Our Team

Arielle H. Sheftall, PhD 
Director 

Dr. Sheftall, PhD is an Associate Professor at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the Department of Psychiatry in Rochester, New York. She is also the Chief of Academic Affairs for the Child and Adolescent Division of the Department pf Psychiatry. Her research focuses on the developmental mechanisms in early to middle childhood that confer vulnerability to future suicidal behavior. It is her goal to frame targets for early intervention to decrease incidence of a first suicide attempt in at-risk youth. Additionally, Dr. Sheftall is interested in the racial disparities present in suicidal behavior among youth. She was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus Emergency Taskforce that created the “Ring the Alarm” report and continues to examine risk factors, practice, and policy recommendations necessary to decrease suicidal behaviors in Black youth. She is also a subject matter expert for SAMHSA, the Office of Minority Health, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention focusing on mental health promotion and suicide prevention for Black youth. Finally, Dr. Sheftall has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

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Ellen-ge Denton, PsyD, MS
Clinical Advisor

Dr. Ellen-ge Denton is an Associate Professor and licensed psychologist with an overall research aim to build mental health capacity and develop suicide prevention in resource limited settings. Dr. Denton’s publications highlight biopsychosocial risk factors to severe depression and suicide attempts among child welfare youth in a low-middle-income-country (LMIC), Guyana. She is currently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health to understand suicide risks among suicide attempters, family members who lost loved ones from suicide, and exposure to suicide in the general Guyanese population. She also works on investigation resources to treat and respond to patients following a suicide attempt and hospitalization. She has presented at the NIMH preteen suicide research roundtable, International Association of Suicide Research, European Symposium for Suicide and Suicidal Behavior, Ministry of Health in Guyana, etc. She currently serves on the steering committee for the Youth Suicide Research Consortium (YSRC)and has found greatest reward in mentoring first-generation undergraduate students into doctoral training programs at research institutions.

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Jenson Rowan
Human Subjects Research Coordinator

Jenson Rowan (he/they) is a human subject research coordinator at the Sheftall Lab. He received a B.A. in Psychology and English from the University of Rochester in May 2023. They previously worked as a research assistant at the Social Development and Family Processes Lab under Dr. Judi Smetana. His research interests include cognitive childhood development and its relation to suicidal behavior. He also has an interest in research focusing on the LGBTQ+ population.  

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Sandria Sawyers
Human Subjects Research Specialist

Sandria Sawyers (she/her) is a Human Subjects Research Specialist. She received her B.S. in Psychology from the University of Louisville and previously served as the Lab Manager for the Risk Identification of Suicidal States to Inform Care (RISSC) Lab under Dr. Nadia Al-Dajani. Her research examines how the intergenerational transmission of trauma, resilience, and lived experience shapes psychopathology in marginalized populations, particularly within Black communities, and how these patterns relate to suicide risk.

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Allan Shikh
Human Subjects Research Coordinator

Allan Shikh (he/him) is a human subject research coordinator at the Sheftall Lab. He received his B.A. in Clinical Psychology from CUNY Hunter College. At Hunter, Allan worked with Dr. Regina Miranda investigating suicide ideation subtypes in teens as a means of predicting future suicide attempt. His research interests include suicide risk assessment in emergency department settings, the use of cognitive and behavioral measures as a means of predicting future suicide attempt, and the use of smartphone and wearable technology to assess suicidal thoughts and behaviors in adolescents. 

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Paige Picou
Postdoctoral Felllow

Paige Picou (she/her), PhD, is a NRSA (T32) postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Suicide at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Dr. Picou completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Louisiana State University, and she completed her clinical internship at University of Mississippi Medical Center. Her research interests are in the interplay between interpersonal connectedness and suicide risk in children and adolescents. She is interested in how measures of interpersonal connectedness and ideation-to-action theories of suicide can be used to develop theory-based prevention and intervention methods for youth suicide prevention.

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Vic Cohen
Research Assistant

Vic Cohen (They/Them) is a human subject research specialist at the Sheftall Lab. They received a B.S in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester in May 2025, and they are currently pursuing a Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the Warner School. They previously worked on the NIH-funded RADxUP project partnering with underserved populations in the Rochester area, and worked in URMC's Goldman Lab on behavioral studies. Their research interests include the role of ruminating behaviors in non-suicidal self injury.

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Kaidence Pacheco
Research Assistant

Kaidence Pacheco (She/Her) is a research assistant. She is currently a rising sophomore at the University of Rochester majoring in psychology and minoring in dance. She has worked as an undergraduate research intern at the HOPE Lab URMC and is currently working as a research intern at Project FLIGHT 2.0 through the Mount Hope Family Center. She hopes to pursue a PsyD/PhD in Clinical Psychology to work with marginalized youth.

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Elisabeth Sohn
Research Assistant

Elisabeth Sohn (she/her) is a research assistant at the Sheftall Lab.  She is a current junior pursuing a B.S. in Neuroscience and a Psychology minor.  Previously, she worked in the Orlandi Lab in the URMC Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, studying orphan GPCRs.  After graduation, she hopes to attend medical school and specialize in adolescent psychiatry, with a focus on serving underrepresented communities.

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