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- Kathleen Holmes
Alumni Profile
Kathleen (Kat) Holmes
Class of 2003
Kat Holmes is currently an Assistant Psychologist at the School of Neurology, Neurobiology and Psychiatry in Newcastle, England. Kathleen is a researcher who is helping to design and conduct a study on the application of virtual reality technology in assessing memory in patients with mood disorders. Her responsibilities include literature review, study design, application for ethical approval, data collection, analysis, and presentation for the study, along with assisting other researchers with their projects. Kat learned about this job through people she met at a professional conference.
This wasn’t Kat’s first research position since she graduated from JMU with her Bachelor’s Degree. Shortly after she graduated in 2003, Kat secured a position as a Research Assistant at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Bethesda, MD. There she assisted with studies of the neuropsychological aspects of mood disorders, the loss of the ability to experience pleasure (Anhedonia) in patients with mood disorders, and the measurement of psychosocial and environmental stressors during clinical trials. In that position, Kathleen also helped her research team conduct clinical trials for new medications for the treatment of depression and bipolar disorders.
In the fall, Kat will begin her third research assistant position at the University of Texas at San Antonio. In that position, Kat will help with studies of mood disorders that will examine data derived from functional neuroimaging and genetic analysis. Kat plans to apply for Clinical Psychology Ph.D. programs, and may begin during the fall of 2007.
How did Kat start getting such great positions immediately after graduating from JMU with a Bachelor’s Degree? By the time she completed her B.S. degree in 2003, Kat already had completed many hand-on psychology experiences. She completed an honor’s thesis entitled, “An Exploration of the Relationship between Dissociative Experiences and Eating Pathology in College Women.” Kat was the student coordinator of Dr. JoAnne Brewster’s tutoring program for her abnormal and forensic psychology courses. Working as a tutor for Dr. Brewster, Kat discovered that she enjoyed teaching others about psychology and experimental design. Kat also gained applied psychology experience through a Field Placement at Western State (Psychiatric) Hospital in Staunton, where she helped lead group therapy sessions on stress and symptom management. Kat says that collectively these experiences helped her learn some important skills. They helped her further develop her research skills, and she practiced interacting with people through both peer-tutoring and patient treatment experiences. As a participant in the JMU Honors Program, and as a Leadership Team Member of Psi Chi, Kat was able to explore her interests and decide how to focus her future career.
When asked if she had any advice for current psychology undergraduates, Kat suggests that if a student wants to pursue the sort of research-oriented track that she is following, they should “discover new skills, don’t be afraid of statistics, and commit yourself to something you’re passionate about.” Kat encourages students to reach out to all the support options on the JMU campus like the Psychology Peer Advisors and the Writing Center and “don’t be afraid if your plans shift. There is no ‘right’ path.”
Kat invites students to contact her by e-mail at kathleenholmes@gmail.com.
