Division of Prevention and Community Research and The Consultation Center

Elizabeth Connors, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology) and in the Child Study Center. She directs the Partnerships for Research and Implementation in School Mental Health (PRISM) team in the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Prevention and Community Research. Dr. Connors’ program of research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based behavioral health promotion, prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children, adolescents, and their families. Dr. Connors specializes in the selection and application of implementation science frameworks, methods, and strategies to promote quality improvement and sustained change in practices in under-resourced mental health care access points for children and adolescents such as schools and community settings. To do this, the PRISM team partners with state mental health and education leaders, policy makers, school administrators, health and mental health professionals, and teachers in Connecticut and across the United States. The PRISM team promotes the national Comprehensive School Mental Health System (CSMHS) model which includes multi-tiered systems of support for social, emotional, and behavioral health inclusive of substance use risks, protective factors, effective treatment models and implementation approaches. Dr. Connors currently studies evidence-based practices such as 1) measurement-based care to drive person-centered, data-driven treatment; and 2) trauma-informed strategies for students and school staff to promote resilience from chronic stress and adversity. As a child-clinical and community psychologist, Dr. Connors uses participatory methods and is dedicated to community partnered and stakeholder informed research built on the foundation of university-school-family-community partnerships. Potential opportunities for fellows may include leading and/or supporting research and scholarship on measurement-based care in substance use treatment for adolescents; school-partnered development, adaptation, and/or implementation research on substance use prevention programs in K-12 public schools; secondary data analysis on the current reach and effectiveness of substance use prevention and intervention programming in public schools nationwide; policy review and recommendations for promoting substance use prevention, early intervention, and treatment in schools; qualitative inquiry exploring barriers and facilitators of integrating substance use programming in school mental health.

Danielle Davis, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Addictions. Dr. Davis holds an experimental psychology PhD from the University of Vermont. Her program of research falls within the umbrella of tobacco regulatory science and is aimed at understanding tobacco and cannabis use behaviors among youth and adults to inform intervention development and policy. She investigates two interrelated topics 1) understanding the role and contributing factor of new and emerging product constituents (e.g. flavors, coolants, sweeteners) on product abuse liability and use behaviors; and 2) understanding how individual characteristics like sex and age can influence product perception abuse liability and subsequent use behaviors. She utilizes a variety of methodologies to examine these concepts including human laboratory paradigms, qualitative focus groups, and quantitative survey research. Projects include a NIH and FDA funded study that uses human experimental research paradigms to understand differences by sex in the role of flavor and nicotine on e-cigarette reward, appeal, and sensory effects; and a project within the Yale Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS) focused on examining the role of different product constituents (i.e. synthetic coolant, synthetic nicotine) on e-cigarette appeal, reward, and use behavior. In addition, the fellow will have the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. Davis and colleagues to conduct secondary data analyses of survey and qualitative data aimed at understanding youth tobacco and cannabis use behaviors.

E. Jennifer Edelman, MD, MHS, is a Professor of Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences). Certified as an internist, HIV specialist, and in Addiction Medicine, she serves as physician at the Yale Center for Infectious Disease, taking care of individuals with HIV with a focus on treating individuals with substance use disorders. She is Director of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS Clinical and Health Services Research Core, Co-Director of Education of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation, and Associate Director of the Research in Addiction Medicine Scholars Program. Her NIH-funded research focuses on understanding and addressing harms of substance use among individuals with and at substantial risk for HIV in community and clinical settings with interdisciplinary teams. Potential opportunities for fellows may include leading: 1) qualitative data collection in the context of ongoing clinical trials to understand factors impacting intervention implementation; 2) secondary data analyses of a recently completed multi-site clinical trial focused on addressing tobacco use among individuals with HIV; 3) literature reviews (i.e., meta-analytic or systematic reviews) of current knowledge regarding drivers and consequences of substance use, such as the role of trauma and its impact on inflammation and medical comorbidities and immune-related effects of substance use and treatment.

Derrick Gordon, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology Section), Child Study Center and Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences). Dr. Gordon is the Director of the Program on Male Development in the Division of Prevention and Community Research of the Department of Psychiatry and is a Core Scientist in the Community Research Core of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA). Dr. Gordon has considerable experience in behavioral health, including substance use, intervention and prevention development. His research and postdoctoral research offerings focus on factors, including substance use, that either support or undermine men transitioning from prison back to the community; the engagement of low-income, non-custodial fathers; the identification and service of adolescent fathers committed to child protection services; adapting evidence-based interventions for community settings to address behavioral health issues; and men mandated to batterer intervention groups in the community. Dr. Gordon’s work with men has and continues to focus on increasing the health, especially behavioral health, of men and their positive involvement in family and community life. Overall Dr. Gordon's research seeks to identify those factors that enhance the access and use of preventive and indicated health care services by men and community members on the “fringes.”

