Principal Investigators

Anthony Spirito, Ph.D., Co-Director of AMHC

Dr. Spirito is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. He has been conducting treatment research with depressed, suicidal, and substance-using adolescents and their parents for over 30 years. He enjoys skiing, sailing and golf. His faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/aspirito#Research

Email: tony_spirito@brown.edu

 

 

 

Jennifer Wolff, Ph.D., Co-Director of AMHC
Dr. Wolff is an Associate Professor in the DPHB. Her research focuses on developing, testing, and implementing treatments for youth with emotional and behavioral problems across settings (community, inpatient, primary care). Outside of the office, she can be found reading, cooking, gardening, or going on bike rides with her family. Her faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/jw33

 

 

 

 

Yovanska Duarté-Vélez, Ph.D.

Yovanska Duarté-Vélez, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown and Bradley Hospital. Her research focuses on developing and tailoring treatment for diverse populations (e.g. ethnicity, sexuality, gender) according to their needs and cultural values. She loves dancing to Latin music, bike rides, and being close to the ocean. Her faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/search?q=yovanska+duarte-velez

Email: yovanska_duarte-velez@brown.edu

 

 

 

Elizabeth (Liz) Thompson, Ph.D.

Elizabeth (Liz) Thompson, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown and Research Psychologist at Rhode Island Hospital. Her research focuses on understanding risk factors for psychosis in adolescence and mitigating risk through early identification and intervention. In her free time, Liz enjoys outdoor adventures and game nights with friends. See Liz’s faculty profile and CV here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/ethomps5# and visit her lab website here: https://sparklabri.weebly.com/

Email: elizabeth_thompson@brown.edu

 

 

 

Jacqueline (Jackie) Nesi, Ph.D.

Jackie is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown and Rhode Island Hospital. Her research examines the role of social media in adolescents’ mental health and suicidal thoughts and behavior. In her spare time, Jackie can be found traveling, hiking, doing crossword puzzles, and eating everything bagels. Her faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/jnesi

Email: jacqueline_nesi@brown.edu

 

 

 

 

Anastacia Kudinova, Ph.D.

Anastacia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior and Bradley Hospital. Her program of research focuses on advancing what is known about bio-behavioral mechanisms of proximal risk factors for suicide in youth using a multiple-units-of-analysis approach. Learn more about her research team on her faculty profile or lab website. She enjoys photography, local traveling, home gardening, and restoring old wooden furniture.

Email: anastacia_kudinova@brown.edu

 

 

 

 

Sarah A. Thomas, Ph.D.

Sarah is a clinical psychologist at Bradley Hospital and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown. Her research program focuses on biobehavioral predictors and consequences of adolescent engagement in risk behavior, with an emphasis on substance use. She enjoys anything ocean-related, running, skiing, and cooking. Faculty profile and CV are located at https://vivo.brown.edu/display/sthoma18

Email: sarah_thomas1@brown.edu

 

 

 

Elisabeth Frazier, Ph.D.

Elisabeth Frazier, PhD is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University and an attending psychologist at Bradley Hospital. She provides direct clinical services and supervision of psychology and psychiatry trainees through the Alpert Medical School of Brown University at Bradley Hospital’s Adolescent Partial Hospitalization Program, The Bradley Co-Occurring Disorders Intensive Outpatient Program, and the Rhode Island Training School. Her research interests focus on adolescent mood disorders and high risk behaviors. Specifically, she is interested in mechanisms underlying mood dysregulation and high risk behaviors, the role of irritability in psychiatric disorders and treatment outcomes, and adaptation of empirically-based interventions and treatment outcomes in intensive services settings. In her free time, Liz enjoys spending time with friends, kayaking, exploring the outdoors, eating donuts, and hanging out with her husband and two dogs. Her faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/ef14#All  

Email: elisabeth_frazier@brown.edu

 

Katie Affleck, Ph.D.

Katie Affleck, PhD, is the lead psychologist for Adolescent Inpatient Services at Bradley Hospital and a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown. Her clinical and research interests focus on increasing access to trauma-informed services and improving outcomes for and reducing rates of justice involvement among adolescents in acute care and forensic settings. Katie loves traveling, spending time with her family and dog, the Newport Folk Festival, and finding (and eating!) the best local food. Her faculty profile and CV can be found at: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/kaffleck

Email: katelyn_affleck@brown.edu

 

Jessica Peters, Ph.D. 

Jessica (Jess) Peters PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown University. Her research broadly focuses on the development and exacerbation of emotion dysregulation, impulsive behavior, and borderline personality disorder, including work examining anger regulation, menstrual cycle factors, and LGBTQ+ minority stress. In addition to her work at Brown, Jess is involved with Youth Pride RI, a local LGBTQ+ youth drop-in center. Her faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/jrpeters#

Email: jessica_peters@brown.edu

 

Lauren Micalizzi, Ph.D.

Dr. Micalizzi is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Center for Alcohol & Addiction Studies in Brown University’s School of Public Health. Her research focuses on identifying genetic and environmental influences (specifically prenatal and early postnatal exposures, as well as parenting and other familial dynamics) on individual differences in self-regulation and behavior problems in youth. She enjoys practicing yoga and spending time outdoors with her family and friends. Dr. Micalizzi’s Faculty Profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/lmicaliz

Email: lauren_micalizzi@brown.edu

 

 

Jeffrey Hunt, Ph.D.

Dr. Jeffrey Hunt is Professor and Deputy Division Director in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Program Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship and the Triple Board Program at the Alpert Medical School of Brown University. He is also Director of Inpatient and Intensive Services at Bradley Hospital in Rhode Island. Dr. Hunt has been co-investigator on numerous NIMH funded studies relating to mood disorders and suicidal behavior including the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth Study. He continues to be involved in clinical research studies involving adolescents who have been treated at Bradley Hospital. His faculty profile and CV can be found here: https://vivo.brown.edu/display/jhuntmd

Email: JHunt@lifespan.org