Postdoctoral Fellows
Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research
-
Peter Serina
Dr. Pete Serina is a Postdoctoral Fellow and practicing emergency medicine physician. As an ED doctor, he sees first-hand the unique challenges of providing high-quality, goal-concordant care for older adults in the ED. His main research interest is the improvement of care transitions with a focus on patients living with dementia.
Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies
-
Mariel Bello
Mariel Bello is a NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University School of Public Health. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Science from the University of Southern California in 2022, where she conducted research examining tobacco-related health disparities among socioeconomically disadvantaged racial/ethnic minority adolescents, young adults, and adults who smoke cigarettes. Her program of research focuses on the etiology and underlying mechanisms of substance use disorders in underserved populations in order to inform the development of innovative, culturally-tailored treatments for substance use in disadvantaged, minority groups. Additionally, as a pre-licensed clinical psychologist, she provides evidence-based, outpatient psychological services to clients from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in Rhode Island.
-
Holly Boyle
Holly Boyle received her Ph.D. in Behavioral and Social Health Sciences from Brown University where she studied person- and event-level predictors and consequences of simultaneous alcohol and cannabis use. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Her research interests include (1) understanding etiology and behavioral pharmacology of alcohol and cannabis use and (2) developing more effective prevention and intervention efforts that focus on risky single and multi-substance use behaviors. She has expertise in qualitative methods, intensive longitudinal designs (daily diary studies, ecological momentary assessment), and multilevel modeling.
-
Sarah Chavez
Sarah Chavez studied moderators and mediators of adverse childhood experiences on alcohol use among Latinx young adults as an NIH-NIAAA T32 predoctoral trainee at the University of California-San Diego and San Diego State University. Her research interests are in risk and protective factors and racial/ethnic differences in alcohol-specific outcomes; expanding understanding of the relationship between childhood adversity and heavy episodic drinking among Latinx young adults; and developing culturally based alcohol-specific interventions for Latinx young adults.
-
Erin Ferguson
Erin Ferguson earned her Ph.D. in clinical and health psychology at the University of Florida. She completed the Clinical Psychology Internship Training Program at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University in 2023. Her research interests are in contextual factors associated with alcohol and cannabis use among those with comorbid chronic health conditions (e.g. HIV, pain), and developing substance use interventions for integrated care settings.
-
Emily Helminen
Emily Helminen completed a Ph.D. in school psychology at Syracuse University and is currently completing a NIDA T32 postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies at Brown University. Their main research interests include: 1) developing and testing compassion-based interventions to improve mental and behavioral health among sexual and gender minority people with a focus on co-occurring posttraumatic stress symptoms and substance use, and 2) understanding the physiological (e.g., stress reactivity) and psychological (e.g., shame) mechanisms by which compassion-based interventions are effective.
-
Sarah Maloney
Sarah Maloney received a B.S. in Psychology at Northern Kentucky University and completed her MS in Psychology and Ph.D. in Health Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is currently an Alcohol and Addiction Studies (CAAS) T32 postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences working with Laura Stroud and Jennifer Tidey. Her research interests are focused on factors that influence the abuse liability of nicotine, tobacco, and cannabis use.
-
Roselyn Peterson
Roselyn Peterson completed her undergraduate studies at Seattle University and earned her M.S. and Clinical Psychology Ph.D. from the University of Central Florida, where she developed the Sexual and Negative Dating Inventory (SANDI). Her research focuses on sexual violence, alcohol use, and protective behavioral strategies.
-
Chanda Phelan
Chanda Phelan is interested in researching human-computer interaction focused on the opportunities and challenges of integrating technology into substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and understanding how technology is used during the recovery journey. She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and focused on the opportunities, threats, and strategies for technology in SUD.
-
Megan Strowger
Megan Strowger completed her undergraduate studies at Drexel University and earned her Ph.D. in health psychology at Old Dominion University. Her research interests include in-person and online social influences on alcohol use among young adults, social network and longitudinal methods, and developing alcohol interventions for young adults which also focus on the impact of alcohol-related social media.