Affiliated Faculty by Focus Area
VPI brings together faculty whose research spans the full spectrum of violence prevention. To highlight the breadth and depth of this work, we’ve organized our affiliated faculty by their focus areas. These scholars are advancing interdisciplinary research and solutions that inform policy, practice, and education. Explore the categories below to learn more about the diverse expertise driving VPI’s mission to prevent violence and promote well-being across communities.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Community & Neighborhood Violence
Firearm Violence
Gender-based & Domestic Violence
HIV & Violence
Police Violence
Queer & Trans Violence
Reproductive Justice
Systemic & Structural Violence
Youth Violence
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
Letia Bailey, LCSW-BACS
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Child Health, Maternal Depression, Parenting Intervention
Courtney N. Baker, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Specialty Areas: Trauma-Informed Care, Youth Violence, School Settings
Angela S. Breidenstine, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Infant Mental Health Assessment And Intervention, Mindfulness
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Mary Margaret Gleason, MD, FAAP
Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Primary Care, Early Childhood, Mental Health
Sherryl Scott Heller, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Child Development, Perinatal Health, Educational Interventions
Sarah Hinshaw-Fuselier, PhD, LCSW
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Early Childhood, Mental Health Consultation
Meghan Howell, PhD
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome, Early Childhood Development
Angela Keyes, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Early Childhood Development, Mental Health Consultation, Positive Discipline
Julie A. Larrieu, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Resilience, Infant Mental Health, Psychotherapy
Marva L. Lewis, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Racism-Based Stress And Birth Outcomes, Community-Based Parenting
Melissa Middleton, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Child Development, Parent-Child Relationship
Devin Miron Murphy, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Infant Mental Health, Trauma-Informed Care
Catherine O'Connor, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Indigenous Women And Children, Resilience, Health Disparities
Stacy Overstreet, PhD
Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Specialty Areas: Family Violence, School-Based Intervention, Trauma-Informed Care
Loretta Sonnier, MD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Child And Adolescent Forensic Psychiatry, Violence Risk Assessment
Monica Stevens, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Behavior Disorders, Trauma
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Allison Boothe Trigg, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology Division Chief, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Early Childhood Mental Health, Adolescent Psychiatry
Valerie A. Wajda-Johnston, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Family Health, Child Psychology
Charles H. Zeanah, Jr. MD
Mary Peters Sellars-Polchow Chair of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Adverse Early Experiences, Attachment Disorders
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: HIV, Family Planning
Community & Neighborhood Violence
Andrea S. Boyles, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Police-Citizen Relations, Neighborhood Disadvantage & Disorder, Community Development & Engagement, Resilience & Collective Action
Xiaojin Chen, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Developmental Criminology, Delinquency & Victimization Among Disadvantaged Children
Sarah M. C. Deland, MD
Assistant Professor of Adult Psychiatry & Forensic Neurospychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Forensic Psychiatry, Impulse Control Disorders
Charles R. Figley, PhD
Kurzweg Distinguished Chair in Disaster Mental Health, Distinguished Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: PTSD, Disaster Mental Health, Collective Trauma
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Samantha Francois, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Adolescent Development, Structural Violence, Anti-racist Research
Gina Manguno-Mire, PhD, ABPP
Associate Professor, Forensic Division, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: PTSD, Violence Risk Assessment, Forensic Psychology
Corey Miles, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Policing, Racism and Systemic Oppression, Incarceration
Stephen Ostertag, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Media, Crime And Incarceration, Racism And Systemic Oppression
Reginald Parquet, PhD, LCSW-BACS
Associate Dean for Faculty, Staff and Student Engagement and Opportunity, Clinical Associate Professor
Specialty Areas: Juvenile Legal System, Motivational Interviewing, Strengths building, Historical Oppression & Marginalization, Community Mental Health, Trauma
Patrick Rafail, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Social Movements And Collective Behavior, Applied Statistics, Political Sociology, Social Control, Complex Organizations, Urban Policing
Leia Saltzman, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Mass Disaster, Posttraumatic Growth
Firearm Violence
Joseph Constans, PhD
Adjunct Faculty, School of Science and Engineering
Specialty Areas: PTSD, Gun Violence, Suicide
Juan Duchesne, MD
Professor of Surgery, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Surgery, Trauma and Critical Care
