People

Kirk Warren Brown, PhD conducts research that combines social psychology, cognitive science, and behavioral neuroscience, with a substantive focus on quality of attention as it operates in personal and social domains. A particular current focus is upon mindfulness, including its phenomenology and consequences for emotion regulation, behavior regulation, and well-being. 

Kirk earned his B.Sc in Psychology at the University of Toronto and Ph.D in Social-Personality Psychology at McGill University; he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Social Psychology at the University of Rochester. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and edited two books. His work has been featured in national and international media outlets, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and TIME, among others. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Rochester and the University of Paris and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the American Psychological Association, the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, and the Mind and Life Institute. He is on the editorial boards of the journals Scientific Reports and Journal of Personality, and is Chief Section Editor at Frontiers in Psychology. 

Hadley Rahrig earned her BS in Neuroscience at Colgate University and was a research assistant at Brown University and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School before comes to VCU for graduate studies. She is broadly interested in the impact of mindfulness training on moral judgments and behavior. Her current research concerns the role of mindfulness in moral decision-making and self processes more generally. She uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as lenses through which to study these processes.

Polina Beloborodova, PhD earned her BS in Management at HSE University (Moscow, Russia) and holds a double MS degree in Management from HSE University and ESCP Europe (Paris, France). After working in business for several years, she reinvented herself as a psychologist, obtained a certificate in Coaching and a PhD in Psychology from HSE University. Polina served as Research Assistant at the International Laboratory of Positive Psychology of Personality and Motivation (Moscow, Russia) and VIA Institute on Character (Cincinnati, Ohio). Currently Polina is working towards earning her PhD in Social Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Polina’s interests lie in the intersection of positive psychology and contemplative science, and has a particular interest in mindfulness training effects on self processes.

Denise Zheng earned her BA in Psychology at University at Buffalo, State University of New York, with a minor in Sociology and Counseling. She was a Honor's scholar and a McNair Scholar. Her general interests involve the role of mindfulness in intergroup relations and diversity inclusion. Her current research focuses on how mindfulness-based interventions influence intergroup biases and intergroup prosociality.

Yingqi Gu earned her PhD in Clinical and Counseling psychology at the East China Normal University (China). Yingqi is an associate professor at the University of Zhejiang Sci-Tech. She is broadly interested in the mechanisms by which mindfulness works, and the effects of mindfulness on reshaping the body and brain. Her current research fields include the mechanisms of mindfulness interventions in the treatment of ADHD and the impact of mindfulness on pro-social behaviors in VR situations. She presides over a number of projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Chris Castro graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology from Virginia Commonwealth University. She started as a research assistant for the WellBeing Lab and became a project manager in her second year in the lab. Her general research interests are concerned with how mindfulness affects daily life and well-being, as well as how psychological-based distress and trauma impact the human psyche. She looks forward to pursuing a PhD in Psychology in the near future.