Maraya is a current 3rd year graduate student in the FAMH Lab. She graduated from The University of Connecticut - Storrs Campus. with a bachelor’s degree in Psychological Sciences and English and a minor in French. After working with AmeriCorps as an English class teacher’s assistant for a year at a charter school in Bridgeport, CT, she completed the Hot Metal Bridge Post-Baccalaureate Program at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include pediatric psychology with Black/African American youth who have chronic illnesses (e.g., Sickle Cell Disease) and experience internalizing and externalizing symptoms that affect them and their families. Her Master's thesis focuses on the relationship between pain and depressive symptoms among Black adolescents and their parents, as well as whether parental depression acts as a moderator of the pain-depression cycle. Clinically, her interests are in mental health services for African American children and families, both in inpatient and outpatient settings.