Mental Health

Abraham, Amanda

Michael and Caroline Fierman Professor, Public and International Affairs
Distinguished Scholar, 2014 GDPP Graduate, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | aabraham@uga.edu
Research Interests include health policy, substance use disorder treatment, accessibility/quality of SUD treatment, organizational change, and maternal healthn

Abraham, Anna

E. Paul Torrance Professor, Educational Psychology
website | anna.abraham@uga.edu

Research Interests include creativity, imagination, neuroscience, neuropsychology, and cognition

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Ahn, Daehwan

Assistant Professor, Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
website | daehwan@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Computational Methods, Education and Learning, Experimental Methods, Higher Education, Infant and Child Development, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Organizations, STEM, Work and Occupations

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Antonoudi, Efthymia (Effie)

Assistant Professor, Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
website | eanton@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Diversity, Education and Learning, Immigration, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Substance Use and Addiction

Arroyo, Analisa

Professor, Communication Studies
2015-17 GDP Participant, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | arroyo@uga.edu

Research Interests include intergenerational transmission of body image issues and its relation to mental and physical health outcomes (e.g. depression, eating disorders, overweight/obesity, exercise, dieting, etc.) among grandmother-mother-daughter triads

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Azevedo, Renato Ferreira Leitao

Assistant Professor, Institute of Gerontology / EPIBIO
website | renato.azevedo@uga.edu

Research Interests: Aging and Gerontology, Assessment and Evaluation, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Chronic Disease, Cognition, Communication, Computational Methods, Education and Learning, Emotion, Exercise, Experimental Methods, Media, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Physical Health and Well-being, Risk Behaviors, Social Psychology, STEM, Survey Methods

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Banks, Leon

Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | banks03@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Culture, Diversity, Mental Health, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

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Bauer, Brian

Assistant Professor, Psychology
2022-2024 GDP Participant, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | brian.bauer@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Suicide; Behavioral economics; Decision

Beach, Steven R.H.

Regents’ Professor, Psychology
Co-Director, Center for Family Research
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2023 OIBR Service Legacy Award Recipient
website | srhbeach@uga.edu

Research Interests include preventive intervention, epigenetic processes, family health, and marriage

Caughy, Margaret

Georgia Athletic Association Professor, Family Health Disparities
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | margaret.caughy@uga.edu

Research Interests include academic achievement, self-regulation, and minoritized populations

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Chapman-Hilliard, Collette

Associate Professor, Counseling and Human Development Services
website | collette.hilliard@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Culture, Diversity, Higher Education, Identity, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Survey Methods, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

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Chen, Zhuo (Adam)

Professor, Health Policy & Management
website | zchen1@uga.edu

Research Interests include social determinants of health, health economics, health disparities, mental health, genomics, and gender

Clementz, Brett

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | clementz@uga.edu

Research Interests include visual & auditory processing; saccadic eye movements; higher level cognitive operations between normal & psychiatric groups (schiz); brain plasticity; brain changes that occur during aging; and prospective memory

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Correia, Stephen

Associate Professor, Health Promotion & Behavior
website | scorreia@uga.edu

Research Interests: Aging and Gerontology, Cognition, Mental Health, Neuroscience

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Ehrlich, Katie

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | kehrlich@uga.edu

Research Interests include social determinants of health, inflammation, stress, and resilience

Elkins, Jennifer

Associate Professor, Social Work
website | jelkins@uga.edu

Research Interests include sexual abuse and child maltreatment, interpersonal and multigenerational trauma, violence and loss, PTSD and trauma related disorders, ecological/transactional and risk/resilience processes across the lifespan, and culturally congruent research and practice

Emerson, Kerstin Gerst

Clinical Professor, Health Policy & Management
website | emerson@uga.edu

Research Interests include aging, social isolation, loneliness among older adults, social engagement for seniors, and minority aging

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Fan, Lu

Associate Professor, Financial Planning, Housing and Consumer Economics
website | lufan@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Aging and Gerontology, Assessment and Evaluation, Cognition, Education and Learning, Emotion, Gender, Mental Health, Personality, Social Psychology, Survey Methods, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

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Figard, Rache

Assistant Professor, Engineering Education Transformations Institute (EETI)
website | rachel.figard@uga.edu

Research Interests: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Diversity, Education and Learning, Gender, Higher Education, Identity, Media, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, STEM

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Fisher, Sycarah

Associate Professor, Educational Psychology
2020-22 GDP Participant, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | sycarah.fisher@uga.edu

Research Interests include substance use, minorities, African Americans, school mental health, and implementation science

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Foohey, Pamela

Professor, School of Law
website | pamela.foohey@uga.edu

Research Interests: Aging and Gerontology, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Emotion, Gender, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Networks, Organizations, Physical Health and Well-being, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance, Sexuality and Sexual Identity, Substance Use and Addiction, Survey Methods, Work and Occupations

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Fusco, Rachel

Associate Professor, Social Work
website | rachel.fusco@uga.edu

Research Interests include substance use, child maltreatment, and domestic violence

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Galvan, Thania

Assistant Professor, Psychology
website | thania.galvan@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Mental health disparities; Latinx youth & families; Latinx immigrants; Traumatic stress; Risk & Resilience pathways

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Geier, Charles

Professor, Human Development and Family Science
website | Charles.Geier@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Cognition, Computational Methods, Diversity, Emotion, Experimental Methods, Food & Nutrition, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Networks, Neuroscience, Obesity, Physical Health and Well-being, Psychophysiology, Risk Behaviors, Substance Use and Addiction, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

