Julia Frey

Research Assistant

julia.frey( at )northwestern.edu

Frey's Bio
Julia graduated from Ohio State University with a B.S. in Neuroscience in 2024. Prior to joining the EHL, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Stress and Health Lab Lab on studies involving stress in breast cancer survivors, married couples and multiple myeloma and Alzheimer's caregivers. She is interested in improving cancer survivors quality of life through lifestyle interventions.
Jacqueline LaPres

Jacqueline LaPres

Research Assistant

jacqueline.lapres( at )northwestern.edu

Lapres' Bio
LaPres graduated from Michigan State University in 2017 with a BA in Finance. After working as a business consultant for six years, she enrolled in the post-baccalaureate premedicine program at Northwestern University to complete the required coursework for medical school admission. In addition to her work at the EHL, LaPres has worked for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences supporting drug and device clinical trials. She is interested in preventive medicine and how behavioral interventions can improve patient outcomes.
Lauren Wang

Lauren Wang

Research Assistant

lauren.wang( at )northwestern.edu

Wang's Bio

Lauren graduated from Northwestern University in 2024 where she studied biological sciences and global health studies. Prior to the Exercise and Health Lab, she worked as an undergraduate research assistant in the Foundations of Health Lab where she studied how mentoring relationships and education on coping strategies combat health disparities among disadvantaged youth. Currently, she is also involved in research that investigates how mobile-based technologies can help improve medication adherence in adolescent sickle cell patients. She is interested in how mobile-based behavioral interventions can optimize health outcomes and improve quality of life for patients. 

Fiona Webb

Fiona Webb

Research Assistant

fiona.webb( at )northwestern.edu

Webb's Bio
Fiona Webb graduated from the University of Arizona in 2025 with a BA in Psychology. Before working in the EHL, she was a part of the REACH Lab at the UA, researching different social behavioral interventions to improve quality of life in cancer survivors, however Fiona is particularly interested in physical fitness/exercise and how it relates to cancer survivorship. She is so excited to be a part of the EHL and Dr. Phillips' team!

Trainees

Payton Solk

Payton Solk

Clinical Psychology PhD Student

payton.solk( at )northwestern.edu

Solk's Bio

Solk graduated in 2018 from the University of Michigan, where she studied psychology and digital studies, and served as an undergraduate assistant in the university's Child Development and Family Relations Lab. Solk began working as a research assistant/project coordinator at the EHL in June 2018 and is excited to continue contributing to research in the lab as a graduate student. She is interested in technology-based interventions that promote health behavior change. Ultimately, she hopes to provide support to individuals coping with chronic disease and treatment.

Julia Starikovsky

Julia Starikovsky

Clinical Psychology PhD Student

julia.starikovsky( at )northwestern.edu

Starikovsky's Bio

Starikovsky graduated from the University of Maryland in 2019 with a BA in psychology and a minor in neuroscience. After college, she worked for almost two years with youth multiple sclerosis and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease populations as a clinical research coordinator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania. Starikovsky recently received her master’s degree in clinical psychology at Northwestern University and is excited to begin her PhD in clinical psychology with the Exercise & Health Lab. She is interested in creating manageable and sustainable lifestyle interventions (i.e. physical activity, mindfulness, sleep) for those with chronic illnesses.

Postdocs

Kristina Hasanaj

Kristina Hasanaj

NCI T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

kristina.hasanaj( at )northwestern.edu

Hasanaj's Bio
Kristina is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the NCI-funded T32 Behavioral and Psychosocial Research Training Program in Cancer Prevention and Control. She earned her PhD in Nursing and Healthcare Innovation from Arizona State University, and at Central Michigan University, she earned her BS in Exercise Science (Kinesiology concentration) and her MA in Exercise Physiology. Her research interests include 24-hour behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep) and their relationships with cancer survivors, and the use of mHealth and wearable technologies for intervention development.
Shirlene Wang

Shirlene Wang

NCI T32 Postdoctoral Fellow

shirlene( at )northwestern.edu

Wang's Bio

Shirlene is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the NCI-funded T32 Behavioral and Psychosocial Research Training Program in Cancer Prevention and Control. She earned her PhD in Preventive Medicine (Health Behavior Research) from the University of Southern California in 2023 and her BA double majoring in Psychology and Medicine, Health, and Behavior from Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on studying symptom monitoring among adults with cancer and using analysis methods to understand the corresponding variability in physical activity. 

Medical Students

  • Melanie Wolter, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
  • Ria Desai, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Interns

  • Ellie Tjelmeland
  • Kieran Monahan
  • Mia Vigil
  • Jojo Kim
  • Joshua Wolfe
  • Diya Piramal
  • Cecilia Trujillo

Alumni

  • Jean M. Reading, Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate Assistant Professor At University of Illinois College of Medicine
  • Emily Izenman, Research Assistant
  • Erin Cullather, ​Research Assistant, Oncology Physician Assistant at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
  • Abby Mishory, Research Assistant, Health IT Advisory Consultant
  • Brendan Hickey, Research Assistant, Medical Student at University of Illinois College of Medicine
  • Lilly Carden, Research Assistant
  • Jackie Alexander, Research Assistant, Clinical Research Coordinator at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

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