People

Melissa Schick an Assistant Professor within the Division of Prevention and Community Research (DPCR) at the Yale School of Medicine. Her research aims to advance understanding of mechanistic processes influencing the development, course, maintenance, remission, and prevention of substance use among trauma-exposed individuals. Her work includes a specific focus on the use of experience sampling methodologies to examine factors that occur proximally to substance use, with the goal of ultimately informing the development and implementation of just-in-time substance use-focused interventions. She is further interested in exploring health disparities and inequities related to substance use, and is dedicated to conducting work focused on marginalized populations to better understand how such inequities might be considered in substance use treatment and research. Dr. Schick's work is currently funded through a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Schick obtained a PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Rhode after completing her predoctoral internship through the Charleston Consortium (Medical University of South Carolina/Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center), and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Suffolk University. She completed her postdoctoral training in the DPCR's NIDA-funded T32 in Substance Use Prevention Research. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of Connecticut.

Johanna Perez is a Postgraduate Associate who works in the Study of Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery Lab (STAR). Johanna’s research interests focuses on marginalized communities, examining how cultural identity shapes resilience and how systemic inequities affect treatment outcomes. She is particularly committed to community-engaged research that informs culturally responsive interventions. Johanna holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Clinical Psychology and a Bachelor of Fine Art from Tufts University where she previously worked at Mass General Hospital in the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders.

Bianca Planas García (she/her/ella; M.S.) is a Psychology Fellow in the Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry, Psychology Section. Bianca's primary placement is in the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit, with her secondary placement at The Consultation Center. She is a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program at Albizu University, San Juan, Puerto Rico. Bianca specializes in delivering trauma-informed services and evidence-based care for individuals with substance use disorders and comorbidities. Bianca has offered services in a wide variety of settings, including Opioid Treatment Programs, jails, and community mental health centers. Her clinical and research work carries an intersectional lens. Bianca's research is primarily focused on exploring potential transdiagnostic factors, such as shame and stigma, among individuals with problematic drug use to inform treatment development. Specifically, Bianca's research aims to identify how these self-conscious emotions influence treatment engagement, adherence, and outcomes through quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Her work seeks not only to explore underlying psychological mechanisms in substance use disorders but also to develop translational efforts to develop evidence-based interventions targeting shame and stigma, improving treatment outcomes for individuals with substance use disorders.