Angela Haeny, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Her research primarily focuses on risk and protective factors and treatment implications for those less visible in addiction treatment research with a focus on Black adults. Data are available from past and ongoing projects including: 1) the Self-Change Study, which seeks to understand the process of self-change from substance use disorders among Black adults; 2) the Craving Study, which aims to develop a patient-rated outcome measure of drug and alcohol craving; 3) Sawubona, which involves collecting data on an African-centered virtual healing group to inform how this group might be applied as an adjunctive support for Black adults with substance use disorders; and 4) the Treatment Adaptation Study, which is the most recent study Dr. Haeny is working on that involves adapting SUD treatment modules and evaluating feasibility and acceptability. Dr. Haeny has a career development award focused on adapting alcohol treatment for Black adults to include experiences of racial stress and trauma. In addition, Dr. Haeny has access to data assessing the impact of COVID-19 and racial stress on substance use and other mental health outcomes, the impact of psychedelic use on racial trauma, a harmonized dataset from the NIDA Clinical Trials Network (CTN-0125), and addiction-related national epidemiologic datasets (e.g., NESARC, NSDUH) all rich for secondary analyses. T32 fellows in Dr. Haeny's lab would have access to these projects and datasets and would have the opportunity to work collaboratively with a team aiming to achieve racial equity in addiction research.

Robert Heimer, PhD, is a Professor of Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases) in Public Health and of Pharmacology in the School of Medicine. Dr. Heimer’s major research efforts include scientific investigation of the mortality and morbidity associated with injection drug use. Presently, Dr. Heimer is offering postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to participate in two newly funded projects: 1) A community-based and wastewater drug checking project to examine variability in Connecticut’s illicit drug market in order to detail spatial and temporal changes in illicit drug markets within and between communities of people using these drugs in different cities in Connecticut. We are gathering integrated data on the drugs in circulation in the illicit marketplace through a combined effort to check the drugs of individual people who use drugs (PWUD) and test for drugs in the wastewater stream in the communities where these people live. The relationship of the community and wastewater testing data to data on the drugs involved in fatal overdoses and the circumstances of non-fatal overdose data from all EMS responders will lead to the development and testing of spatial and temporal models that can detect the drugs associated with clusters of overdoses and to predict overdose patterns. The models, in turn, can influence the development of interventions to reduce the incidence of overdose. 2) A project to foster real-time connections to care using systems dynamics modeling to inform efforts that expand medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder (MOUD) while simultaneously testing if the addition of a fully virtual telehealth intervention (RecoveryPad) to motivate individuals to initiate medication-bases treatment for OUD can add an effective and novel modality to existing OUD treatment efforts. Ongoing refinement of existing models will integrate updated statewide and local administrative data on drug use, overdose, OUD treatment, incarceration and ongoing input from key community stakeholders, and data from a randomized clinical trial of RecoveryPad. Our long-term goal is to implement novel SD modeling and telehealth strategies in Connecticut, with the potential for subsequent dissemination nationally, that improve access to MOUD and reducing OD events and fatalities.

Joy S. Kaufman, PhD, is a Professor and Deputy Chair for Professional Development, Department of Psychiatry, and Executive Director of the Yale Consultation Center and of YaleEVAL. Trained as a clinical and community psychologist, Dr. Kaufman conducts large-scale, multi-level evaluations of health service delivery systems, provides consultation to governmental and community organizations regarding these evaluations, and carries out related research. These evaluations take place in under-resourced communities; involve close partnerships with state and municipal governments, community organizations, and other public stakeholders; and generate data that informs program and policy development. A unique feature of her work is the training of public stakeholders to evaluate the services they receive or to utilize data so that they can provide rigorous and systematic feedback to improve services and participate in decision-making about their community. Dr. Kaufman's research interests include the identification of contextual factors (e.g., community level indicators) that impact outcomes for individuals with emotional and behavioral difficulties (e.g., substance use/abuse, mental health symptoms). The fellow would have the opportunity to join the work to examine data -- including criminal justice, law enforcement, qualitative interviews with law enforcement, service providers and victims, and longitudinal victim interviews including data on violence/safety, substance use, trauma, and mental health symptoms -- collected as part of a national multi-site study to evaluate the implementation and outcomes of model programs to reduce the rate of homicide resulting from domestic violence.

