Lira Yoon

Dr. Lira Yoon is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She holds an affiliation with the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Her research focuses on the interplay between cognition and emotion in psychological disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, integrating biological (e.g., cortisol, heart rate variability) and psychological (e.g., attention bias, emotion regulation) mechanisms. She teaches courses on adult psychopathology and graduate research methods, and mentors students in grant writing and independent research projects. Her lab is located in SOND 408, and she is actively involved in departmental leadership as a Faculty Senate representative.

Education: Ph.D. in Psychology from Northwestern University (2006). Research emphasizes stress reactivity, cognitive control deficits, and emotional processing biases. She accepts graduate students for training in clinical research and academic careers.

Key research areas include: social anxiety, post-event processing, mindfulness, and gender differences in mental health. Her work has been published in journals like Cognition and Emotion and Behaviour Research and Therapy, with recent studies examining stress responses in healthcare workers and cognitive biases in depression.

Training opportunities: Graduate students receive mentorship in manuscript preparation and external fellowship applications. Undergraduates are encouraged to contact her directly for research involvement.