Shufang Sun, PhD

LAB DIRECTOR (she/her)
Assistant Professor of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Brown University School of Public Health

Dr. Shufang Sun is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the Brown University School of Public Health and Department of Psychiatry at Brown University Alpert Medical School. She is a faculty member of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University and the International Health Institute of Brown Public Health.

 

Dr. Sun’s NIH-funded research primarily aims to understand minority stress and mental health among marginalized populations, with a particular focus on LGBTQ individuals in both domestic and low-and-middle-income countries. Additionally, she is dedicated to promoting minority health, disease prevention, and management through innovative, evidence-based methods such as mHealth and mindfulness-based interventions. Her work has been supported by numerous NIH grants and other funding sources, enabling her to address the needs of diverse communities in the U.S. and around the world. To learn more about Dr. Sun’s research, please visit her website.

Nikole Giovannone, PhD

PROJECT MANAGER (she/her)
Brown University School of Public Health

Dr. Nikole Giovannone is a Project Manager for the Mindfulness for Health Equity Lab (mHEAL). Nikole has eight years of research project management experience across multiple institutions and disciplines, including psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, and communication disorders. Outside of work, Nikole can be found birding the Rhode Island coastline.

Chloe A. Chen

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)
Brown University

Chloe is full-time Research Assistant at mHEAL. She recently graduated from Brown University, where she concentrated in Sociology and Visual Art and was heavily involved in the survivor activist community. Her senior thesis was a qualitative study on sociological conceptions of pain and the regulation of sexual violence survivorship. Chloe’s primary research interests include health resource disparities, racial formations, and interpersonal harm prevention and response. She is especially passionate about intersectional research and community-engaged methodologies.

Vedha Rajasankar, MPH

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)
Brown University

Vedha is a recent MPH graduate from Emory University. Her research expertise includes a broad range of public health topics related to HIV and STIs, global health, and promoting health equity among marginalized and disproportionately affected communities. Vedha brings valuable experience from her previous roles at prominent public health institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Emory Global Health Institute. Her master’s thesis work focused on the progress toward achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets among pregnant women living with HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Now a full-time Research Assistant with mHEAL, Vedha contributes to various projects aimed at improving public health.

Chanda Phelan Kane, PhD

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW (she/her)
Brown University

Dr. Chanda Phelan Kane is a NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. Chanda is an interdisciplinary scholar working at the intersection of human-computer interaction (HCI) and addiction recovery research. Chanda’s research examines the ways that technology and social media are used by people in recovery from substance use disorders, with the aim of designing digital tools that effectively support people on their recovery journey. She is especially interested in the potential for digital tools to help marginalized and vulnerable people find supportive communities and build a strong recovery network. Chanda holds a Ph.D. in HCI and an M.S. in Information from the University of Michigan School of Information, and a B.A. from Pomona College.

Sara E. Landers, PhD, LMSW

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW (she/her)
Brown University

Dr. Sara E. Landers is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Sara’s research aims to advance creative, collaborative approaches to promoting adolescent and young adult health. She primarily focuses on the intertwined areas of HIV/STIs, substance use, and mental health. Sara is especially passionate about using crowdsourcing and other innovative participatory methods to engage young people in the co-creation of equitable health solutions. Sara holds a BS from Haverford College, an MSW from the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice, and a PhD from the Columbia School of Social Work.

Taekmin Kenneth Kang

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (he/him)
Undergraduate Student
Brown University

Kenneth is a senior at Brown University concentrating in Psychology, and he works as a research assistant at Brown’s School of Public Health and for the Filipino Young Leaders Program. Kenneth has always been involved with community mental health, having worked as a volunteer in a mental hospital in Korea and currently being involved with a crisis hotline. Kenneth’s primary research interests are mental health and minority stress within the queer community, particularly for those at the intersection of Asian and queer identities.

