Graduate
BCS PhD Graduates
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Paige Alitz Research areas: vulnerable populations, international health, mental health and substance abuse I have been a public health professional for over 10 years, studying and working with health disparities and access to care among the some of the world's most vulnerable populations. My work in medical clinics and infrastructure building from Haiti and Nicaragua, to post-Katrina in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, keeps my research grounded in the harsh reality that some people enjoy the privilege of optimal health compared to others based solely on their being born into different circumstances. My job as a researcher and public health professional is to bridge these circumstantial gaps in privilege through identifying the unique needs and working with communities in finding just as unique, equitable solutions to meet those needs. One need that I have consistently seen in my travels and in my personal life is access to empathetic, evidence-based mental health and substance abuse treatment. My work now focuses on patient advocacy among people with mental illness and co-occurring substance abuse, and finding solutions to linking them to treatment or services that meet their individual needs. |
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Ana Aluisy Research Area: Mental Health Disparities and Culturally Relevant Mental Health Services Ana is a Bilingual Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Marriage and Family Therapist. She specializes in working with multicultural relationships. Ana is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has served as the President of the Suncoast Mental Health Counselors Association (SMHCA). Ana has been providing counseling services in English and Spanish since 2007. She is passionate about learning and helping individuals thrive in their relationships. She is hoping that her studies help her to better understand mental health service disparities for minorities, especially bilingual and Spanish-speaking individuals. Personal Hyperlink: http://anaaluisy.com/ |
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Joshua T. Barnett Research Areas: Safety-Net Health Policy and Planning; Mental Health Services & Primary Care Integration; Opioid Use Policy Joshua was admitted to the PhD in Behavioral and Community Sciences degree program as part of the inaugural doctoral cohort in 2017. Dr. Barnett is the Behavioral Health Data Scientist for Pinellas County Human Services Department and CEO of Troubadour Health. He is also Professor in the School of Health Services Administration at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine. Joshua earned a Master of Health Science degree in mental health at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in 2016, a Master of Arts degree in thanatology at Hood College in 2009, a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology from Florida State University, and a Certificate in the integrated practice of substance use and mental health disorder treatment from Drexel University. His research seeks to inform the development of safety-net health services provided to adults who are low-income, uninsured, or underinsured that improves access to person-centered medical and psychiatric treatment services. In particular, Mr. Barnett's research agenda focuses on: (1) County-level health programs, (2) community-engagement in health policy development, (3) the integration of primary and behavioral health care, and (4) opioid, stimulant, and substance use deflection and treatment programs. Personal Hyperlink: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-t-barnett-mhs-ma-a95876106 CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/barnett-joshua.pdf |
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Emily Baton Research Areas: Caregiver and staff training, positive parent-school relations, and implementation science Dr. Baton is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in Applied Behavioral Analysis/Positive Behavior Intervention and Support at the May Institute. Her primary research interests include a) prevention of child abuse and neglect through eco-behavioral caregiver education and training; b) increased parent involvement and positive parent-school relations; c) defining and measuring family well-being. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/baton-emily.pdf |
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Skye Bristol Research areas: Substance misuse, racial/ethnic health disparities, childhood trauma, public policy, youth development Skye Bristol, Ph.D. is currently a NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow in the Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health at the University of Florida Department of Epidemiology, College of Public Health and Health Professions, and College of Medicine. Her work focuses on how traumatic childhood experiences predict attitudes and behaviors of substance misuse among justice-involved adolescents, and qualitatively assessing how stress and resources related to ethnic and sex disparities in substance use disorder services affect outcomes after contact with the Florida juvenile justice system. Additionally, she will be utilizing the ABCD Study® (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development) to examine the effects of structural inequalities and stress on experiences with substance misuse and disparities. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/bristol-skye.pdf |
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Bonnie Brown Research Areas: Child and Family Mental Health Service, Social Welfare Reform, Program Evaluation and Assessment, Mental Health Care in Schools, Adverse Childhood Experiences, Substance Abuse Prevention, Harm Reduction. Bonnie Brown, Ph.D. is an applied behavioral researcher with experience in public education and child and family studies. Her research and evaluation studies focus on child and adolescent behavioral health disparities and community-based interventions that support vulnerable populations. Most recently, Dr. Brown has focused on the means to support children and their families impacted by the opioid use epidemic, particularly those involved in the child welfare system of Florida. Dr. Brown is an Associate Researcher for the Louis de la Parte, Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida. As a native of the Suncoast, and previous public-school educator, she is passionate about the community, and dedicated to working to improve the lives and wellbeing of its citizens, particularly children and individuals with foster care experience. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/brown-bonnie.pdf Personal Hyperlink: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-brown-43572118b/ |
