Meet our Behavioral Health Innovations Lab Team

a group of six smiling women stand together for a photo outside

Jennifer Dahne, Ph.D.

Dr. Dahne is a licensed clinical psychologist, an associate professor in the Addiction Sciences Division of the MUSC Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and a research member of MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center.

The overarching goal of Dr. Dahne’s research program is to leverage digital health to significantly reduce the public health impact of mental health disorders, with a focus on depression and substance use disorders among vulnerable populations (e.g., individuals with physical and mental health comorbidities, socioeconomically disadvantaged adults, rural residents). An additional area of emphasis within Dr. Dahne’s research program centers around the development, evaluation, and dissemination of innovative methods to improve both the feasibility and rigor of decentralized (also known as “remote” or “virtual”) clinical trials.

Dr. Dahne is an academic entrepreneur and has co-founded two startup companies, both within the digital health space. In 2022, Dr. Dahne was named the inaugural director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science’s Innovation Sciences Unit, through which she works with faculty across the University to turn academic innovations into commercially viable products. Dr. Dahne also serves in a leadership capacity within the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Institute. Dr. Dahne’s prior and ongoing work has been supported by numerous grant awards from the National Institutes of Health, including R01, R21, R41, R42, and K23 awards.

Dr. Dahne is especially passionate about mentoring the next generation of researchers, clinicians, and difference makers. She regularly serves as a mentor to junior faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate students. If you are interested in research opportunities, please reach out.

Research Staff

Statistician

Amy Wahlquist, MS

Amy is a biostatistician and research associate professor at East Tennessee State University and an adjunct instructor at MUSC. She has her MS in biostatistics from Virginia Commonwealth University and has served as the lead statistician on all of Dr. Dahne’s grants since 2015. She is responsible for primary data analysis and provides expertise in study design and conduct, sample size estimation/power analysis, and REDCap database design. Her personal research interests include design and analysis of clinical trials, nature-based interventions for mental health, and mental health of young adults.

Program Coordinators

Noelle Natale

Noelle is a program coordinator II for Dr. Dahne and began with the Behavioral Health Innovations Lab in 2017. She focuses on supervisory duties for other research staff members, recruitment, retention, and maintaining the purchasing and regulatory submissions for the team’s research studies. She has a master’s in clinical counseling psychology from the Citadel, a BS in psychology from the College of Charleston, and is currently working toward becoming a licensed professional counselor to help treat patients with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.

Olivia Levins

Olivia is a program coordinator I for Dr. Dahne and started with the Behavioral Health Innovations Lab as a program assistant in 2022. She works across studies in the areas of participant recruitment, enrollment, study administration, and acts as a point of contact for study participants along with her other lab members. She has a BA in psychology from the College of Charleston and is interested in furthering her education in this area in the future.

Program Assistants

Sarah Reilly

Sarah is a program assistant for Dr. Dahne and started with the Behavioral Health Innovations lab in late 2022. She works across studies focusing on participant recruitment, enrollment, and general administration. Sarah received her BS in psychology with a minor in business administration from Clemson University and is going back to school in the fall to become a respiratory therapist.

Katherine Bullard

Katherine is a program assistant for Dr. Dahne and started with the Behavioral Health Innovations Lab in 2023. She graduated with a BA in economics and psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2023. She helps with study development, participant recruitment, and general administration. In the future, Katherine is hoping to further her education by pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

Juliana Hayden

Juliana is a program assistant for Dr. Dahne who joined the Behavioral Health Innovations Lab in 2023. She helps with study participant recruitment, enrollment and general administration. Juliana graduated with a BA in psychology from Binghamton University in 2023 and hopes to obtain a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in the future.

Collaborators

The Behavioral Health Innovations Lab works together with the Biostatistics Shared Resource on study design, data analysis, and reporting across our ongoing studies.

Alumni

Josie Huang, Ph.D., MS – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Arizona
Margaret Fahey, Ph.D., MS – Assistant Professor, Middle Tennessee State University
Johanna Hidalgo – Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student, University of Vermont
Monika Schindwolf – Currently enrolled in a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) program in Japan
Louise Freeman – Clinical Research Coordinator, Duke University