Dr. Katie Bessette is a postdoctoral project scientist in the CANDY Lab, and previously worked as a clinical trials therapist through the PCORI-funded Partners in Caring For Anxious Youth (PCAY) study, and continues to train as a pediatric neuropsychology fellow at the Medical Psychology Assessment Clinic (MPAC) in the Semel Institute.

She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2022, where she specialized in the neuropsychology of mood disorders in youth and young adults. Dr. Bessette completed her APA-accredited pediatric neuropsychology internship at UCLA. She uses a developmental psychopathology approach to understand the neurodevelopmental trajectories of mood disorders in youth, with a particular interest in multimodal interactions of cognitive control and mood regulation.