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Sharven Taghavi, MD, MPH, MS, FACS, FCCP
Assistant Professor, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Trauma Surgery, Injury Prevention, Health Disparities
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Gender-based & Domestic Violence
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: HIV, Family Planning
Fred Buttell, PhD, LCSW-BACS
Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: LGBTQ, Batterer Intervention Program Evaluation
Gretchen Clum, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Resilience, Mental Health, Women’s Health
Regardt (Reggie) Ferreira, PhD
Program Director of the Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy & Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Disaster Resilience, Intimate Partner Violence, International Violence Prevention
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Anastasia J. Gage, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Maternal Victimization, Gender Norms, Adolescent Health
Georgina Gardiner, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Sexual Assault Allegations, Legal Evidence, Self-Deception, Epistemology
Deidre D. Hayes, DSW, BCD, LCSW-BACS
Professor of Practice, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Sexual Assault, Substance Abuse, Custody Evaluations
Katherine Johnson, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Sexual Violence, Sociology, Infertility, Reproductive Technologies, Family Norms
Sally J. Kenney, PhD
Professor & Newcomb College Endowed Chair and Director, Newcomb Institute 2010-2022
Specialty Areas: The Politics Of Gender-Based Violence, Exclusionary Policies
Becki T. Kondkar, JD
Clinical Professor of Law, School of Law
Specialty Areas: Domestic Violence Litigation, Family Justice
Evan Krueger, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Mental Health, Addiction, Social Environmental Factors
Saru Matambanadzo, JD, PhD
Moise S. Steeg Jr. Associate Professor of Law, School of Law
Specialty Areas: Workplace Equity, Feminist Legal Theory
Lolita Moss, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Speciality Areas: Intimate Partner Violence, Media socialization, Adolescent development, Intervention, & African American youth
Devin Miron Murphy, PhD
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Infant Mental Health, Trauma-Informed Care
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Catherine O'Connor, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Indigenous Women And Children, Resilience, Health Disparities
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Jay Silverman, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute & Usdin Family Professor of Community Health
Specialty Areas: Social Epidemiologic Studies, Reproductive Coercion, Gender-based Household Maltreatment, and Reproductive Violence
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Lisa Wade, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Campus Sexual Violence Prevention
Ashley Weir, LCSW-BACS, ACSW
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Chronic Mental Illness; Sex Offenders; Sex Trafficking
HIV & Violence
Scott Batey, PhD, MSW
Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Health Equity, Care Intervention
Gretchen Clum, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Resilience, Mental Health, Women’s Health
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Anneliese Singh, PhD
Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Chief Officer for Academic Excellence & Opportunity, Professor, School of SocialWork
Specialty Areas: Multicultural Counseling, Racial Justice, Resilience
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: HIV, Family Planning
Police Violence
Caryn N. Bell, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Socioeconomic Status, Racial Disparities
Andrea S. Boyles, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Police-Citizen Relations, Neighborhood Disadvantage & Disorder, Community Development & Engagement, Resilience & Collective Action
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Samantha Francois, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Adolescent Development, Structural Violence, Anti-racist Research
Queer & Trans Violence
Katherine Andrinopoulos, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: HIV, Family Planning
Patrick Button, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Discrimination, Economics, Disability Justice, Data Science
Evan Krueger, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Mental Health, Addiction, Social Environmental Factors
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Dovile Vilda, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Policy, Health Equity, Social Determinants
Scott Batey, PhD, MSW
Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Health Equity, Care Intervention
Anneliese Singh, PhD
Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Chief Officer for Academic Excellence & Opportunity, Professor, School of SocialWork
Specialty Areas: Multicultural Counseling, Racial Justice, Resilience
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Reproductive Justice
Clare Daniel, PhD
Senior Professor of Practice
Specialty Areas: Teen Pregnancy, Feminist Pedagogy, Community Education & Engagement
Margaret Mary Downey, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Social & Structural Determinants, Health Equity
Kelli Stidham Hall, PhD, MS
Associate Dean of Research & Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Policy, Community Engagement, Interventions, Poverty, Structural Racism
Emily Harville, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Perinatal Health, Life Course Epidemiology
Julie Hernandez, PhD
