Meet Our Team!

Principle Investigator

Cara M. Murphy, Ph.D.

Cara M. Murphy, Ph.D.

Principle Investigator

Cara Murphy is an Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (2015) from the University of Georgia. She completed a clinical psychology residency at the Alpert Medical School at Brown University and a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 postdoctoral research fellowship focused on Substance Abuse Intervention Outcome Research at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS) in the School of Public Health. Dr. Murphy was awarded a K23 career development award from NIDA to develop and pilot a multiple health behavior change intervention. This intervention aims to help individuals who smoke cigarettes are and overweight or obese make changes in diet, physical activity, and smoking. Dr. Murphy has joined the faculty at CAAS to conduct her research and to receive continued training in qualitative methods, treatment development, conducting clinical trials, and advanced data analysis.

Senior Research Assistant

Katie Good

Katie Good

Senior Research Assistant

Katie is a Senior Research Assistant working on the team. She graduated from the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience. Katie is from Cincinnati, OH and enjoys kickboxing, reading, and cooking in her free time.

Research Assistants

Amaya Allen

Amaya Allen

Research Assistant

Amaya is an undergraduate student from New Jersey studying Economics on the Public Policy track at Brown University. In her free time, she enjoys working out, reading young adult and literary fiction novels, and learning more about health and health equity.

Jerry Quan

Jerry Quan

Research Assistant

Jerry is an undergraduate student at Brown and is concentrating in Computer Science. Outside of work, Jerry enjoys baking, drinking tea, and squirrel-watching

Shukria Sakhi

Shukria Sakhi

Research Assistant

Shukria is an undergraduate student at Brown University, concentrating in Public Health with a Certificate in Data Fluency. Outside of work, she enjoys going for walks, cooking, drinking tea, and spending time with friends.

Petros Engelhardt

Petros Engelhardt

Research Assistant

Petros is an undergraduate student at Brown concentrating in Public Health. Petros is from South Portland, Maine and outside of school he enjoys playing basketball, reading Stephen King, and running around with his two dogs.

Cameron Cooper

Cameron Cooper

Research Assistant

Cameron is a Master of Public Health student at Brown University, studying Health Policy and Services. He recently graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in biology. A fun fact about him is that he loves swimming, and even became a lifeguard while recovering from a broken leg!

Leah Koritz

Leah Koritz

Research Assistant

Leah is an undergraduate student from Massachusetts studying Public Health and Judaic Studies at Brown University. In her free time, Leah enjoys writing, hiking, reading, and playing with her dog, Boba.

Nurse Practitioners

Carline L. Fleig, MSN ANP-C

Carline L. Fleig, MSN ANP-C

Research Nurse Practitioner

Carline  is the CADRE/COBRE Research Nurse Practitioner as well as the Clinical Laboratory Research Manager. She provides clinical support to all active randomized clinical trials. A graduate of Boston College, she came to CAAS in 2019 with extensive career experience in critical care, cardiology, diabetes management and women’s’ health in the settings of acute care, primary care and college health. Her project involvement includes protocol development, performing eligibility physical exams, administration of psychiatric assessments, monitoring vital signs as well as identifying behavioral changes during study lab sessions and monitoring for adverse events for both in-person and remote study sessions. She is also responsible for starting intravenous access when necessary to draw blood samples for in-person sessions. She is involved in numerous studies for the CADRE/COBRE which looks at how substance use impacts disease. In her free time, she loves to spend time outdoors with her friends and family. She is a proud Navy Mom. She loves to write, hike, travel and go sailing whenever she can!

Rita Blanko, MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-C

Rita Blanko, MSN, APRN, AGPCNP-C

Research Nurse Practitioner

Rita is a Research Nurse Practitioner at the Brown University School of Public Health. She works in the lab ensuring that our participants are safe while being a part of our research studies. Her work is centered primarily around alcohol use disorder. Outside of work Rita loves to hike, travel, spend time at the beach, and visit her family in Connecticut. She can still do a handstand after years of being a gymnast!

Former Lab Team Members

Liza

Liza

Senior Research Assistant

2021-2024

Ellie

Ellie

Research Assistant

2022-2024

Eddie

Eddie

Research Assistant

2023-2024

Abby

Abby

Research Assistant

2023-2024

Madison

Madison

Research Assistant

2024

Anny

Anny

Research Assistant

2024

Alex

Alex

Research Assistant

2024

Meagan

Meagan

Research Assistant and Interventionist

2022-2023

Jordy

Jordy

Research Assistant

2022-2023

Minchae

Minchae

Research Assistant

2022-2023

Kayleigh

Kayleigh

Interventionist

2022-2023

Cheyenne

Cheyenne

Interventionist

2022-2023

Tessa

Tessa

Interventionist

2022-2023

Emma

Emma

Research Assistant

2023

Kayla

Kayla

Research Assistant

2023

Surya

Surya

Research Assistant

2022

Michael

Michael

Research Assistant

2022

Josepha

Josepha

Research Assistant

2021

Rayna

Rayna

Research Assistant

2021