Gibbs, Jeremy

Associate Professor, Social Work
website | jeremy.gibbs@uga.edu

Research Interests include sexual minority youth, behavioral health, and technology informed methodology

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Goodwin, Emma

Assistant Professor, Microbiology
website | emma.goodwin@uga.edu

Research Interests: Assessment and Evaluation, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Diversity, Education and Learning, Higher Education, Identity, Mental Health, Social Psychology, STEM

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Haider, M. Rifat

Assistant Professor, Health Policy & Management
2022-2024 GDP Participant, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | haider@uga.edu

Research Interests include: HIV/AIDS; Substance abuse; Maternal & child health

Han, Jeong-Yeob

Associate Professor, Advertising
website | jeonghan@uga.edu

Research Interests include eHealth communication, social media, online communities, cancer communication, and media effects

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Harrison, Ashley

Professor, Educational Psychology
website | ashley.harrison@uga.edu

Research Interests include atypical emotional and social attention in childhood psychopathology, information-processing framework to examine the differential developmental trajectory of social attention among individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and identifying ways to more effectively treat attention impairments

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He, Yimin

Assistant Professor, Psychology
website | yiminhe@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Culture, Mental Health, Networks, Organizations, Physical Health and Well-being, Survey Methods, Work and Occupations

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Jones, Lindsay

Assistant Professor, Insurance, Legal Studies, and Real Estate (Terry)
website | lsainjones@uga.edu

Research Interests: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Mental Health, Physical Health and Well-being, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance

Kogan, Steve

Professor, Human Development and Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2021 OIBR Mentoring Legacy Award Recipient
website | smkogan@uga.edu

Research Interests include Black youth, adolescent development, mental health, and racial discrimination

Koss, Kalsea

Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
website | kalsea.koss@uga.edu

Research Interests include stress, adversity, puberty, developmental psychopathology, epigenetics, and resilience

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Mu, Lan

Professor, Geography
website | mulan@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Computational Methods, Environment and Ecosystems, Food & Nutrition, Geographic Information Systems, Mental Health, Physical Health and Well-being, STEM

Lavner, Justin

Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
2022 OIBR Rising Star Award Recipient
2015-17 GDP Participant
website | lavner@uga.edu

Research Interests include couples, families, prevention, health disparities and LGBTQ

Lieberman-Betz, Rebecca

Professor, Communication Sciences & Special Education
website | rglb@uga.edu

Research Interests include special needs, parent responsibility, communication development, autism spectrum disorder, developmental disabilities, early childhood, and special education

Liu, Rongjie

Assistant Professor, Statistics
website | rjliu@uga.edu

Research Interests: Cognition, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Neuroscience

McDowell, Jennifer

Associate Director, OIBR
Interim Department Head, Psychology
Professor, Psychology
website | jemcd@uga.edu

Research Interests include cognition, psychotic disorders, neuroimaging, and eye movement

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Melcher, Katherine

Professor, College of Environment and Design
website | kmelcher@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Aging and Gerontology, Cognition, Culture, Environment and Ecosystems, Ethnography, Gender, Geographic Information Systems, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Identity, Mental Health, Obesity, Organizations, Physical Health and Well-being, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance, Prevention and Implementation Science, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

Mowbray, Orion

Associate Professor & Interim Associate Dean for Research, Social Work
website | omowbray@uga.edu

Research Interests include mental health, substance use, and criminal justice

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Murphy, Patricia

Instructor, School of Law
website | trish.murphy@uga.edu

Research Interests: Conflict, Emotion, Maltreatment and Trauma, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Social Psychology

Neuharth-Pritchett, Stacey

Senior Associate Dean for Academic Programs, College of Education
Professor, Educational Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | sneuhart@uga.edu

Research Interests include young children, poverty, health, Head Start, and ACEs

O’Neal, Catherine

Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | cwalker1@uga.edu

Research Interests include life course, cumulative life experiences, health and well-being, adolescent life stage, vulnerable populations, military families; racial/ethnic minorities, and health outcomes

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Oshri, Assaf

Professor, Human Development & Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | oshri@uga.edu

Research Interests include early adversity and youth resilience

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Padilla, Heather

Associate Professor, Health Promotion & Behavior
website | hmpadilla@uga.edu

Research Interests include evaluation, nutrition, physical activity, worksites, and rural communities

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Ravindran, Niyantri

Assistant Professor, Human Development & Family Science
2023-2025 Grant Development Program Participant
website | niyantri.ravindran@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Parent-child interactions; Emotion socialization; Emotion regulation; Physiological responses to stress; Dynamic methods

Robinson, Michael

Associate Professor, Social Work
website | marobi01@uga.edu

Research Interests include social problems, juvenile delinquency, urban communities, young adults, women in recovery, nutrition, self care, and health disparities

Sabatinelli, Dean

Professor, Psychology
website | sabat@uga.edu

Research Interests include emotional perception, anxiety, brain connectivity, depression, functional imaging, and sex differences

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Sanders, Ashley

Associate Professor, Psychology
website | ashley.sanders@uga.edu

Research Interests: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Cognition, Diversity, Environment and Ecosystems, Gender, Genetics and Epigenetics, Infant and Child Development, Infant and Maternal Health, Maltreatment and Trauma, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders, Neuroscience, Psychophysiology, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood

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Sinha, Gaurav R.

Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | grsinha@uga.edu

Research Interests include: Computational Methods, Higher Education, Mental Health