Dr. Robert (Robby) Henry ’17 returned to Hope College as a faculty member in 2023. His teaching responsibilities include Introduction to Psychology and courses in the Research Methods sequence. Robby is also planning to develop a new course in Psychological Testing and Measurement. He has loved reconnecting with his alma mater and sharing the quantitative aspects of psychological science with eager students.

Prior to beginning as faculty at Hope, Robby worked in industry as a quantitative scientist. He worked for digital mental health startup Twill as a quantitative research associate and for Meijer as an advanced data analyst. He continues to provide part-time statistical contracting/consulting services to companies in the digital health space.

Areas of Expertise

Robby has a relatively unique background, as he has clinical training and is a quantitative methodologist. Though he is not a licensed clinical psychologist per se, Robby’s substantive interests are often related to the development of psychopathology risk and resilience over major lifespan transitions, especially the perinatal period. He is particularly interested in the use of digital methods (e.g., smartphone activity) to better understand the course of people’s mental health. Robby often applies rigorous quantitative methods to these questions, and he specializes in the use of predictive models (e.g., machine learning), longitudinal statistics and other forms of growth modeling. 

Education

• Ph.D., psychology (specialization in quantitative methods and psychopathology), University of Utah, 2023
• M.S., clinical psychology, University of Utah, 2019
• B.A., biology and psychology, Hope College, 2017

Selected Honors, Grants, & Awards

• Nyenhuis Faculty-Student Collaborative Grant, Exploring the Add Health Cohort: Testing Statistical Assumptions and Links Between Religiousness and Health, MPIs: A. Cheadle and R.D. Henry, R. D, 2024
• Catalyst Fund, Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health, International Consortium on Psychosocial Stress, Spirituality, and Health, The prospective impact of religious deidentification on mental and physical health in U.S. cohort studies, PI: A. Cheadle; Co-Is: D. Van Tongeren and R.D. Henry, 2023
• Graduate Student Commendations in Teaching (2021), Research (2019, 2021), and Service (2019, 2021), University of Utah
• APAGS / Psi Chi Junior Scientist Fellowship, 2018
• Association for Psychological Science Student Grant Competition Winner, Prenatal exposure to maternal stress and emotion dysregulation, 2018

Selected Publications

• “Predicting newborn birth outcomes with prenatal maternal health features and correlates in the United States: a machine learning approach using archival data,” BMC Pregnancy & Childbirth, 2024
• “Effects of a Digital Mental Health Intervention on Perceived Stress and Rumination in Adolescents Aged 13 to 17 Years: Randomized Controlled Trial,” with E. Boucher et al., Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2023
• “Digital Phenotyping of Emotion Dysregulation Across Lifespan Transitions to Better Understand Psychopathology Risk”, with M. Gao et al., Frontiers in Psychology, 2021
• “Behavioral and physiological stress responses: Within-person concordance during pregnancy,” with P. Deboeck et al., Biological Psychology, 2021
• “Advancing models and methods of emotional concordance,” with J. Lougheed et al., Biological Psychology, 2021
• “Intergenerational transmission of emotion dysregulation: Part II. Developmental origins of newborn neurobehavior,” with B. Ostlund et al., Development and Psychopathology, 2019

A full list of publications and ongoing projects can be found at robbyhenry.com or at his Google Scholar page.

Outside the College

Outside of his academic life, Robby enjoys spending time with his wife, Kati, and their two dogs, Harlow and Willy, and they regularly frequent the beaches and dog parks in Holland. An Illinois native, he is also an avid sports fan, and he (somehow) enjoys watching his Chicago Bears and White Sox struggle every week, and is excited to see the Chicago Blackhawks do better in the future. He is also a frequent sand volleyball player and enjoys racquet sports (such as pickleball and tennis). Lastly, Robby is a fan of good TV and movies and has recently become a fan of several animes.