 

Regan Gregory

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)

MPH Student

Brown University School of Public Health

Regan is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at Brown University. An interdisciplinary focus allows her to explore topics related to misinformation, mindfulness, and minority health. Regan found a passion for health research during her undergraduate years at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, where she engaged with local community partners to address intersectional health disparities. This year, her thesis will analyze the efficacy of a mindfulness intervention in preventing gestational hypertension for Black and Latina mothers. In her free time, Regan enjoys practicing yoga, reading, and spending time outdoors.

Jingquan Flora Miao

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)

MSDA Student

Brown University Department of Sociology

Jingquan is currently a social data analytics master program (MSDA) student at Brown University. She recently graduated from Boston University with two B.A. degrees in Psychology and Statistics. She is a part-time research assistant at the mHEAL lab. Prior to joining the lab, she volunteered as a research assistant in the Transdiagnostic Research on Emotions, Neuroticism, and Dissemination-Unified Protocol (UP) lab and the Vietnam Era Twin Study of Aging (VETSA) lab. She conducted independent research on the impact of baseline symptom severity on patient engagement with internet-based UP, and her abstract was accepted for presentation at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 2023 conference. In Summer 2023, she completed a data analyst internship at a consulting company, focusing on time-series analysis and predictive modeling. Her research interests include mental health program user engagement and experience analysis, the application of quantitative and qualitative methods in treatment advancement, and emotional difficulties interventions and preventions, Outside of work, she enjoys cooking, picnics, reading, city walks, film analysis, swimming, and ice skating.

Zoey Dangleman

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)
Undergraduate Student
Brown University

Zoey is a current sophomore at Brown University. She is concentrating in philosophy and pursuing an entrepreneurship certificate, although she is also studying public health in preparation for her MPH. She is involved in the BWell program as a BURP facilitator and is an editor on several public health journals. Zoey is passionate about holistic health and the integration of mindfulness and spirituality into healthcare. She is interested in the relationships between employee wellness and workplace productivity, a topic she is considering pursuing via healthcare consulting. She is excited to get involved with a variety of projects and hopes to broaden her research skills and experience. 

Oleksii Shebanov

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (he/him)
Undergraduate Student
Brown University

Oleksii is a junior studying History and Slavic Studies at Brown. He is actively involved in Ukrainian and Eastern European communities on campus and in RI. Oleksii is passionate about holistically reconstructing individuals’ historical experiences from the perspectives of psychology, literature, philosophy, and political science. His research interests include the intersection between language and mental health, psychoanalysis, refugees’ experiences of identity formation and discrimination, and ideologies of exile. In his free time, Oleksii loves cooking, reading sci-fi, and traveling across the East Coast.

Claire Pisani

MEDICAL STUDENT (she/they)

The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University

Claire is a second year medical student at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She works as a research assistant for the mHEAL lab and is a Graduate Student Coach of Brown’s Varsity Women’s Water Polo Team. Claire has always demonstrated a major interest in the intersection of gender/sexuality issues and healthcare: they concentrated in Science, Technology, and Society with a focus in Gender & Science at Brown. They have worked with Professor Sun on a number of projects focused on sexual and gender minority populations over the past two years, and continues to provide her peer medical students opportunities for engagement in queer health topics and academic talks about queer health as a member of the E-Board for Brown’s chapter of the Medical Student Pride Alliance. Claire’s primary research interests are: LGBTQIA+ Health, Orthopedics/Sports Medicine, Reproductive Health, Health Disparities, and Mindfulness. 

Matthew Murphy

PHD STUDENT (he/they)

Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Brown University School of Public Health

Matt is doctoral student in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences (BSHS). Matt seeks to apply novel analytic methodologies to examine mental health disparities among sexual and gender minority populations and explore how evidence-based interventions may disrupt stress-related health processes. Before joining the BSHS program, Matt received a Sc.B. in Psychology from the Brown University Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences (CLPS).

