BRUNA MARTINS-KLEIN, Ph.D

Dr. Bruna Martins-Klein, Ph.D is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, and Director of the Neural Vitality Laboratory at the University of Southern California.

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Her research explores factors that build resilience, emotion regulation and cognition across the lifespan. She integrates neuroimaging (fMRI functional connectivity, MVPA), ECG (heart rate variability), eyetracking (pupilometry), self-report, and measures from daily life, to track how emotion-cognition interactions promote flexibility and adaptive functioning.

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The goal of this work is to identify actionable targets that build emotional resilience in healthy individuals, to develop interventions in clinical populations that help buffer the emotional impact of mood disorders, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer's disease.

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Dr. Martins-Klein is also a licensed clinical psychologist who supervises Ph.D-level trainees providing emotional support to adults across the lifespan. Her orientation integrates Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), to increase emotional awareness and engagement in goals grounded in personal values.

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She received her B.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, her M.A. and and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, with a specialization in Clinical Aging, and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship in Geropsychology at the VA Boston Healthcare System. 

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Dr. Martins-Klein will be accepting graduate students and a postdoc fellow for 2023-24.