Current Position
Toronto Metropolitan University
Postdoctoral Researcher (2022-present)

Education
University of Western Ontario
PhD, Social Psychology (2017-2023)
MSc, Social Psychology (2015-2017)

University of Toronto
BSc, Psychology (2009-2014)

I am a postdoctoral researcher working on the Engage Cohort Study with Dr. Trevor Hart at Toronto Metropolitan University. I received my graduate training in Social Psychology with a specialization in Migration and Ethnic Relations with Dr. Victoria Esses at the University of Western Ontario. My research interests falls into two broad themes: (i) how does our framing of social issues affect our attitudes towards marginalized groups and (ii) how do experiences of discrimination affect health, wellbeing, and intergroup relations.

Framing Social Issues and Attitudes
How we talk about social issues, like immigration or health, can affect our attitudes towards people from marginalized groups. For example, people often turn to narratives of immigrant success and economic contribution to counter anti-immigrant prejudice. While well-meaning, my research has found that economic thinking about immigration was associated with restrictive attitudes towards immigration and that thinking about immigrants in terms of economic contribution was associated with mechanistic dehumanization (Palma, 2023).

In a second ongoing line of work with the HIV Prevention Lab, I am examining how different understandings of U=U (i.e., that people who are living with HIV who have an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV to their partners) affect the dating behavior of sexual minority men who are not living with HIV.

Experiences of Discrimination
Experiences of discrimination shape how we navigate intergroup contexts and has adverse effects on our health. In my work with the HIV Prevention Lab, I am examining how experiences of discrimination across race, immigration status, and sexual orientation affect group identity, psychological wellbeing, and health.

For more information on my past and current works, please visit my publications page.