Julci Areza (she/her) is interested in work-related interventions to advance the health and well-being of low-wage, BIPOC, and/or immigrant communities. She holds a BA in Health & Societies with a concentration in Race, Gender, and Health from the University of Pennsylvania. During college, she conducted civic engagement and volunteer social work with grassroots organizations in Philadelphia. Her experiences led her to pursue an MPH in Health Equity, Social Justice, and Human Rights with a certificate in Total Worker Health® from the University at North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the few years before coming to Brown, Julci worked as a research fellow/intern with the CDC Injury Center in the Division of Violence Prevention, NIOSH, and CDC’s Office of Health Equity. She is also a recipient of the Mae Williamson Simmons Fellowship. In her free time, Julci loves to explore new crafts, read fun fantasy/sci-fi novels, work out, and travel!

Lila K. Chamlagai (Pronouns: He/Him/His) was born and raised in a Bhutanese refugee camp in eastern Nepal. After living in the camp for almost 17 years, Lila and his family resettled in Springfield, MA, in 2011. Recently, Lila received his MPH degree from Brown University School of Public Health. Prior to attending Brown, Lila served as a Community Advisory Board Member (C.A.B.) in Community-Based Participatory Research (C.B.P.R.) with Dr. Theresa Betancourt’s lab; Research Program on Children and Adversity (R.P.C.A.) at the Boston College School of Social Work who investigated cultural norms and traditions related to family strengthening Intervention. Lila is interested in investigating several questions that may ultimately help those suffering in a refugee community and elsewhere: 1) how socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, and religion/faith impact mental health, depression, and ultimately lead to suicidal ideation; 2) why marginalized populations and low-income settings face significant health disparities; 3) how to leverage resources and improve mental health service delivery, finally design and implement the culturally congruent Mindfulness-Based Intervention (MBI-R) among the refugee and immigrant populations in the U.S. and low Middle-Income nations.

Samantha Clark (she/her/hers) holds a BA in Psychology from the University of North Georgia and an MA in Research Psychology from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. During her master’s program, she served as the Lab Coordinator of the Child Emotion Center, overseeing research examining childhood aggression and emotional competence, the intergenerational transmission of abuse, and the biological embedding of stress. In 2021, she joined Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Through this work, she developed a strong foundation in addiction science and biopsychosocial research methodologies. Samantha’s current research centers on the intersection of childhood adversity, substance use, and chronic disease. Drawing from her work with the Center for Addiction and Disease Risk Exacerbation (CADRE), she investigates how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and substance use influence biomarkers of inflammation, particularly among historically marginalized populations. She hopes her work will inform targeted interventions that mitigate the compounded health risks of early-life adversity and substance use, ultimately reducing long-term disparities in chronic disease outcomes.

Nathan Didier seeks to build data science tools that improve behavioral interventions and substance use monitoring. After completing an MS in Biomedical Informatics from the University of Chicago, he developed several software tools for the Clinical Addictions Research Laboratory, including an alcohol biosensor program which remains pertinent to his research at Brown. Nathan is also interested in understanding why certain individuals overlook substance-related impairment and how perceptions of impairment can be changed to result in moderated substance use.

Emily Elenio (she/her/hers) is interested in studying public health nutrition, particularly childhood feeding patterns and policy evaluation. Emily uses mixed methods research to better understand cultural factors that shape eating and diet. She has previously worked on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program policy evaluations and completed an ethnographic investigation of school lunch. Prior to coming to Brown, she worked in healthcare consulting and her project experience spans across 40+ therapeutic areas and includes Medicare, Medicaid, and global health assessments. She holds a BA in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and an MPH from Brown University. 

Rey Flores (they/them) seeks to examine how community and policy-based interventions impact women and gender diverse populations’ ability to engage with the HIV care continuum and reproductive health. Prior to Brown, Rey worked as a research associate assisting the implementation of a cervical cancer patient navigation program in Senegal and supported the implementation and roll out of long acting injectable HIV medication at a university clinic.  They are a recipient of the Mae Belle Williamson Simmons Diversity Fellowship. Rey received their BSW in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MA in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago. 

