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INFORMATION FOR

Tami Sullivan, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry
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Additional Titles

Director, Division of Prevention and Community Research, Psychiatry

Director, NIDA-funded T32 Training Program in Substance Use Prevention Research, Psychiatry

Director, Family Violence Research and Programs, Psychiatry

Contact Info

tami.sullivan@yale.edu

Psychiatry

The Consultation Center, 389 Whitney Avenue

New Haven, CT 06511-

United States

About

Titles

Professor of Psychiatry

Director, Division of Prevention and Community Research, Psychiatry; Director, NIDA-funded T32 Training Program in Substance Use Prevention Research, Psychiatry; Director, Family Violence Research and Programs, Psychiatry

Biography

Dr. Sullivan's research program focuses on both individual and system-level factors that influence the well-being of women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV). Her naturalistic studies employ micro-longitudinal design to explore how daily experiences and behaviors unfold in natural environments. Her interventional studies promote relationship health, resilience and recovery from trauma and substance use. Integral to her approach is community-partnered research, which centers women who have experienced IPV and the practitioners who support them.

At the individual level, Dr. Sullivan's research advances understanding of factors that foster resilience, such as self-efficacy, empowerment, and hope, as well as factors that heighten the risk for negative outcomes, including posttraumatic stress, substance use, and sexual risk behaviors. She studies the impact of substance use, criminal justice, and other service system’s responses on women’s emotional and physical wellbeing, including the ways in which it promotes or impedes their safety, recovery and resilience.

Dr. Sullivan’s development of community-based and service-system interventions includes a peer-led support group, a single-session intervention to promote hope, and a stepped-care behavioral health intervention aimed at reducing trauma symptoms to enhance retention in opioid use disorder care. She disseminates findings to researchers, practitioners, and the public through various formats, including practitioner briefs, blogs, infographics, webinars, and popular media, to accelerate the translation of research into changes in practice and policy.

She is a licensed psychologist with experience across a range of treatment settings, from inpatient and outpatient programs for mental health and substance use disorders to community programs for women who experience IPV and court-mandated interventions for offenders.

Last Updated on March 25, 2026.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

PhD
Northeastern University (2002)
MA
Boston College (1996)

Research

Program of Research

Overview

Medical Research Interests

Alcohol-Related Disorders; Battered Women; Domestic Violence; Drug Misuse; Intimate Partner Violence; Posttraumatic Growth, Psychological; Psychiatry and Psychology; Resilience, Psychological; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic; Women's Health

Public Health Interests

Substance Use, Addiction; Women's Health; Community Health; Behavioral Health; Community Engagement

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Tami Sullivan's published research.

Publications

2025

See All Publications

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

Get In Touch

Contacts

Email
Mailing Address

Psychiatry

The Consultation Center, 389 Whitney Avenue

New Haven, CT 06511-

United States

Administrative Support