The Murrar Lab

Ph.D. Student

Louis is a second year PhD student in Social and Personality Psychology at UIC. He received his BA from Northwestern University, double majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. His research focuses on how patients are perceived, with a focus on the perception of patient pain levels and the accuracy of their symptom description. He is currently conducting work examining how shifting to a patient-centric method of clinical documentation may increase trust of symptoms and desire to help patients. Additional work focuses on how the racial and gender identities of patients and providers influence judgements of pain and symptom legitimacy, with a focus on women and racial minorities. His research is designed and conducted with the goal of creating evidence-based interventions to promote health equity.

Research Affiliate

Lina Saud is a research affiliate working with Dr. Murrar on examining the nature of bias toward different religious groups and the effect of entertainment media on bias. Lina received her PhD in social psychology from Rutgers University and her BA in public and international affairs from Princeton University.

Research Assistant

Sannam Bassanpal is a fourth-year undergraduate studying Neuroscience on the pre-medicine track. She is the President of Psi Chi Honor Society and is currently interested in researching Latina women's preferences within healthcare. She aims to become a medical professional. Additionally, she is a co-author of the journal article “A New Laboratory Research Model: The Damaraland Mole-Rat and Its Managed Care.” A fun fact about Sannam is that she has played the double bass in an orchestra for 10 years.

Research Assistant

Leslie Tulip is in her fourth year of undergrad and majoring in applied psychology with a minor in Black studies. She is most interested in social psychology. She wants to research the impact of representation in entertainment media – race, LGBTQ+, mental health, family dynamics, and more. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree, Leslie plans to pursue a doctoral program in social psychology. She has traveled to 20 different countries, including living in Salzburg, Austria, where The Sound of Music was filmed. Leslie is also a foster parent.

Research Assistant

Julia Tita is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Applied Psychology and minoring in Sociology. She plans to go into a career in Clinical/Pediatric Psychology and wants to conduct research on disadvantaged groups and their experience with the healthcare system. 

Alyssa Sierra was a research assistant in the lab from Fall 2023 to Spring 2024. She majored in psychology at UIC.

Yinqing Zheng was a lab manager in the lab from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023. After UIC, Yinqing joined the Krosch Lab at Cornell University as a lab manager.

Marya Hamoui was a research assistant in the lab from Fall 2022 through Fall 2023. She double-majored psychology and communications at UIC.

Aastha Chouhan was a research assistant in the lab during the 2022/2023 academic year. She majored in psychology during her time at UIC.

Maddie Warren was an RA in the lab during Spring 2023 during her senior year. She majored in psychology and minored in philosophy at UIC.

Amtul Najiyah was a RA in the lab during Fall 2022. She was a senior majoring in psychology and minoring in business administration.