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Deveney Ching Research Areas: Reintegration of Veterans after Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Pain after TBI, Return to work after disability Deveney Ching is a Graduate Research Associate in Research and Development Service at James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital, Tampa, Florida. Deveney Ching focuses on the rehabilitation and community reintegration of individuals after Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and the long-term effects of disability. Deveney carries a number of specialty certifications to work effectively with individuals with TBI and their families/caregivers. She is Certified as a Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and a Brain Injury Specialist Trainer (CBIST) which allows her to be knowledgeable about the short and long-term needs of persons with TBI and their families. Deveney assists on a number of Traumatic Brain Injury and vocational rehabilitation grants including: Characterization & Treatment of Chronic Pain After Moderate to Severe TBI, Long-term Impact of Military-Relevant Brain Injury Consortium - Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (LIMBIC-CENC), Striving to Work and Overcoming Employment Barriers Among Veterans with Spinal Cord Injury, and Achieving Competitive Customized Employment through Specialized Services (ACCESS). CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/ching-deveney.pdf |
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Areana Cruz Research Area: Interested in a diverse array of research for vulnerable populations Areana Cruz is a Social and Behavioral Researcher at the University of South Florida. Ms. Cruz’s research activities have encompassed a broad range of topics from adolescent substance abuse, parental help seeking behaviors, child welfare systems evaluation, evaluation of managed healthcare, integrated behavioral health and pediatric initiatives, and research on cognitive neuroscience and aging. Ms. Cruz actively seeks out projects that explore a diverse array of research areas, and projects that will challenge and expand her skill set. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/cruz-areana.pdf |
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T. Freeman Gerhardt Research Areas: Behavioral health & criminal justice policy; systems delivery and integration; substance use treatment; implementation science. Dr. Gerhardt is a postdoctoral research scholar in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Gerhardt has expertise in systems planning, implementation science, criminal justice deflect/diversion, and behavioral health service delivery. His current research activities encompass the development of empirically supported cross-system strategic planning and coordination techniques to reduce system fragmentation and criminal justice involvement for individuals with behavioral health issues. |
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Megan Kirby Research Areas: Narrative language, intervention design, implementation science, education, social justice, applied behavior analysis (ABA) Megan Kirby, Ph.D. (pronouns: she/her/hers) is a Dissemination and Implementation Specialist at Language Dynamics Group, LLC. She is also an Adjunct Professor for College of Autism Studies & Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) at Mary Baldwin University and a Research Associate for Center for Research, Evaluation, Assessment, and Measurement at the University of South Florida Having co-founded UncomfortableX in 2017, she engages in personal and professional interests linking the application of behavior analysis to social justice, education, civil and human rights. Her primary research interests involve the measurement of narrative language in early childhood and the design of storytelling interventions to deliver education to displaced (e.g., refugees, migrants, persons relocated due to natural disasters) and minoritized populations. Personal hyperlink: https://www.uncomfortablex.com/ CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/kirby-megan.pdf |
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Monica Landers Research Areas: interagency collaboration; juvenile justice; child welfare; human trafficking; systems of care; research on evaluation; network analysis Monica Landers is currently an Assistant Research Professor with the Department of Child and Family Studies at the USF College of Behavioral & Community Sciences. She earned her Master of Social Work degree as well as her M.A. in Criminology at the University of South Florida and is currently a PhD candidate in the field of Behavioral and Community Sciences. She endeavors to utilize her educational background and experiences in order to positively affect the lives of adolescents involved in, or who are at risk of involvement in, the juvenile justice system. Monica’s research interests are in the intersection of mental health and juvenile justice and multi-system response for dually-involved and dually-adjudicated youth. She has collaborated on various projects, publications, and presentations centered on systems of care, commercial sexual exploitation of children, out-of-home care, child welfare, and adolescent parenthood. Monica has also been a member of the Global Alliance for a few years. During that time, she has been involved in task forces and special interest groups. For the Global Alliance, Monica is also serving as a co-chair of the Scientific Committee. |
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Nele Loecher Research area: Pediatric/adolescent and young adult pscyho-oncology with a focus on survivorship. Nele Loecher is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Pediatric Psychology Research Fellowship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Nele was a Presidential Fellow in the Behavioral and Community Sciences PhD program from Germany. She has earned a Bachelor of Arts with honors double majoring in psychology and English from Grinnell College and a Master of Science in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience: Psychopathology from Maastricht University. Nele’s past research at the Biobehavioral Pediatric Pain Lab at Stanford University focused on pediatric pain interventions, parental empathy, and symptom-monitoring in survivors of pediatric cancer. She aims to translate findings from the pediatric pain field into the realm of survivors of pediatric cancer. Her primary interests, therefore, are in pediatric and adolescent/young adult psycho-oncology, especially survivorship care, symptom monitoring, and parental roles. Personal Hyperlinks: CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/loecher-nele.pdf |