Grace Kong, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and has a PhD in clinical psychology with specialization in child and adolescent psychology. Dr. Kong uses multi-method approaches (e.g., social media analysis, qualitative focus groups, local and national surveys) to study tobacco and other substance use behaviors and their promotion to inform interventions and policies to prevent youth and young adult substance use. Fellows interested in social media, substance use, and mental health will have opportunities to: 1) conduct multi-method studies to examine novel substance use trends or promotional strategies on social media affecting diverse populations; 2) develop and test interventions and policies addressing the role of social media in substance use; and 3) integrate generative AI in prevention science research.

Suchitra Krishnan-Sarin, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and a Chair of the IRB at Yale. Dr. Krishnan-Sarin’s research focuses on developing a bio-behavioral understanding of the underpinnings of tobacco (nicotine), marijuana and alcohol use, in adolescent and adult populations, and developing new pharmacological and behavioral interventions to reduce and prevent use of these substances. She leads tobacco initiatives at Yale including an FDA/NIH-funded center focused on developing scientific evidence on flavors, sweeteners, nicotine, and other additives in tobacco/nicotine products to support FDA regulation of these products. She also leads initiatives funded through the American Heart Association and NIH to develop interventions to reduce e-cigarette use, including an ongoing trial of an app-based cognitive behavioral intervention for high school youth. A separate line of research also focuses on understanding the neurobiology of alcohol drinking and using this information to evaluate potential medications for reducing drinking. The fellow could be involved in qualitative and quantitative research related to developing and disseminating e-cigarette interventions, and analyzing evidence from local surveys with middle and high school adolescents, or from national datasets like the Populations Assessment of Tobacco and Health, to understand use rates and perceptions and attitudes toward tobacco products.

Sarah Lowe, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences), with secondary appointments in Psychiatry and Nursing. She is the Director of the Trauma and Mental Health Lab and a licensed clinical psychologist. Her research program focuses on the long-term emotional and behavioral health consequences (including substance use) of range of potentially traumatic events, and the interplay between post-trauma functioning and other domains of well-being, including social relationships and physical health. Her work sees to 1) elucidate varied patterns of well-being in the aftermath of trauma; 2) identify factors along the pathway from trauma exposure to long-term symptoms; and 3) examine the independent and joint effects of factors at multiple socio-ecological levels on post-trauma functioning. T32 fellows would have the opportunity to join a supportive lab community that includes undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral trainees. Current projects include a combined social media and community program intervention to prevent gun violence among youth in Hartford, CT; a project adapting a family intervention to address adolescent emotional and behavioral health in America Samoa; a collaboration with colleagues in Rwanda to support caregivers who have faced trauma and adversity; and a range of projects related to climate change and a range of emotional and behavioral health outcomes, including substance use. Trainees will also have opportunities to conduct secondary analyses of existing data from studies that have assessed alcohol and other substance use, and to receive support in pursuing independent research projects focused on traumatic events and substance use.

Ijeoma Opara, PhD, MSW, MPH, is an Assistant Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences) and the Director of The Substance Abuse and Sexual Health (SASH) Lab. Dr. Opara defines herself as a community-based participatory researcher with experience in working with youth and community organizations dedicated to reducing substance use in urban communities. Dr. Opara’s research focuses on strengths-based approaches for urban youth substance use and HIV prevention. Her second line of research involves highlighting racial and gender specific strategies in prevention research for Black girls. Her current projects include: 1) The Paterson Prevention Project (a 5-year study funded by the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award), a community-based study that focuses on neighborhoods impact on substance use and mental health for urban racial-ethnic minority youth in Paterson, New Jersey, with the goal being to use formative data to develop a sustainable substance use and mental health prevention program in Paterson; 2) The Dreamer Girls Project, a strengths-based HIV/STI and drug use prevention program that seeks to improve health outcomes for Black girls; and 3) adaptation of the strong African American families intervention, a pilot study of developing a brief parent-children substance use prevention intervention for urban families. Data collection for all projects have been completed. Analysis, intervention testing, and dissemination of results are priority during this next phase. Dr. Opara is also involved in other studies that focus on using multiple sources of data and methodologies to inform and develop strengths-based substance use prevention interventions that involve community support, improve mental health outcomes, and strengthen social support and youth empowerment for youth and their families.