Associate Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Geography, Family Planning
Katherine Johnson, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Sexual Violence, Sociology, Infertility, Reproductive Technologies, Family Norms
Patricia (Patty) Kissinger, BSN, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: STDs, Reproductive Health, Substance Use
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Martha Silva, PhD
Martha Silva, PhD, MPH
Specialty Areas: Family Planning, Sex Education, Social and Behavior Change, Provider Behavior
Jay Silverman, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute & Usdin Family Professor of Community Health
Specialty Areas: Social Epidemiologic Studies, Reproductive Coercion, Gender-based Household Maltreatment, and Reproductive Violence
Jeni Stolow, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Social Work
Specialty Areas: Community-based Participatory Research, Health Communication & Promotion, Medical Anthropology
Dovile Vilda, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Policy, Health Equity, Social Determinants
Anastasia J. Gage, PhD
Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Maternal Victimization, Gender Norms, Adolescent Health
Systemic & Structural Violence
Caryn N. Bell, PhD
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Socioeconomic Status, Racial Disparities
Margaret Mary Downey, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Social & Structural Determinants, Health Equity
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Samantha Francois, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Adolescent Development, Structural Violence, Anti-racist Research
Sally J. Kenney, PhD
Professor & Newcomb College Endowed Chair and Director, Newcomb Institute 2010-2022
Specialty Areas: The Politics Of Gender-Based Violence, Exclusionary Policies
Marva L. Lewis, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Racism-Based Stress And Birth Outcomes, Community-Based Parenting
Saru Matambanadzo, JD, PhD
Moise S. Steeg Jr. Associate Professor of Law, School of Law
Specialty Areas: Workplace Equity, Feminist Legal Theory
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Catherine O'Connor, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Indigenous Women And Children, Resilience, Health Disparities
Stephen Ostertag, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Media, Crime And Incarceration, Racism And Systemic Oppression
Reginald Parquet, PhD, LCSW-BACS
Associate Dean for Faculty, Staff and Student Engagement and Opportunity, Clinical Associate Professor
Specialty Areas: Juvenile Legal System, Motivational Interviewing, Strengths building, Historical Oppression & Marginalization, Community Mental Health, Trauma
Patrick Rafail, PhD
Associate Professor, Sociology, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Social Movements And Collective Behavior, Applied Statistics, Political Sociology, Social Control, Complex Organizations, Urban Policing
Chelsea Singleton, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiology, Nutritional Inequities, Racism and Structural Violence
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
Anita Raj, PhD
Executive Director of the Newcomb Institute & Nancy Reeves Dreux Endowed Chair in The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
Specialty Areas: Epidemiologic and qualitative assessment of gendered, social, and cultural vulnerabilities compromising reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health across national settings
Anneliese Singh, PhD
Associate Provost for Faculty Development and Chief Officer for Academic Excellence & Opportunity, Professor, School of SocialWork
Specialty Areas: Multicultural Counseling, Racial Justice, Resilience
Youth Violence
Courtney N. Baker, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Specialty Areas: Trauma-Informed Care, Youth Violence, School Settings
Xiaojin Chen, PhD
Professor, School of Liberal Arts
Specialty Areas: Developmental Criminology, Delinquency & Victimization Among Disadvantaged Children
Julia Fleckman, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Structural and Social Determinants of Firearm Violence, Evaluation of Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies, Community-Partnered Research, Evaluation of IPV and Gender-based Violence Interventions, Restorative Approaches
Samantha Francois, PhD
Adjunct Professor
Specialty Areas: Adolescent Development, Structural Violence, Anti-racist Research
Lolita Moss, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Public Health
Speciality Areas: Intimate Partner Violence, Media socialization, Adolescent development, Intervention, & African American youth
Manuel (Manny) Ocasio, PhD
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, School of Medicine
Specialty Areas: Community Engagement, Interventions, Health Equity, Social Media Approaches
Catherine O'Connor, PhD, LMSW
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Specialty Areas: Indigenous Women And Children, Resilience, Health Disparities
Stacy Overstreet, PhD
Professor, School of Science & Engineering
Specialty Areas: Family Violence, School-Based Intervention, Trauma-Informed Care
Reginald Parquet, PhD, LCSW-BACS
Associate Dean for Faculty, Staff and Student Engagement and Opportunity, Clinical Associate Professor
Specialty Areas: Juvenile Legal System, Motivational Interviewing, Strengths building, Historical Oppression & Marginalization, Community Mental Health, Trauma
Katherine (Kat) Theall
Co-Director, Violence Prevention Institute Cecile Usdin Professorship in Women’s Health
Specialty Areas: Health Equity, Built & Social Environment, Maternal Health, Social Epidemiology
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