Alise Fortune (she/her) seeks to intersectionally examine how structural stigma, oppression, and social stressors impact the mental and physical health of marginalized minority communities, specifically women of color and sexual/gender minorities. She is particularly interested in how community and critical, ethically-based interventions can be utilized to improve the well-being of marginalized individuals. Prior to Brown, Alise graduated from Rollins College with a BA in Philosophy and Psychology. At Rollins, she successfully defended a senior thesis focusing on stress in LGBTQ+ students attending Florida's private colleges and served as an undergraduate research assistant on multiple psychological research projects. Alise was also the recipient of the 2024 Rollins Presidential Award for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging for her service as the chair of the Rollins DEIB Student Advisory Council.

Patrick Kelly (pronouns: he/him/his) is a fourth year doctoral candidate. Patrick utilizes qualitative methods and computational techniques applied to large datasets to understand how psychosocial and structural factors influence medical decision making among people who use drugs, LGBTQ people, and the intersection of these groups. His National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded mixed methods dissertation aims to understand the deleterious effects of xylazine and create a natural language processing based computable phenotype to identify people who have been exposed to xylazine in electronic health record data. He also conceptualized the makeshift medicine framework to overview how people utilize extra-medical care to address their health concerns when formalized health services are inaccessible. He is the Student Editor of the American Journal of Public Health, and holds a BS in Public Health and MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Temple University.

Abby Katz (pronouns: she/her/hers) has research interests at the intersection of food, history, culture, policy and health equity. She received a M.A. in Food Studies from New York University, and a B.A. in Food, Culture, and Sustainable Society (Individualized) and Human Rights from the University of Connecticut. Abby is particularly interested in using mixed-methods to better understand food environment influences on Black and Latinx/e youth. Prior to Brown, Abby worked in the Department of Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health on projects investigating neighborhood and environmental factors on food choice, access, and health. Abby also contributed to research projects to improve the administration of New York State Medicaid and both access and quality of addiction health services care. Outside of her work and the classroom, Abby has prioritized working with nonprofit organizations and engaging with grassroots community movements to enhance her education.

Daniel Mayo (pronouns: he/him/his) holds a BS in Psychology from Haverford College and an MS in Global Health from National Taiwan University. Before joining Brown University, he worked in a clinical psychology lab developing HIV prevention and treatment interventions, as well as in a surgical lab studying quality of life among surgical patients. Daniel's research focuses on the sexual and behavioral health challenges faced by sexual and gender minorities, particularly those who are also racial and ethnic minorities. His work aims to investigate the social, cultural, and behavioral factors influencing HIV prevention and treatment within these communities, with the goal of developing effective behavioral health interventions, especially in international settings.

Abby Morales (pronouns: she/her) is from Brownsville, TX, and completed her undergraduate degree at Cornell University. During her time at Cornell, she worked at the Erie Bronfenbrenner Translational Research Center where she facilitated a youth development intervention among low-income communities in upstate New York. She also worked at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health in conjunction with the Winship Cancer Institute analyzing the Covid-19 impact on cancer survivorship follow-up care. She is interested in using a mixed-methods and community-based approach to study the intersection of alcohol use, vaccine behaviors, and cancer risk among Latino/e populations.

Siena Napoleon works on issues related to the treatment of opioid and stimulant use disorders in adolescents and young adults, with a focus on overdose prevention. Her research examines strategies to support access to evidence-based pharmacological and behavioral interventions, and the implementation of these practices into primary care settings. Siena holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MPH from Boston University School of Public Health.

Belinda O'Hagan is interested in social determinants of child and youth development. Particularly, she is interested in using mixed-methods and implementation science to evaluate efforts designed to improve children's and youth's well-being. Prior to Brown University, she worked on improving the healthcare experiences of autistic patients and their families within an urban safety-net setting. She holds a HBSc in biology and psychology from University of Toronto Mississauga and an MA in child development from Tufts University. 

Michael Onu (he/him/his) scholarship focuses broadly on physical activity promotion, with a particular emphasis on developing and evaluating interventions in under-resourced populations. Prior to beginning graduate school, he earned a BS in Exercise Science from Rowan University and worked as a research coordinator at Drexel University. When not engrossed in research, he enjoys exercising, reading (literature and nonfiction), reflective writing, and spending time with loved ones (including his dog, Bard).