Arryn A. Guy, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (she/they)
Assistant Professor of Psychology
Illinois Institute of Technology

Dr. Arryn A. Guy conducts community-based participatory research with queer and trans communities to develop and implement evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Their work aims to heal negative psychological sequelae resulting from stigma, support addiction recovery, increase access to gender affirmative care, and reduce HIV health inequities. She is a core clinical faculty in the Clinical Psychology Ph.D. program and is a research faculty with the Center for Health Equity, Education, and Research (CHEER).

Danhua Lin, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (she/her)
Professor of Psychology
Beijing Normal University

Dr. Danhua Lin currently works at the Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University. Her research focuses on the impact of early adversity on children’s development from neurophysiological and psychosocial perspectives, and theory-based health behavior/mental health prevention intervention among minority and disadvantaged populations (e.g., rural-to-urban migrants, migrant children, and left-behind children, as well as HIV affected individuals).

Don Operario, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (he/him)
Professor of Behavioral, Social & Health Education Sciences
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

Dr. Don Operario is the Grace Crum Rollins Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences at the Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. His research concerns the social psychological determinants of HIV, mental health, and related health issues (substance use, structural violence, access to services) in historically marginalized communities. Further, his work focuses on the lived experiences associated with social inequality, with an emphasis on understanding the perspectives of intersectional identities and addressing health and psychosocial disparities.

 

His NIH-funded projects examine these public health issues among racial and ethnic minority populations as well as sexual and gender minority populations in the United States, the Philippines, China, South Korea, Kenya, and South Africa.

Eric Loucks, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (he/him)
Professor of Epidemiology, Associate Professor of Medicine, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Brown University School of Public Health

Dr. Eric B. Loucks is a professor, researcher, and innovator in the study of mindfulness and health. He serves as Director of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University. Dr. Loucks is the developer of the Mindfulness-Based College for Young Adults (MB-College) program and the Mindfulness-Based Blood Pressure Reduction (MB-BP) program, both that have been evaluated in NIH-funded randomized controlled trials. His research also focuses on mindfulness epidemiology methods, evidence synthesis, and implementation science. Over the course of his career, he has held teaching positions at Harvard, McGill, and Brown Universities. Dr. Loucks’s work has been widely distributed through media organizations such as the New York Times, TIME Magazine, and the BBC, along with numerous presentations to national and state governmental bodies.

Runsen Chen, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (he/him)
Principal Investigator,
Vanke School of Public Health, Tsinghua University

Runsen Chen is a Principal Investigator at the Vanke School of Public Health and Health at Tsinghua University. He holds a Ph.D. from the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, with research directions including child and adolescent mental health, mood disorders, self-harm and suicide behaviors, and prevention and intervention studies. He serves as a member of the Youth Health Branch of the Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and the Behavior and Health Psychology Professional Committee of the Chinese Psychological Society. He is also the Associate Editor of the journal Globalization and Health and an editorial board member of journals including BMC Medicine, Child Abuse and Neglect, Social Science and Medicine, and Bipolar Disorders. He has led multiple adolescent mental health research projects funded by entities such as the Ministry of Education, the National Health Commission, UNICEF, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, and the Capital Health Development Research Fund.

Simon Goldberg​, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (he/him)
Associate Professor in Department of Counseling Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Simon Goldberg is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology and Core Faculty at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He conducts research on psychotherapy, with a specific emphasis on the effects of and mechanisms underlying meditation- and mindfulness-based interventions. He is currently completing a 5-year, NIH-funded K23 award focused on the delivery of meditation training through mobile health technology. He has clinical experience working with military veterans and has conducted research on veteran mental health. He has served on the editorial board for the Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Psychotherapy Research. His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Today, CNBC, The Week, and Scientific American.

David Zelaya, PhD

CO-INVESTIGATOR (he/him/él)
Assistant Professor of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Brown University School of Public Health

Dr. David G. Zelaya is an Assistant Professor (Research) at Brown University School of Public Health (SPH) within the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS), Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and a research fellow at Harvard Medical School within the Department of Psychiatry.

