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Dr. Christy A. Denckla, PhD (PI) is a clinical psychologist with joint appointments as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, an Associate Member at the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and an Assistant Professor of Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Her work aims to understand how adversity affects mental health and well-being across the lifespan, with a particular focus on bereavement. Dr. Denckla’s work is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, foundations, and internal awards. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and her clinical psychology internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Her doctoral research was completed at Adelphi University in New York.
DEBORAH CHAT DAUDA (she/her) is a mother/dancer/educator/activist and Ph.D. Candidate in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (SGISD) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She holds Master's degrees in Public Health (MPH) and African Studies (MA) from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her research agenda is dedicated to the flourishing of Black women and girls.
She is a recipient of a Fulbright research award to Nigeria, a Harvard HBNU Fogarty Global Mental Health fellowship, a University of North Carolina (UNC) Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellow, and a recipient of the American Philosophical Society’s Lewis and Clark fieldwork grant. Her doctoral research thematically focuses on gender and security matters related to the intersectional experiences and narratives of Black women and girls wherever they are positioned geopolitically. She engages with these issues through the intersection of public health (psychosocial health), the arts (dance), education, and social policy. Her current research interest addresses the psychosocial health of
survivors and victims of SGBV through the radical self-care practices of Black women globally.
Deborah is a member of the Community Advisory Council (CAC) at the Community Engagement Research Incubator and Strategy Hub (CERISH). She is also a member of the Community Healing Network (CHN), an organization dedicated to the emotional emancipation and healing of Black communities worldwide.
She is passionate about youth development, storytelling, and co-creating opportunities, spaces, and resources for African and African Diaspora people to flourish and thrive. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, cooking, street dancing, and playing soccer.
ANA LUCIA ESPINOSA DICE (she/her/hers) is a Research Assistant in the Department of Epidemiology. Under the mentorship of Drs. Christy Denckla and Karestan Koenen, Ana Lucia leads analyses that aim to better understand risk and resilience following adverse childhood experiences. She will start her PhD in Epidemiology in Fall 2023, examining the relationships between firearm/intimate partner violence, structural determinants of trauma, and mental health through both etiologic and policy approaches.
HENRI GARRISON-DESANY (any pronouns) is a Yerby post-doctoral fellow and came to Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health after graduating in Genetic Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public and with a master's in International Health. Henri studies the impacts of traumatic events on behavioral health, and the relevant polygenetic interactions in multi-ancestry longitudinal cohorts. Henri's work also aims to center historically marginalized populations, blending social epidemiological and intersectional lenses, to investigate these risks to mental health among transgender, low-income, and pregnant communities.
CHRIS GUURE is a trained Epidemiologist, Bayesian and frequentist Biostatistician, a researcher and consultant with about nine years of experience. He holds a PhD in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Currently a Senior Lecturer with the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Ghana. Chris has worked and continuous to work for a number of international and national organizations. These include; World Health Organization (WHO), West African Health Organization (WAHO), Ghana AIDS Commission, Ghana Health Service, USAID and others. He has extensive experience conducting research in areas such key populations (female sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender, people who inject drugs and people who use drugs), HIV/AIDs, malaria, Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH), poor and the vulnerable, health systems, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis as well as cognitive decline, and dementia and its subtypes among older folks. Other areas of interest include monitoring and evaluation of health systems, statistical methodology and software (STATA, R programming, WinBUGS, OpenBUGS and rJAGS) applications of both frequentist and Bayesian statistical methods in population based complex cross-sectional survey data, meta analytic data, infectious disease and longitudinal data analysis via generalized linear/nonlinear mixed effects models and/or hierarchical/multilevel modelling, joint modelling of longitudinal (repeated measurements of biomarkers) and time-to-event survival models, and structural equation modelling.
ALEX HILLCOAT is a Master of Science student in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She graduated with a B.A. (Hons.) in Psychology from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada in 2022, where her research ranged from evaluating therapeutic interventions for sleep disorders to examining the role of perfectionism in cognitive processes commonly seen in anxiety and related disorders. Alex’s research interests centre around the health consequences of friend bereavement in adolescence. She is working with Dr. Denckla to investigate the occurrence and impact of friend bereavement among sexual and gender minority youth relative to heterosexual and cisgender youth.