Michelle Perry (pronouns: she/her/hers) is a Uruguayan American doctoral student who is interested in using research as a tool to reduce health disparities that disproportionately impact high risk Latinx/e populations. She is particularly interested in 1) understanding the impact social determinants of health have on eating behaviors, particularly in Latinx/e children, and 2) developing effective interventions that improve dietary quality, increase access to food, and ultimately create more healthful food environments. She received a BS in Psychology and Spanish from the University of Pittsburgh and a MS in Food and Nutrition from Meredith College. Prior to Brown, Michelle worked as a research specialist for the University of North Carolina’s Global Food Research Program where she evaluated global food policies that aimed to reduce diet-related disparities and improve public health, conducted clinical trials with children on the autism spectrum at the Duke Center for Autism, and directed nutrition education programs at a hunger-relief nonprofit in Carrboro, NC.  In her free time, you can find Michelle cooking, listening to true crime podcasts, and going on walks with her partner and two dogs, Alfalfa Sprout and Rutabaga.

Kimberly Piontkowski (she/her/hers) is interested in examining how social and political factors, such as stigma and policy decisions, shape access to reproductive and sexual healthcare. Grounded in the reproductive justice framework, she aims to use mixed-methods to study the mental health and well-being of individuals affected by changes in care access, whether receiving care, facing denial, or working as healthcare providers. She is also drawn to adolescent and young adult health, particularly the influence of sexual health education, contraceptive access, and socio-cultural dynamics on reproductive health trajectories. A first-generation doctoral student, Kimberly holds a BA in Psychology and Public Health from Wheaton College (MA) and an MPH in Health Behavior from Brown University. Previously, she worked in program management at the Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and spent several years delivering direct patient care at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.

Ashlynn Ruleman (pronouns: she/her/hers) is interested in understanding complex patterns of multiple tobacco product use and cannabis-tobacco co-use use among young adults. She aims to utilize qualitative and quantitative methods to examine the contextual influences and motivations behind polysubstance use. Before Brown, Ashlynn evaluated self-reported reasons for tobacco and cannabis use among young adults as a research assistant on the Texas Adolescent Tobacco and Marketing Surveillance Study. She was also a science writing intern at Truth Initiative, where she worked on translating scientific and technical findings into accessible educational materials for the public. She holds an MPH in Epidemiology from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and a BS in Anthropology from The University of Vermont. When she is not working, you can find Ashlynn practicing yoga and hiking with her dog, Moose.

Garrett S. Stang (he/him) is interested in identifying and interpreting underlying risk factors for social inequities and barriers to substance use treatment services among people with HIV, including those also living with Cancer. His research also explores substance-use-related carcinogenesis and how drug use behaviors may change following a cancer diagnosis. Before coming to Brown, Garrett worked in the Hollings Cancer Center Tobacco Treatment Program at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). Prior to his clinical research career, he served as a community health educator and high school math teacher in rural North Carolina during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. He holds a BS in Public Health/Community Health Education from UNC Wilmington and an MPH in Health Behavior and Health Promotion from MUSC. In his free time, Garrett enjoys playing tennis, walking his dog Moose, and trying new restaurants! 

Galya Walt (she/her) is interested in the intersection between harm reduction, substance use, reproductive justice and parental and child health. Before joining Brown University, she worked for the Implementation Science Core of the MA HEALing Communities study conducting qualitative interviews with community coalition members implementing harm reduction and substance use disorder treatment interventions in Massachusetts. More recently, she worked with Dr. Davida Schiff at the Perinatal Substance Use Research and Advocacy at Mass General (PRISM) research group on a pilot study exploring the acceptability and feasibility of an overnight infant respite care program for parents in residential substance use disorder treatment programs. She received a BA from Tufts University in Community Health and Psychology and an MPH in Health and Social Behavior from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Alysandra Zhang (pronouns: she/her/hers) is interested in digital therapeutics, big data, and scalability. She received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Columbia University with a focus on quantitative research methods and a B.A. in Psychology (Honors) from UC Berkeley. Alysandra is particularly interested in leveraging digital technology to broaden the accessibility of high-quality, evidence-based clinical interventions to improve mental health outcomes at the population scale. Prior to Brown, Alysandra worked as a Senior Analyst at Healthfirst LLC in New York City and as a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Medicine at the Northern California Institute for Research and Education in San Francisco, California. In her free time, Alysandra enjoys learning about individual cultures and societies through food, cooking, and dance theatre.