 

His program of research focuses on examining health disparities, from an intersectionality and minority stress lens, among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color and sexual and gender minority communities and links to HIV risk, mental health, and substance use. Clinically, he is interested in providing culturally competent behavioral health services to historically underserved communities (e.g., Spanish-speaking Latinx people; sexual and gender diverse people).

Bill Nardi, ScM

PHD CANDIDATE (he/him)
Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Brown University School of Public Health

Bill Nardi is a doctoral student interested in patient-oriented research for the development of comprehensive, integrative treatments for comorbid substance use and anxiety. Specifically, his work focuses on designing and testing mobile health applications as adjunctive therapies to primary substance use treatments utilizing mixed methods research. Bill holds an ScM from Brown University and is a person in recovery.

Nick McCarthy-Belash

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (he/him)
Undergraduate
Brown University

Nick is a research assistant at mHEAL. He is a senior/first year Master’s student at Brown studying public health with a focus on applied epidemiology. His main interests in the field of public health are the effects of environmental and occupational exposures on health, and improving research methods to uncover data on difficult-to-reach populations. He is currently in the process of starting a student organization at Brown to conduct community-led environmental health research and spends much of his free time gardening, cooking, or drawing.

 

Ty Scott, MPH

RESEARCH ASSISTANT (they/them)
Brown University School of Public Health

Ty is an MPH graduate from Brown University School of Public Health. Their central research interests are PrEP access, HIV and STI/STD health, and health equity. They began research work in undergrad, assisting research teams dedicated to health behaviors surrounding HIV prevention among incarcerated individuals, mindfulness within the LGBTQ+ community, and diet among women with early life adversity.

Their thesis reviewed effective recruitment tactics for African American study participants that identify as sexual or gender minorities. In their free time, they enjoy varying creative outlets, most particularly modern dance, makeup, and cooking.

J Banson

FORMER RESEARCH ASSISTANT (they/them)
Undergraduate
Brown University

J is a junior at Brown University studying Gender and Sexuality Studies with a focus on queerness, health and Asian identities. They are a research assistant at mHEAL and the Trans Led Care study. Passionate about mental health and community building, J has worked as a Trevor Project crisis counselor and as a Gender and Sexuality Peer Counselor at Brown. Outside of school, they enjoy climbing, meditation retreats, and are especially excited to study abroad in Taiwan in the spring.

Na Nguyen

FORMER RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)
Undergraduate
Brown University

Na is a sophomore at Brown concentrating in Applied Math and Neuroscience. She is interested in the intersection of health, technology, and equity, which she is currently exploring through research work at mHEAL and CLPS department’s 3D Information for Perception & Action lab as a student assistant. Na has also been involved in health advocacy endeavors at Brown’s Journal of Medical Humanities, UNICEF East Asia & Pacific, and local hospitals in Da Nang, Vietnam – her hometown. She hopes to expand into devising mental health solutions for the community from a neurological perspective. 

Frances Saadeh, MPH

FORMER RESEARCH COORDINATOR (she/her)
Centers for Epidemiology & Environmental Health
Brown University School of Public Health

Frances Saadeh, MPH, is a Senior Project Coordinator in the Centers for Epidemiologic Research at Brown University. Fran has worked in Public Health at Brown University for more than 15 years. She has overseen data collection on a number of different projects, with topics ranging from looking at quality of life outcomes of breast cancer survivors to studying residential moving patterns of mothers and their newborn infants.

 

Most recently she has served in the Mindfulness Center at Brown University and in Dr. Sun’s Mindfulness for Health Equity Lab (mHEAL). A two-time Brown graduate (’06, ’11) and Brown University employee, Fran lives in Rhode Island with her three children and playful pup.

Volta Tran

FORMER RESEARCH ASSISTANT (she/her)
Center for Epidemiologic Research
Brown University School of Public Health

 Volta was a full-time research assistant working on Project STARS and the Trans-Led Care Study. She has a background in trans community health and approaches her work through a harm reduction framework.