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Vivian Mills Research Areas: Parental coping strategies, child welfare policy, coparenting between foster and biological parents Dr. Mills is currently the Assistant Director of Professional Development and Worker Wellbeing Research and Evaluation at the Florida Institute of Child Welfare conducting research and evaluating programs to support child welfare worker wellbeing and professional development. Through her experiences with the child welfare system as a foster and adoptive parent, she developed a passion to coparent with families working toward reunification with their children. Vivian returned to school in and earned her master’s degree in Social Work in 2019. As a doctoral student, Vivian’s research includes parental coping skills and engagement of biological parents in the child welfare system. She has a strong desire to effect change in child welfare policy and hopes her research will help families involved in the system. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/mills-vivian.pdf |
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Juanita Patterson-Price Research Areas: Her major research interest is in the relationship between children’s physical movement skills and mental health; particularly anxiety and depression disorders. She has a special interest in dance as a means of movement skill and cognitive development. Juanita Patterson-Price is a Doctoral Student in the Interdisciplinary Program, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy. Her academic background is in Anatomy and Medical Science, with a parallel dance background including international competition and performance. She is involved in the local chapter of the Performing Arts Medicine Association, and recently presented findings at the 29th Annual Conference for the International Association for Dance Medicine & Science. Through her role as a dance instructor and consultant for Footprints Dance Project in Calgary Canada, she co-developed a children’s fundamental movement skills training program and assessment. She continues to work with Footprints Dance Project evaluating and further developing these tools for use in research settings. |
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Erica Sappington Research Area: Behavioral health and quality of life in older adults Erica Sappington is currently a Doctoral Candidate in Behavioral and Community Sciences Ph.D. program at the University of South Florida, College of Behavioral and Community Sciences. She earned her Master of Arts in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling and B.S in Psychology and Sociology at The University of South Florida. She works with Dr. Carla VandeWeerd at the University of Florida as a research coordinator in The Villages, Florida. Erica’s research interests are integrating mental health services for older adults in primary care and behavioral health program evaluation. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/sappington-erica.pdf |
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Amanda Sharp Research areas: Person-Centered Care, Addiction Treatment and Harm Reduction, Medication for Opioid Use Disorders, Community Responses to Addiction Amanda Sharp earned her PhD from the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy in the Fall of 2020. She is currently a Public Health Advisor for The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) in the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), with extensive experience with interventions based on motivational interviewing. Her research is focused on person-centered behavior change and communication techniques as a means for incorporating individual worldviews into the operations, culture, and policies of behavioral health delivery systems. She is particularly invested in the implementation of person-centered care in treatment and harm reduction strategies for opioid use disorders. Her dissertation was titled, “The Role of Non-Secular Involvement Towards a Comprehensive Community Approach for Addressing Opioid Use Disorder” in which she used qualitative, quantitative, and geospatial methods to assess the impact of and potential for the integration of faith-based interventions and resources for improving access to addiction services and decreasing opioid-related overdose deaths. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/sharp-amanda.pdf |
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Sarah K. Sheffield Certifications:
B.A. in Psychology, University of South Florida (undergraduate) Minor:
A.A. in Liberal Arts, Hillsborough Community College, Honors Institute (undergraduate) Research Areas: Child Welfare; Law Enforcement; Substance Use; Policy and Planning; Implementation Science Sarah Sheffield Doctoral Candidate, MA, CRC, TTS is a prior Hillsborough County Child Protective Investigator/ Trainer and substance abuse clinician who specializes in trauma-related service interventions for transition-age youth in foster care as well as first responders. Sarah's past research with Hillsborough County Children Services and Ready for Life focused on program development for transition-age youth in foster care under the premise of translational research while her current research interests expound on this concept and concentrate on services for first responders. Sarah acts in the capacity of a peer mentor for the USF Institute for Translational Research Education in Adolescent Drug Abuse (ITRE), providing guidance to rising scholars completing community-based research projects with Hillsborough County Children Services and Hillsborough County Anti-Drug Alliance, and an Editorial Associate for The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research as she completes her PhD at USF in Behavioral and Community Sciences. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/sheffield-sarah.pdf |
