Lab updates, new publications, media, recruiting announcements, and events from the REACH Lab.
The REACH Lab is actively recruiting Ph.D. students for the Fall 2027 cohort through the USC Department of Psychology Clinical-Community Psychology program. We are especially interested in applicants with backgrounds or interests in cognitive aging, health equity, PTSD and adversity, digital cognitive assessment, or neuropsychological disparities. We strongly encourage applications from scholars from backgrounds historically underrepresented in psychology and neuropsychology.
Prospective students are encouraged to email Dr. Prieto before applying with a brief introduction, your CV, and a note about your research interests and how they align with the lab's work.
Join the Lab →Dr. Sarah Prieto joins the USC Department of Psychology as Assistant Professor and Clinical Neuropsychologist at the USC Brain Health Center. The REACH Lab (Research on Equity, Adversity, and Cognitive Health) officially opens its doors in Columbia, South Carolina. The lab focuses on the intersection of social determinants of health, cognitive aging, and neuropsychological equity, with current NIH-funded work examining how SDOH influence Alzheimer's disease biomarker accumulation and access to cognitive healthcare.
About the Lab →Dr. Prieto has been selected as an Editorial Fellow for Neuropsychology, an American Psychological Association journal dedicated to basic and applied research in neuropsychology. The fellowship provides an immersive look into the peer-review and editorial decision-making process, supporting the next generation of neuropsychology scholars in shaping the field's scientific literature.
Dr. Prieto and colleagues have published "Toward a Multimodal Model of Internalized Epilepsy Stigma" in Epilepsy & Behavior (Vol. 174, 110812). The paper proposes an integrative framework linking identity, perceived stigma, internalization processes, and downstream health outcomes, drawing on theoretical models from the stigma and health disparities literature. This work advances our understanding of how stigma becomes embodied and how intervention programs can be better targeted.
View Publication →Dr. Prieto and colleagues published "Advancing neuropsychology: Insights and recommendations from qualitative content analysis of 94 brain-behavior experts" in The Clinical Neuropsychologist. This consensus-building study synthesizes expert perspectives on the state of the field, identifying critical priorities for training, equity, access, and innovation in neuropsychological practice.
View Publication →"Effects of stigma intersectionality on an epilepsy stigma self-management program" published in Epilepsy & Behavior (Vol. 172). This paper examines how multiple intersecting stigmatized identities moderate response to stigma self-management interventions, with implications for tailoring programs to community-specific needs.
View Publication →Dr. Prieto received a Poster Award from the International Neuropsychological Society (INS) Epilepsy Special Interest Group. The award recognized research presented at the INS Annual Meeting, highlighting the lab's contributions to understanding stigma, self-management, and neuropsychological outcomes in epilepsy populations.
View Related Publications →The REACH Lab is committed to communicating science beyond the journal. As the lab establishes, we will post media appearances, community talks, podcast features, and other public-facing science communication work here. If you are interested in having Dr. Prieto speak at a community event, clinic, or organization, please reach out.
Contact Us →Science that stays inside the lab cannot change the soil. The REACH Lab is committed to bidirectional, community-engaged research, building partnerships with the communities we study so that knowledge flows in both directions and findings reach those who need them most.
We collaborate with community health organizations, patient advocacy groups, and clinical partners to co-design research, disseminate findings in accessible formats, and translate science into practice. Community voices shape our questions and our methods.
Communities shape our research questions and study design from the start. Not as subjects, but as collaborators.
We share findings through community forums, plain-language summaries, and partnerships with local health organizations.
We communicate evidence to policymakers and practitioners to support systemic change in brain health access and equity.
We mentor early-career researchers in community-engaged methods and equity-centered science practices.