Mental health is a public health issue at its core. It encompasses our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It determines how we interact with others, manage stress, and progress through each life stage, all of which can have profound impacts on our overall health by increasing the risk of disease. Our experts address disparities in mental health and work to dismantle many of the barriers to care that place, vulnerable groups, at disproportionate risk.
Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH
Research Interests
Boden-Albala has dedicated her career to promoting health equity for all, defining and intervening on social determinants of disease, and leading community-level health assessments and solutions. She has expertise in cardiovascular disease and stroke, emerging infectious diseases, epidemiology as well as global health.
Boden-Albala looks forward to mobilizing the entire UCI Public Health community’s commitment towards health equity, social justice, academic excellence and passion for the growth and transition of this program to a world-class school of population and public health.
Tim Bruckner, MPH, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. Bruckner focuses his research on perinatal and life course epidemiology, economic downturns and health, mental health and health policy.
Michael Hoyt, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. Hoyt’s research interests include coping, adjustment to chronic illness, psychoneuroimmunology, and stress. In his work, he identifies biobehavioral processes associated with quality of life in those facing chronic illness. He conducts basic and clinical research to examine coping processes and other psychological factors associated with mental health, neuroendocrine and immune function, and adjustment to illness, with an emphasis on cancer survivors and caregivers.
Karen Lincoln, PhD, MSW, MA, FGSA
Research Interests
Dr. Lincoln is a social worker with a joint degree in social work and sociology. Reflecting her interdisciplinary training, her scholarship is grounded in theories and methods developed in the fields of social work, sociology and psychology. She has applied these principles to identify factors that both harm and promote mental health and well-being among Black Americans.
Dr. Lincoln is the only scholar nationally who has systematically contributed to the literature on the impact of negative interaction (e.g., conflict, excessive demands, manipulation) on mental health among African American and Caribbean Black adults. Her efforts have 1) advanced our understanding of the impact and modeling of social support and negative interaction on mental health among diverse populations, 2) identified negative interaction as a particularly important risk factor for mental health among vulnerable populations, and 3) documented within-and between-group differences with respect to risk and protective factors associated with a variety of mental health outcomes among diverse populations.
Joel Milam, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. Milam’s research interests include young adult cancer survivorship, positive psychology, and HIV prevention/control.
Anamara Ritt-Olson, PhD
Research Interests
Dr. Ritt-Olson believes that we meet people where they are, and many adolescents and young adults are often found on social media. Her work now focuses on the ways to engage social media platforms to connect people with existing resources to better address unmet needs. Additionally, Dr. Ritt-Olson explores the factors that promote mental health, resiliency, and well-being among culturally diverse adolescents and young adults. This work covers multiple health risk behaviors including substance use prevention, identity development, access to care and increasing general self-efficacy. She works with varied populations including cancer survivors, middle school students, as well as other vulnerable groups. She has designed, taught and evaluated 20+ health promoting programs both globally and nationally using varied modalities including innovative technologies. She teaches across several levels of education: undergraduate, graduate, and medical fellows drawing upon social determination theory as a guide to engaging students by building autonomy, competence, and relatedness in person and online.