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Jennifer T. Tran Research Areas: Intersectional Stigma, LGBTQ+ mental health, Addressing mental health disparities Jennifer (Jenni) T. Tran, Ph.D. is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow with Eidos LGBTQ+ Health Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Nursing, Department of Family and Community Health. Jenni was a Graduate Student Success Fellow during her time at the University of South Florida focused on understanding and addressing mental illness stigma. Now as a Postdoctoral fellow, her work focuses on addressing sexual orientation and gender identity-related mental health disparities experienced by individuals within intersections of multiple marginalized identities. Jenni has been involved in several projects examining the impact of a narrative-based intervention on addressing multiple forms of stigma (i.e., race and ethnicity, mental illness, sexuality, and gender identity). Currently, she is the clinical research coordinator for an NIH funded project on the efficacy of a suicide prevention intervention for vulnerable emerging adult sexual minorities. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/tran-jennifer.pdf |
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Tram Tran H.H Research areas: substance abuse disorders and mental illness in developing countries, especially on program evaluations, drug-related policies, peer-based support interventions and women with substance use disorders. Tram Tran H.H, is a former Fulbright NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow in 2017-2018. Since 2012, she has been working for the Haiphong Union of Science and Technology Associations, Vietnam as the deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology. In 2015, Tram served on a team dedicated to Medication Assisted Recovery Support Services, funded by SAMHSA - the first program piloted in Vietnam providing recovery support in substance use treatment. In addition, Tram is a national and global master trainer for the Universal Treatment Curriculums (International Centre for Credentialing and Education of Addiction Professionals). In several years, she has been participating in expert teams designing and reviewing universal treatment curriculums for The Colombo Plan Drug Advisory Program (CPDAP) and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Dr. Tran is currently Deputy Director at the Department of Science and Technology, Haiphong Union of Science and Technology Associations, Vietnam. CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/tran-tram.pdf |
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Enya B. Vroom Research Areas: Implementation Science in Behavioral Health; Substance Use Prevention, Intervention, and Treatment; School-based Behavioral Health Services Enya Vroom, Ph.D., is currently a NIH NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Florida within the UF Substance Abuse Training Center in Public Health. She earned her Master of Science in Child and Adolescent Behavioral Health, with a concentration in translational research and evaluation, from USF in 2017. She also earned a Graduate Certificate in Translational Research in Adolescent Behavioral Health from the Institute for Translational Research Education in Adolescent Drug Abuse (ITRE) in 2017 and currently works as a Graduate Research Associate for the ITRE. Her research and evaluation projects have focused on the implementation of evidence-based practices targeting substance use prevention and social and emotional learning among child and adolescent populations as well as the integration of behavioral health services into school-based settings. She currently serves as the Vice President of the Behavioral Health Student Organization at USF, is a reviewer for the Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, and provides gatekeeper trainings for suicide prevention through Campus Connect at USF. In the future, Enya hopes to continue working in the field of implementation science research and practice and further assist with closing the research to practice gap in behavioral health. Personl Hyperlinks: www.linkedin.com/in/enya-vroom-m-s-436852bb CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/vroom-enya.pdf |
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Amanda Weston Amanda Weston, Ph.D., is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor with private practice. She is also working for Teladoc, Teletherapy Solutions, Lyra Health, Grow Therapy, and Headway until research, adjunct, post-doc position is secured where she plans to do both clinical, supervision, and research work. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English with a minor in Public Health as well as her Master’s degree in Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling at the University of South Florida. She also earned a Graduate Research Certificate in Translational Research in Adolescent Drug Abuse (ITRE) in 2020. Her research is focused on technology addiction with a concentration in video games and how technology affects developmental, social, and behavioral processes for youth and young adults. She currently is a reviewer for the Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research and works on two federal grants as a Graduate Research Associate. Amanda’s future goals include providing evidence through her research for effective treatment interventions to treat problematic gaming behaviors in the United States and the creation of a practical treatment manual for treating Gaming Disorder in youth and young adults. Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amanda_Weston3/research CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/weston-amanda.pdf |
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B. Michelle Wilks Research Areas: Reducing Mental Illness Stigma; Contact-Based Stigma Reduction; Developing and Evaluating Stigma-Reduction Programs Michelle earned a Bachelor’s in Psychology at the University of South Florida in 2016 and PhD in Behavioral and Community Sciences at USF in 2024. She is also an instructor of record at USF, teaching the course Behavioral Health and The Family. Michelle’s current research areas of interest revolve around the reduction of various forms of mental illness stigma through contact-based strategies. More specifically, through This Is My Brave (thisismybrave.org), a powerful contact-based stigma reduction program that works to reduce various forms of stigma through storytelling by individuals with lived experience. Through her research, she hopes to contribute to a shift in the current adverse culture that surrounds mental illness to become a more accepting and empathetic culture where those with mental illness(es) feel welcomed rather than ostracized or discriminated against. Personal Hyperlink: http://kristinkosyluk.weebly.com/meet-the-team.html CV: https://www.usf.edu/cbcs/documents/bcs-students-cv/beekman-michelle.pdf |
