Susan E. Lydick earned her Master's degree in Psychology (Lifespan Development) at George Mason University and completed doctoral level coursework in Applied Developmental Psychology. Her research interests center around developing better understanding of physiological and psychosocial processes and interventions that decrease the deleterious impact of chronic stress, particularly traumatic stress, on long-term psychological, social, and physical functioning.
"When I was researching doctoral programs, I wanted one where there seemed to be the greatest potential to most fully capitalize on both the extensive academic work I had previously done within health research and developmental psychology and my diverse life and work experiences. The Department of Rehabilitation Science seemed to provide a new challenge regarding how best to support human development once a chronic illness or injury had intervened in the life history of the individual and seemingly placed limitations on that development. I was excited by the opportunity to merge both the behavioral and biologic, something that I saw as missing in other programs and sorely needed within health research."