John Pachankis, PhD, is the David R. Kessler Professor of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences), Professor of Psychology, and Professor of Psychiatry. He directs Yale’s LGBTQ Mental Health Initiative, which serves as a home for scholarship devoted to understanding and improving the mental and behavioral health of LGBTQ populations in the US and around the world. His research has identified biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying LGBTQ people’s disproportionate risk of mental health problems, including substance use problems, developed treatments to address these mechanisms, and studied the implementation of these treatments to address mental health and substance use problems in community settings across the US and around the world.

Marc N. Potenza, PhD, MD, is the Steven M. Southwick Professor of Psychiatry, in the Child Study Center, and of Neuroscience; Director, Division of Addiction Research at Yale; Director, Center of Excellence in Gambling Research; Director, Yale Program for Research on Impulsivity and Impulse Control Disorders; Director, Women and Addictive Disorders, Women’s Health Research at Yale. His research is focused on the substance and nonsubstance (behavioral) addictions, with the latter including excessive or problematic engagement in gambling, gaming, internet use, sex (including pornography use), shopping or eating. He and his group utilize multiple approaches including brain imaging (fMRI, sMRI, DTI and PET), genetic, pharmacological, behavioral, cognitive, survey, qualitative and other assessments. Data from completed and ongoing studies that are available include those from or involving youth (particularly adolescents) and adults at-risk or with addictions, including longitudinal data and large datasets like ABCD. Data from multiple modalities (e.g., relating brain imaging measures to clinical outcomes in the treatment of addictions) are available from completed and ongoing studies. Similarly, data from completed and ongoing studies of mother/child interactions that include maternal neural responses to infant stimuli in substance-using and nonsubstance-using mothers are available for study. His group also has been investigating the neural correlates of spirituality and how spirituality and recovery capital may operate in people with addictions. He and others have worked to develop an app to deliver cognitive behavioral therapy to people with gambling problems and are now testing the app in a randomized clinical trial, with intentions for further implementation following the trial.

Melissa R. Schick, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and the Director of the Study of Trauma, Addiction, and Recovery (STAR) Lab. Dr. Schick’s research focuses on understanding 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 is currently funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to focus on the use of ambulatory assessment (experience sampling in conjunction with biosensing) to predict substance use risk among trauma-exposed community adults. Fellows within the STAR Lab would have the opportunity to receive training in these areas, as well as access to several datasets focused at the intersection of substance use and trauma for secondary analyses and support to carry out evidence synthesis projects (e.g., systematic reviews and meta-analyses).

Carla Smith Stover, PhD, is a Harris Professor in the Child Study Center, and an Investigator with the IPV Center for Implementation, Research and Evaluation at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Stover’s interests are focused on the impact of violence and trauma (particularly family violence) on child development and the advancement of best practice interventions for children and families affected by such violence exposure. She was awarded a Career Award from the National Institute of Drug Abuse that began her research on interventions for fathers to reduce intimate partner violence (IPV) and substance misuse behaviors and improve parenting. She developed Fathers for Change and her recent book published by Guilford Press Fathers and Violence: A Program to Change Behavior, Improve Parenting and Heal Relationships is the manual for this intervention approach. She currently has two NIH research grants to conduct clinical trials of Fathers for Change: 1) for families involved with child protective services due to IPV; and 2) for fathers with co-occurring IPV and substance misuse disorders seeking substance use treatment in the community or the VA. She has presented trainings internationally on the topics of family conflict, healthy relationships, family violence, engaging and treating fathers and interventions for childhood trauma. Postdoctoral fellows in Dr. Stover’s lab will collaborate on research related to families impacted by IPV and substance misuse, stages of intervention development including piloting, efficacy, effectiveness and dissemination/implementation, mechanisms of change (physiological, neurobiological, behavioral) in IPV and substance use treatments, and/or parenting.

Tami P. Sullivan, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology), Director of the NIDA-funded Postdoctoral Training Program in Substance Use Prevention Research, and Director of Family Violence Research and Programs (The Sullivan Lab). Dr. Sullivan’s program of research is centered on individual- and system-level factors that affect the wellbeing of women who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), with a specific focus on micro-longitudinal designs and daily processes. At the individual level, Dr. Sullivan's work advances understanding of factors that promote resilience, as well as those that increase risk for negative outcomes such as posttraumatic stress, substance use, and sexual risk. At the systems-level, she conducts IPV research and evaluation within the substance use, criminal justice, HIV and other service systems. She studies the impact of the system’s response on women’s wellbeing including the ways in which it promotes or impedes victim-survivor’s safety, recovery and resilience. She develops community-based and service-system interventions such as a peer-led support group, a single-session intervention that promotes hope, and a stepped-care counseling intervention to reduce trauma symptoms to promote retention in care for substance use problems.