People
James Murphy, Ph.D., Director (he/him/his)
Education and Training
Dr. James Murphy is a Dunavant Professor of Psychology at the University of Memphis and previously
served as the Director of Clinical Training for the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program.
He completed his doctoral degree at Auburn University in 2003 and an Addiction Research
Postdoctoral Fellowship at Brown University in 2006. Dr. Murphy’s addiction research
has been continuously funded by the National Institute on Health for the past 20 years.
He has served as a grant reviewer for several NIH study sections and is an Associate
Editor for the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors. He is a fellow in APA Division
50 (Society of Addiction Psychology) and Division 28 (Psychopharmacology) and has
served as a mentor or co-mentor on over 15 federally funded dissertation or early
career development fellowship awards (i.e., NIH F and K awards).
He has published over 220 papers and chapters related to the etiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol and drug use disorders. Dr. Murphy has developed novel brief intervention approaches that reduce drinking and drug use and tested the effects in a number of randomized clinical trials with young adults, military veterans, and other high-risk populations. His research has helped to establish the efficacy of brief alcohol interventions with a variety of young adult populations, expanded their reach by developing novel computerized and mobile
technology-delivered adaptations, and identified the particular components that are most efficacious. His research also explores novel behavioral economic predictors of substance use severity and treatment outcome, and he has developed novel behavioral economic approaches to enhance addiction treatment.
Ashley Dennhardt, Ph.D (she/her/hers)
Education and Training
Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2013 University of Memphis, Memphis, TN- Bachelor of Arts, Psychology & Spanish, 2006 University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Dr. Ashley Dennhardt is a research assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. She received her B.A. from the University of Iowa in 2006, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Memphis in 2013 with a clinical internship at the Memphis VA Medical Center. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the HABIT lab that allowed her to continue her research on brief interventions and factors that contribute to substance use and poor response to intervention. She served as project director of several NIH-funded studies during this time. Dr. Dennhardt continues to work alongside Dr. Murphy in the HABIT lab as a Research Assistant Professor and teaches several UofM Global courses. Her research interests include addictive behaviors, brief interventions and behavioral economic and affective factors that contribute to poor response to substance use interventions.
Avery Buck, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2023-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of Arts, Psychology and English, 2023 Butler University, Indianapolis, IN
Avery graduated from Butler University in 2023 with a B.A. in psychology and English.
She is a first year in the doctoral program and is so excited to be learning alongside
the HABIT lab. Broadly, she is interested in addiction treatment disparities and the
development and dissemination of substance misuse treatments that are directly responsive
to unique social and systemic variables.
Kevin Campbell, M.S. (he/him/his)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2018-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Master of Arts, Psychology, 2017 San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
- Bachelor of Science, Psychology, 2012 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
Kevin received his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from UCLA in 2012 and his Master's degree from San Diego State University in 2017. He is currently completing an APA-accredited internship at the Tucson VAMC in advance of an anticipated August 2024 graduation. His research interests include advanced quantitative methods and how those methods can be used to identify and understand trajectories of substance misuse in young adults. His dissertation is titled Pathways Between Early Socioeconomic Deprivation and Alcohol-Related Problems in Emerging Adulthood: Examination of Environmental and Psychosocial Determinant.
Hannah E. Cole, M.S. (she/her/hers)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2020 – present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Master of Science, Psychology, 2020-2023 University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of Science, Psychology, 2018 University of Tulsa, Tulsa, OK
Hannah graduated from the University of Tulsa in May 2018 with a B.S. in Psychology. Hannah is in her fourth year in the Clinical Psychology PhD program. Her current interests involve substance use, substance use treatment, and barriers to care in the LGBTQ+ community. Her master’s thesis focused on trans and gender diverse individuals’ thoughts about and experiences with treatment for drug and alcohol use. The ultimate aim of her work is to increase access to competent, sensitive care for historically underserved communities.
Destinee Cruthird, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Masters student
Education and Training
- Master of Science, Psychology, 2023-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 2020 University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
Destinee graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, in Psychology at The University of Memphis in 2020. Her current interests include examining heavy drinking in college-aged adults particularly with a family history positive for alcohol misuse. Through mixed methods research she hopes to focus on the behavioral economics model to better understand choice behavior as a means of decreasing alcohol misuse.
Will Davis, B.G.S. (he/him/his)
Doctoral Student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2024-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of General Sciences, Psychology, 2022 University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS.
Will graduated from the University of Kansas in 2022 with a degree in Psychology. He now studies the behavioral economics of substance use, substance use treatment, and harm reduction strategies.
Ulysses Savage, M.S. (he/him/his)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2018-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Master of Science, Psychology, 2018-2021 University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of Science, Physiology and Neuroscience, 2014
- Bachelor of Arts, Psych\ogy, 2014 University of California – San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Ulysses Savage graduated from the University of California –San Diego in December 2014 with a B.S. in Physiology and Neuroscience as well as a B.A. in Psychology. He is currently completing an APA-accredited internship at the University of California in advance of an anticipated August 2024 graduation. His interests include examining behavior economic variables that moderate the effects of intentions (e.g., readiness to change) on changes in drinking (e.g., consequences associated with alcohol consumption). His dissertation is titled Trajectories of High Intensity Drinking in Emerging Adults: A Longitudinal Analysis of Behavioral Economic Predictors and Alcohol Use Outcomes.
Jacob Tempchin, M.S. (he/him/his)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2022 – present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Master of Science, Quantitative Methods The Graduate Center, CUNY, New York City, NY
- Bachelor of Arts, Philosophy Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Jacob has obtained an M.S. in Quantitative Methods in the Social Sciences from The
Graduate Center of the City University of New York, an advanced certificate in Comparative
Effectiveness & Implementation Research Training from the New York University School
of Medicine, and a B.A. in philosophy from Princeton University. His primary research
interest is to study the adaptation and implementation of brief alcohol interventions
in primary care and community settings.
Ebonie White
Ebonie graduated from Winthrop University in December 2023 with a B.A. in Psychology. The overarching goal of her research is to help address and reconcile disparities associated with receiving and maintaining help for substance use. She is particularly passionate about examining ways to impact substance misuse in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, racially marginalized communities, and other underserved populations.
Jay Withers, M.S. (he/him/his)
Doctoral student
Education and Training
- Doctor of Philosophy, Clinical Psychology, 2019-present University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Master of Science, 2019-2023 University of Memphis, Memphis, TN
- Bachelor of Arts, Psychology, 2014 University of Arkansas, Little Rock, AR
Jay received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2014. Jay is a fifth-year student in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral program. He is currently interested in using behavioral economics to examine choice behavior in addiction and substance use in college students, Veterans and African American emerging adults. More specifically, he's interested in the relationship between psychosocial adversities (e.g. microaggressions, adverse childhood experiences), post-traumatic stress disorder and negative alcohol related consequences and the implementation of digital health interventions to improve population outcomes.