A recent study has found that exposure to trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are associated with increased risk of arrest or incarceration for African Americans. The study, The Relationship between Trauma, Arrest, and Incarceration History among Black Americans, was produced as the result of a collaboration between the University of Michigan and Virginia Commonwealth University. Lena Jaggi was the first author on this paper, and GREMAP’s Dr. Briana Mezuk was one of the co-authors and collaborators.

Dr. Mohamed Abdelghani Ali presented findings from his Professional Affiliation experience with Dr. Mezuk at a recent GREMAP meeting. Dr. Ali will be traveling back to Egypt this summer after completing his fellowship and will continue to work on this project while there.

Drs. Mezuk and Concha led a two-day workshop this April for the H.H. Humphrey Fellows Program on “How to obtain data to inform policy and practice.” Fellows learned about survey design, respondent-driven sampling, community-mapping, and dissemination. Natalie Baries assisted as a teaching assistant.

 

GREMAP member Natalie Bareis will be presenting her abstract “Client-Centered Treatment to Optimize Psychiatric Medication Adherence” at the 18th Annual Conference of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.

This meeting, which will be in Amsterdam from July 13-16, 2016, will be held jointly with the 8th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Affective Disorders.

GREMAP members Kristal Brown and Kristen Kelly attended the 106th annual meeting of the American Psychopathological Association (APPA), and presented posters at the poster session.

 

Kristal Brown, with her poster “The Relationship between Weight, Eating Behavior and Suicidality”.

 

Kristen Kelly, with her poster “Atopic Disorders and Mental Illness”.

Dr. Mezuk, an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program, has been featured in two articles in the RWJF’s “Human Capital” Blog:

• Combating Suicide in the Population Most At Risk: Older, White Men
• Diabetes: The Case for Considering Context

GREMAP member Lauren Gray has accepted a job as a Program and Engagement Manager with the Virginia Oral Health Coalition, an organization dedicated to promoting oral health awareness and access to care in Virginia. Lauren will be leading the development of a statewide oral health report card for Virginia, as well as performing policy advocacy and analysis, stakeholder outreach and engagement, and program management.

Congratulations Lauren!

Dr. Mezuk was recently awarded a 3-year Innovative Clinical & Translational Science award from the American Diabetes Association for the project “Stress, self-regulatory behaviors, and diabetes disparities.” This grant will examine how stress exposure and stress reactivity contribute to the progression of metabolic risk among adults with pre-diabetes.