• Brown School > Academics > PhD in Public Health Sciences > PhD Students

Brown Page Content 1

PhD Students

PhD Candidates

PhD Students

Recent PhD Graduates

• Sara Beeler-Stinn

• View Website
• Women with incarceration, trauma, substance abuse

• Aytakin Huseynli

• View Website
• Social welfare in resource-rich countries; child welfare; global social work and social work education

• Robert Motley

• View Website
• Community Violence, Trauma, and Policing among Black emerging adults ages 18-29 residing in under-resourced communities

• Thabani Nyoni

• View Website
• Interventions for migrant health (Sub-Saharan Africa)

• Meagan Pilar

• View Website
• Dissemination and implementation research; mental health interventions; racial disparities

• Kyle Pitzer

• View Website
• Urban poverty; neighborhood effects; community development

• Natalicio Serrano

• View Website
• The built and social environment, and its relationship with physical activity, nutrition, and chronic disease

• Sicong Sun

• View Website
• Asset building and financial capability, health disparities, poverty

• Xiaoyan Wang

• View Website
• Cancer Epidemiology; Cancer Genomics

• Yiqi Zhu

• View Website
• Food security; nutrition; child welfare and rural development

• Phylicia Allen

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• African American adolescents; internal, external- and neighborhood assets; educational trajectory; K-12 education structure

• Autumn Asher BlackDeer

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Relationship and sexual violence; mental health services; American Indian and Indigenous populations.

• Enoch Azasu

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Mental health, suicide prevention

• Eugen Bontrud

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Urban health, urban policy, physical activity

• Kyria Brown

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Reducing birth-related trauma and health disparities for street-involved women through doula use

• William Byansi

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Child and Adolescent mental health services, Community-based economic development & social policy in Uganda

• Jun-Hong Chen

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Poverty prevention and alleviation, impacts of poverty on families

• Shih-Ying Cheng

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Gender oppression; marriage immigrant; intimate partner violence.

• Jacquelyn Coats

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Mental and physical health disparities among African Americans

• Flora Cohen

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Global mental health, mental health literacy, and community-based interventions

• Akilah Collins-Anderson

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Mental health, child welfare, dissemination and implementation science

• Merriah Croston

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health behavior change interventions; Applied health communications and social marketing research

• Darejan Dvalishvili

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Child welfare; Child maltreatment; Poverty eradication; Social protection

• Fithi Embaye

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Global mental health, child welfare, trauma informed care, attachment based interventions

• Emily Evers

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Maternal and child health; health behavior change; health education; peer support; international development

• Cao Fang

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Fang

• Andrew Foell

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Neighborhood Effects; Community Building, Development and Organizing; Community Engaged Research Methods

• Tyler Frank

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Mental health, neuroepidemiology, dissemination and implementation science, health disparities

• Carlos Andres Gallegos

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Nexus between agri-food systems, health, wellbeing, cosmovision, institutions and social action among Indigenous populations in US and Ecuador

• Michael Galvin

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Social determinants of health, mental health disparities, global health, and conflict and disaster zones

• Maria Gandarilla Ocampo

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Child maltreatment epidemiology and use of big data to inform child welfare research, practice, and policy; well-being across the life-span

• Rachel Garg

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health disparities; health communications; health behavior

• Eleni Gaveras

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Serious and Persistent Mental Illness, Social Determinants of Mental Health, Global and Domestic Mental Health Services

• Amanda Gilbert

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Chronic disease prevention, physical activity, and nutrition

• Greg Gross

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health equity, social determinants of health, HIV prevention interventions, and community engaged research

• Mark Hawes

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Mental and physical health disparities; mental illness trajectories; intersection of SMI, drug addiction, and incarceration; child welfare and adolescent mental health; D & I Science

• Dominique Horton

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• African American families, education equity and outcomes, education policy, mental health interventions, racism and poverty

• Tzu-Hsin Huang

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Well-being of minority and traumatized youth

• Xuan Huang

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Bullying prevention, childhood trauma and resilience

• Ashley Jackson

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Community-police relations, reentry, adult/juvenile justice, participatory research

• Dylan Jones

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Child welfare, kinship foster care, and administrative data analysis

• Joonmo Kang

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Environmental justice; environmentally sustainable welfare institutions; urban sustainability; urban community organizing; political ecology; qualitative methods; community based participatory research

