Natalie Johnson

Dr. Natalie E. Johnson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Division of Prevention and Community Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. Her research focuses on preventing and addressing youth mental health and substance use problems through scalable, community-centered approaches. Dr. Johnson’s work examines how schools, families, peers, and community systems can support early identification, prevention, and connection to care for adolescents and young adults, particularly in underserved and resource-limited settings.

Dr. Johnson’s research integrates public health, implementation science, and mental health services research to improve the reach, quality, and sustainability of prevention and early intervention strategies. Her work has included population-based studies, randomized trials, mixed-methods research, and implementation-focused projects designed to understand how evidence-based approaches can be adapted for real-world settings.

A central aim of Dr. Johnson’s research is to identify practical, developmentally appropriate strategies that promote wellbeing and reduce risk among young people before mental health and substance use concerns become more severe. She is particularly interested in the role of peer and social environments in shaping youth substance use and mental health outcomes, as well as how schools and community-based systems can strengthen protective factors such as social support, connection, resilience, and access to trusted adults and services.

Dr. Johnson’s current and emerging work includes research on school and community-based prevention, substance use prevention and early intervention, digitally assisted approaches to mental health promotion, and community-engaged strategies to support youth wellbeing. She is also interested in how implementation strategies can support equitable delivery of mental health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment services across diverse settings.

Dr. Johnson received her doctoral degree in Clinical Science from the University of Basel, her Master of Public Health in Global Health from Emory University, and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of Rochester. Her long-term goal is to develop and test scalable, equitable, and contextually responsive interventions that help young people build connection, purpose, and the conditions needed to thrive.