I received my PhD in Personality & Social Contexts Psychology from the University of Michigan. Thereafter, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and at the Center for Health Equity Research within the Department of Social Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I joined the faculty at Rutgers University in the fall of 2017, and I am a member of the Social Psychology area as well as an affiliate of the Health Psychology program.
My research focuses on racial discrimination as a chronic psychosocial stressor that heightens African Americans’ risk for physical (e.g., cardiovascular disease) and mental (e.g., depression and anxiety) health concerns. In particular, I focus on: (1) elucidating whether racial discrimination is a distinct stressor for African Americans with physiological and psychological consequences that exceed those of non-race-related stressors, (2) explicating the mechanisms that underlie the associations between racial discrimination experiences and deleterious outcomes, and (3) identifying person-related characteristics that serve as potential protective or vulnerability factors (e.g., racial identity) in the context of racial discrimination. My newest interests include: (1) structural racism, and (2) the development and implementation of interventions that alleviate the impacts of racism.
Psychology Building
Undergraduate Advising at Tillett Hall