Dr. Kristina Lenker's research focuses on sleep health in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. She aims to disentangle the bidirectional relationship between sleep and functioning in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (i.e., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)). Her overarching goal is to adapt transdiagnostic sleep interventions for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders, and to develop processes for adapting evidence-based sleep treatments to meet their unique needs. Her research relies on both subjective and objective methods and techniques such as self-report measures, standardized neurocognitive testing, and ambulatory actigraphy. Her other research interests encompass pediatric behavioral sleep medicine as well as examining clinical predictors of sleep health and insomnia.

Dr. Kristina Lenker's teaching and educational interests include formal lecturing, clinical training and research mentoring of master-level students and doctoral-level students as well as residents. Her areas of mentorship and teaching focus on sleep physiology and behavior, sleep nosology, behavioral sleep medicine (BSM), and pediatric BSM.

Dr. Kristina Lenker's clinical practice includes a wide array of sleep-wake disorders, with a special emphasis on insomnia disorder, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, nightmare disorder and hypersomnia disorders across the lifespan. Clinically, she is a sleep psychologist applying behavioral sleep medicine (BSM) principles and therapies to assessing the onset, course and perpetuation of sleep and circadian disorders and intervening on the behavioral, cognitive and light-dependent factors contributing to the chronicity of these disorders. Specific BSM treatments she provides or supervises in her routine clinical practice include cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), chronotherapy and bright light therapy (BLT) exposure for circadian disorders, imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) for nightmare disorder, exposure relaxation and rescripting therapy (ERRT) for post-traumatic nightmares, scheduled napping and behavioral activation for hypersomnia disorders and mood-related sleep inertia, cognitive-behavioral therapy for night eating syndrome (CBT-NES) or behavioral desensitization and tolerance (BDT) for PAP adherence and compliance. She trains clinical psychology interns, psychiatry residents and neurology residents.

Licensed Psychologist, Pennsylvania State Board of Psychology, 2020