Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP)

In Recognition of World Mental Health Month

Shalini Sivathasan, Ph.D., Boston College
“Reimagining Mental Health Care for Autistic Individuals: Social Justice Approaches for Research and Clinical Practice”
October 10, 2024 | 12:30 PM | WebEx

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Dr. Shalini Sivathasan (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development at Boston College. Her research interests broadly center around improving behavioral health outcomes and access to mental healthcare among people with multiple marginalized identities (e.g., autistic and neurodivergent individuals, racial/ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA+). As the director of the Intersections Lab at BC, she and her students aim to leverage expert knowledge through collaborations with people with lived experiences, families, community partners, and mental health professionals, ultimately with the goal of reducing disparities and developing accessible interventions for marginalized children and adults.

Join InCHIP for a virtual workshop that will provide UConn researchers an overview of how to draft compelling policy briefs and strategies to disseminate these briefs to policymakers. Participants will learn best practices for selecting content, writing for a nontechnical audiences, and how to transform their briefs into op-eds. Additionally, participants will create a network of resources who can provide feedback on their briefs. By the end of this training, participants should have the foundational skills to submit their own policy brief to the second annual Moving Beyond Implications Conference in December.

Confirmed panelists include:

• State Representative Jaime Foster, 57th Assembly District (East Windsor, Ellington, Vernon)
• Kerri Raissian, UConn ARMS Center Director
• Caitlin Caspi, Associate Director of the Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy & Director of Food Security Initiatives at the UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Health

Details and Registration

CSCH & InCHIP Continuing Series: Career Wellness in School and Child Health
Join us for a conversation about the challenge of managing demanding work and your well-being. This event is specifically designed for early career professionals and graduate students in the field of school and child health. We will engage in supportive discussion and share tips and tricks.

Wednesday October 23, 2024 | 12pm-1pm
Family Studies Building (FSB) room 120 or online

Register to receive the virtual link.

Registration is also preferred for those attending in person but drop-ins are welcome.

Janine M. Simmons, M.D., Ph.D.
Deputy Director, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)

“Charting a Path toward Emotional Well-Being: Perspectives from the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research”

October 24, 2024 | 12:30 - 1:30 PM | WebEx

Janine M. Simmons, M.D., Ph.D. joined OBSSR as the Deputy Director in January 2024. In this role, she supports the OBSSR Director and staff in strategic planning, developing scientific initiatives, ensuring strong communication with internal and external stakeholders, and implementing plans to advance the coordination, integration, and impact of behavioral and social sciences research.

Dr. Simmons comes to OBSSR by way of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the National Institute on Aging (NIA). At NIMH, Dr. Simmons ran the Social and Affective Neuroscience Program within the Division of Neuroscience and Basic Behavioral Science, served as a subject matter expert on Social Processes for NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) program, and originated proposals for the BRAIN initiative’s Brain-Behavior Quantification and Synchronization initiative. At NIA, Dr. Simmons was Chief of the Individual Behavioral Processes Branch within the Division of Behavioral and Social Research and served as a Program Officer or Project Scientist for NIA’s Stress Measurement Network, Emotional Well-Being Networks, Telomere Research Network, and the Science of Behavior Change Coordinating Center. Dr. Simmons has a long-standing relationship with OBSSR, including active participation in OppNet since 2010 and co-chairing the OBSSR Coordinating Committee’s Behavioral Ontology Development Working Group since 2015.

Dr. Simmons attended Yale University, obtained an M.D., Ph.D. in Neurosciences from the UCLA School of Medicine, trained in General & Adult Psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic, and completed a post-doctoral fellowship within the NIMH Intramural Program. Her graduate and post-doctoral research focused on neural circuits underlying motivation and reward processing.

Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D., Yale School of Public Health

Topic: The Impact of Neocolonialism on Global, Maternal, and Child Health

November 14, 2024 | 12:30 PM | WebEx

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Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Ph.D., is Professor of Public Health, and Director of the Office of Public Health Practice, the Global Health Concentration, and the Maternal Child Health Promotion track at the Yale School of Public Health. He is the PI of the Yale-Griffin CDC Prevention Research Center (PRC). His global public health nutrition and food security research program, supported with over $90 million in extramural funds, has contributed to improvements in breastfeeding and other maternal, infant and young child nutrition outcomes, iron deficiency anemia among infants, household food security, and early childhood development. He has co-led innovative mixed-methods implementation studies assessing the impact of community health worker person centered interventions on breastfeeding, type-2 diabetes, post-partum hypertension and mental health outcomes among vulnerable communities. He has published over 350 research articles. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (elected in 2019).