PULSE Lab Staff

Lilian Y. Li, PhD
Principal Investigator
Lilian.Li@NationwideChildrens.org

Lilian Y. Li, PhD, is a principal investigator in the Institute for Mental and Behavioral Health Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Li received her PhD from the University of California, Irvine, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Northwestern University.

Broadly, Dr. Li's research focuses on understanding how social and affective processes contribute to risk and resilience for psychopathology, with an emphasis on depression. Her work integrates mechanistic neuroscience with scalable digital approaches to examine these processes across laboratory and real-world contexts. She employs advanced data acquisition methods, including EEG hyperscanning and mobile sensing, alongside computational approaches such as EEG time-frequency analysis and natural language processing. A major focus of her research is identifying neural and behavioral markers of short-term vulnerability to depression to inform the development of just-in-time interventions.

Reagan Hicks
Clinical Research Coordinator
Reagan.Hicks@NationwideChildrens.org

Reagan Hicks is a clinical research coordinator in the PULSE lab, where she supports the SYNC project. Broadly, she is interested in communication and emotional co-regulation within relationships and how interpersonal processes shape development and psychological well-being. Her particular interests are in psychometrics and quantitative approaches to studying communication, including linguistic markers, emotional arousal and other behavioral indicators of relationship processes.

Reagan graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in May 2026 with undergraduate degrees in psychology and biology and a minor in neuroscience. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology, with a focus on social development.

Outside of research, Reagan enjoys cooking, crocheting, running and exploring Columbus.

Jimin Kim
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jimin.Kim@NationwideChildrens.org

Jimin Kim is a clinical research coordinator in the PULSE Lab and MEND2 Lab at Nationwide Children's. Her research interests focus on adolescent depression and suicidal ideation, with a particular emphasis on understanding how close relationships influence emotion regulation and cognitive flexibility. She is especially interested in leveraging digital technologies and intensive longitudinal methods to examine risk and protective factors among youth.

Jimin earned her MA in clinical psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University, and her BS in psychology from The Ohio State University. Her long-term goal is to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology and contribute to the development of targeted, evidence-based interventions for diverse children, adolescents and families.

In her free time, Jimin enjoys drawing and painting, playing volleyball and exploring new restaurants and cafés around Columbus.