Mental Health
Abraham, Amanda
Associate Professor, Public Administration and Policy
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 health
Abraham, Anna
E. Paul Torrance Professor, Educational Psychology
website | anna.abraham@uga.edu
Research Interests include creativity, imagination, neuroscience, neuropsychology, and cognition
Arroyo, Analisa
Associate 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
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; Decisions
Beach, Steven R.H.
Co-Director, Center for Family Research
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | srhbeach@uga.edu
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
Chen, Zhuo (Adam)
Associate 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
Ehrlich, Katie
Associate 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 Associate 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
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
Fusco, Rachel
Associate Professor, Social Work
website | rachel.fusco@uga.edu
Research Interests include substance use, child maltreatment, and domestic violence
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
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
Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | jeremy.gibbs@uga.edu
Research Interests include sexual minority youth, behavioral health, and technology informed methodology
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
Harrison, Ashley
Associate 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
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
Holmes, Philip
Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | pvholmes@uga.edu
Research Interests include the neurochemical basis of motivation and emotion, neurotransmitter dysregulation in the limbic system occurring in rat models of depression, and neurobiological basis for the comorbidity of depression and drug abuse
Kogan, Steve
Professor, Human Development and Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | smkogan@uga.edu
Research Interests include Black youth, adolescent development, mental health, and racial discrimination
Koss, Kalsea
Assistant Professor, Human Development & Family Science
website | kalsea.koss@uga.edu
Research Interests include stress, adversity, puberty, developmental psychopathology, epigenetics, and resilience
Lavner, Justin
Associate Professor, Psychology
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | lavner@uga.edu
Research Interests include couples, families, prevention, health disparities and LGBTQ
Lieberman-Betz, Rebecca
Associate 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
McDowell, Jennifer
Associate Director, OIBR
Professor, Psychology
website | jemcd@uga.edu
Research Interests include cognition, psychotic disorders, neuroimaging, and eye movement
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
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 Research Scientist, 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
Oshri, Assaf
Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | oshri@uga.edu
Research Interests include early adversity and youth resilience
Padilla, Heather
Assistant Professor, Health Promotion & Behavior
website | hmpadilla@uga.edu
Research Interests include evaluation, nutrition, physical activity, worksites, and rural communities
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
Associate Professor, Psychology
website | sabat@uga.edu
Research Interests include emotional perception, anxiety, brain connectivity, depression, functional imaging, and sex differences
Seponski, Desiree
Associate Professor, Human Development & Family Science
website | seponski@uga.edu
Research Interests include trauma, qualitative, mixed methods, marginalized populations, and mental health
Suveg, Cynthia
Professor, Psychology
website | csuveg@uga.edu
Research Interests include child, family, and developmental psychopathology
Verma, Amitabh
Associate Professor, Environment + Design
website | averma@uga.edu
Research Interests include drawing, creativity, mental health, urban design, anxiety management, and architecture
Watkins, Kimberly
Assistant Professor, Financial Planning, Housing, and Consumer Economics
website | kimberly.watkins@uga.edu
Research Interests include: Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Culture, Diversity, Education and Learning, Emotion, Gender, Identity, Marriage, Family, and Close Relationships, Mental Health, Personality, Physical Health and Well-being, Sexuality and Sexual Identity, Social Psychology, Survey Methods
Weatherly, Christopher
Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | cweatherly@uga.edu
Research Interests include: Environment and Ecosystems, Ethnography, Mental Health, Mental Illness and Disorders
Wickrama, Kandauda A.
Emeritus Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences
Distinguished Scholar, Owens Institute for Behavioral Research
website | wickrama@uga.edu
Research Interests include social determinants of health, health inequality across the life course, and racial/ethnical inequalities in mental and physical health of children and adults
Yli-Piipari, Sami
Associate Professor, Kinesiology
website | syp@uga.edu
Research Interests include physical activity, fitness, obesity, and motivation
Zeng, Yingying
Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | yzeng@uga.edu
Research Interests include: Assessment and Evaluation, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Gender, Immigration, Mental Health, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood
Zeng, Yingying
Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | yzeng@uga.edu
Research Interests include: Assessment and Evaluation, Bias, Discrimination, and Inequality, Gender, Immigration, Mental Health, Policy, Regulation, and Compliance, Youth, Adolescence, and Emerging Adulthood
Zhang, Liwei
Assistant Professor, Social Work
website | liwei.zhang@uga.edu
Research Interests include: Infant and Child Development, Maltreatment and Trauma, Mental Health, Violence and Injury