• Joshua Kiyingi

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Global health, maternal and child health

• Kakada Kuy

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Social policy on aging, intersections of technology and aging, and impacts of Asian family breakdown, labor immigration and past traumatic experiences on well-beings of older adults

• Yuekang Li

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Aging, aging in place, productive aging, social engagement and wellbeing

• Sara Malone

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Dissemination & implementation science; pediatric critical care treatment and outcomes

• Lara Markovitz

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Social and family policy; fatherhood initiatives; program evaluation

• F. Hunter McGuire

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health equity for LGBTQ people with a focus on mental health, eating disorders, and body image issues

• Molly McLay

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Creative writing interventions for gender-based violence

• Selina Miller Forsyth

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Financial stability and asset building among vulnerable populations

• Maria Morrison

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Needs of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people; trauma-informed interventions; mass incarceration

• Jennifer Nattabi

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Asset building policy, international child welfare, child poverty, and social mobility among adolescent girls

• JaNiene Peoples

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• African American Emerging Adults, Wellbeing, Health Behavior Change, Health Disparities, Mental and Physical Health

• Nancy Pérez-Flores

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Physical and mental health disparities among racial and ethnic groups, Latinx focus

• Helen Robinson

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Multi-systemic impacts of community-based intervention research, collective efficacy in communities of color, youth development in urban settings

• Deidi Rodriguez

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Institutional responses to sexual assault

• Katie Shires

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Intergenerational trauma, trauma-informed interventions, child maltreatment, child/adolescent mental health

• Stephanie Skees

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Financial capability, financial literacy and financial exploitation among older adults

• Nicole Strombom

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health care disparities, health equity, women’s health, and maternal health issues

• Peter Sun

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Productive engagement in later life, aging in place, minority aging

• Daniela Tuda

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Community mental health and the adaptation of evidenced-based practices for marginalized communities

• Luissa Vahedi

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Sexual, reproductive health and rights in humanitarian settings

• Mia Vogel

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• chronic disease prevention, systems science, dissemination and implementation, translational health sciences

• Najjuwah Walden

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Reproductive tract infection pathophysiology, Mathematical epidemiology, Clinical decision making, Intervention implementation, Economic evaluation

• Callie Walsh-Bailey

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Dissemination and implementation science, chronic disease prevention, social determinants of health

• Jordyn Wartts

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Read Bio
• Health priorities and communications in Black populations

• Christopher Weatherly

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Dissemination and implementation of evidenced-based mental health treatments into practice; policy and health care procedures to improve outcomes and quality of life for populations with severe and persistent mental illness

• Maya Williams

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• School-based social work, interventions to the school-to-prison-pipeline, community engagement, and policy reform

• Yuanyuan Yang

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Poverty policy; Asset-building; Evidenced-based mental health interventions

• Yingying Zeng

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• Poverty, asset building policy and community development

• Haotian Zheng

• PhD in Social Work
• Read Bio
• The effect of assets across the lifespan, particularly among children and youth and older adults

• Takashi Amano

• Assistant Professor, Rutgers University
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Ivy Blackmore

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Graduated 2019

• Yu-Chih Chen

• Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Chien-Jen Chiang

• Assistant Professor, Louisiana State University
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Christina Drymon

• Research Scientist (Public Health) of NORC at the University of Chicago
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2020

• Jacob Eaton

• Senior Associate, Iris Group
• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Graduated 2020

• LaShawnda Fields

• Assistant Professor, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2020

• Karishma Furtado

• Research and Data Analyst, Forward Through Ferguson
• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Graduated 2020

• Cole Hooley

• Assistant Professor, Brigham Young University
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Richa Joshi

• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Katherine Marcal

• Assistant Professor, University of Nevada Las Vegas
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Alexandra Morshed

• Research Project Manager, Prevention Research Center in St. Louis
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2020

• Whitney Sewell

• Research Fellow, Harvard University
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Mary Jo Stahlschmidt

• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Erin Stringfellow

• Substance Abuse Research Scientist, Missouri Institute of Mental Health
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Harry Taylor

• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Yi Wang

• Assistant Professor, University of Iowa
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Ellie Wideman

• Assistant Professor, Maryville University
• PhD in Social Work
• Graduated 2019

• Roger Wong

• PhD in Public Health Sciences
• Graduated 2020

Brown Page Content 2