About

I am a community-engaged researcher who works in community with Black adolescents and those that support their health. Growing up in the Dorchester/Mattapan neighborhoods of Boston shaped my understanding of inequity and dedication to serving my community and others like it. I use my PhD in Child Study and Human Development to develop supports for Black, Latinx, and/or low-income youth as they navigate adolescence and learn to manage their health despite racism, discrimination, and their limited access to resources for health.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychology
• Developmental psychology
• Applied psychology
• Social psychology
• Nursing
• Clinical psychology
• Psychiatry
• Psychotherapist

Selected publications

• “Understanding the Sociopolitical Climate and What That Means for Me and My Existence in this Country”: Qualitative Exploration of Black Immigrant Adolescents’ Critical Action

  Journal of Social Issues · 2026-04-26

  articleOpen access

  ABSTRACT A growing body of literature has characterized critical consciousness as a developmental asset, especially among minoritized adolescents, given its association with positive developmental outcomes. However, much is unknown about how critical action (a key component of critical consciousness) develops among Black immigrant youth who uniquely experience both anti‐Black racism and xenophobia in the United States. This qualitative study examines the contextual and developmental factors that shape Black immigrant adolescents’ retrospective interpretations and engagement in critical action during a period of heightened sociopolitical mobilization, the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. In‐depth semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 15 adolescents ages 13–17 ( M age = 15.7; 66.6% girls and 33.3% boys; 73.3% born in the U.S.). Through deductive analysis, we identified dimensions of ethnic‐racial socialization , identity position in racial justice movements , and levels of (dis)engagement in activism as primary interrelated themes that highlight the complexity of Black immigrant adolescents’ meaning‐making of sociopolitical movements. Within and across these themes, we identified subthemes that further captured the nuance of Black immigrant adolescents’ positioning in the context of critical action. Overall, our findings contribute to a new understanding of critical action, particularly among adolescents navigating unique and complicated experiences related to racism and xenophobia, to identify ways to support the development and sustenance of critical action, particularly during adolescence.

  PublisherDOI

• Summer Youth Employment Programs as a Structural Approach to Prevent Youth Violence: an Integrative Review

  Prevention Science · 2025-10-13

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Census Tract Demographics Associated with Libraries’ Social, Economic, and Health-Related Programming

  UNC Libraries · 2025-03-01

  articleOpen access

  <strong>Background</strong>: Public libraries can contribute to reducing economic, social, and health inequities through their programming and practices. However, the extent to which libraries regularly provide programming that improve the social determinants of health (SDH) in underserved communities is unclear. <strong>Objective</strong>: This study explored the relationship between census tract demographic characteristics and library programming implicated in the SDH for underserved groups at risk for health disparities. <strong>Method:</strong> A stratified random sample of libraries (<em>n</em> = 235) who completed the 2017 Public Libraries Survey were recruited. Librarians completed surveys about their libraries' economic, social, and health-related programming. Libraries' census tract demographic characteristics were taken from the 2013-2017 American Community Survey. Linear regressions were estimated to determine the relationship between relevant census tract demographic characteristics and programming offered at libraries in the census tracts. <strong>Results:</strong> Higher proportions of racial and ethnic minorities were associated with more frequent economic and social programs, but results were mixed for health-related programs. Lower proportions of populations with no more than a high school diploma or GED were related to more frequent economic, social, and health-related programs. <strong>Conclusions:</strong> The inequitable distribution of SDH-related library programming highlights gaps in libraries' responsiveness to community needs. Libraries' programming likely perpetuate systemic inequities.

  PublisherDOI

• Age-Specific Trends in Pediatric and Adult Firearm Homicide After the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic

  JAMA Pediatrics · 2025-03-24 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  This cross-sectional study examines age-specific trends in firearm violence among children and adults in the US after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Understanding the knowledge gap in parents’ and teens’ perceptions of cannabis laws

  Cogent Social Sciences · 2025-04-29 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  As recreational cannabis becomes legalized, parents and teens may keep up with these changing laws differently, resulting in knowledge gaps in their understanding of this topic. This study aimed to explore parents’ and teens’ knowledge of cannabis legalization in Massachusetts when the law was being implemented in 2018. Interviews were conducted with 42 parents and teens (08/2018-07/2019) to assess their knowledge of cannabis laws, teens’ access to cannabis, and popular ways teens use cannabis. Data were coded and analyzed using deductive content analysis on NVivo. The codebook was extrapolated from the interview guide and themes were derived and grouped by key factors. Parents’ mean age was 49.6 years, and 81% were female. Teens’ mean age was 14.9 years, and 52.4% were female. No differences were found in the key factors across the derived themes. There was ambiguity surrounding parents’ and teens’ knowledge of cannabis laws, parents expressed concerns about legalization and teens’ access to cannabis, and there were differing perceptions of popular ways teens use cannabis. Study limitations to consider include a majority female sample of parents and the exclusion of non-English-speaking participants. The findings highlight the need for enhanced public health education to improve parents’ and teens’ understanding of cannabis laws.

  PublisherDOI

• Age patterns and predictors of cannabis initiation among biracial and monoracial U.S. youth

  The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse · 2025-02-28 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  These findings highlight distinct cannabis initiation patterns across racialized groups, along with variations in the effects of peer substance use and parental control by age and racialized group.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Parenting, Peers, and Alcohol Use Initiation Among Black, White, and Black-White Adolescents: Evidence Using Discrete-Time Survival Analysis

  UNC Libraries · 2025-02-26

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Alcohol use among Biracial adolescents remains understudied. This study examined how parenting and peer factors relate to age of alcohol use onset among Black, White, and Biracial Black-White adolescents and emerging adults. We used Add Health data to produce a final analytic sample of 13,528 adolescents who self-identified as White, Black, or Biracial Black-White. Discrete-time survival analysis implemented within logistic regression indicated Black adolescents showed the lowest probability of alcohol use onset by age 18, followed by Biracial adolescents, and White adolescents. The probability of alcohol use onset increased for Monoracial Black and White adolescents at ages 16, 18, and 21. Descriptively our model suggest that Biracial adolescents exhibit a sharp decline in their probability of alcohol use onset at age 16 and a sharp increase at age 21. However, this trend did not differ significantly from the other racial groups. Consistent with social control and learning theories, low parental acceptance, high parental control, and peer substance use were associated with alcohol use onset. Alcohol use onset trajectories differed for Monoracial and Biracial adolescents with Biracial individuals reporting greater alcohol onset in adulthood. Prevention efforts should continue to target parental acceptance, parental control, and peer substance use.

  PublisherDOI

• Correction: Fleary et al. Census Tract Demographics Associated with Libraries’ Social, Economic, and Health-Related Programming. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 6598

  UNC Libraries · 2025-03-01

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Correction to: "Census Tract Demographics Associated with Libraries&rsquo; Social, Economic, and Health-Related Programming."

  PublisherDOI

• Perspectives of Parents and High School Teens in Massachusetts on Communicating about Cannabis

  Journal of Child and Family Studies · 2025-10-18

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Designing Health Interventions to Meet the Needs and Experiences of Minoritized Adolescents: #DoubleTap4Health

  Health Education & Behavior · 2024-10-31 · 3 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Engagement in preventive health behaviors (PHBs; i.e., healthy eating, sleep, and physical activity) during adolescence is associated with reduced risks for chronic conditions, such as diabetes, in adulthood. Although several interventions seek to improve adolescents' engagement in health promoting behaviors, racial- and income-based disparities across PHBs persist and may be even more pronounced for adolescents with multiple minoritized identities (e.g., Black adolescents in low-income communities). Therefore, targeted interventions that better meet the needs of minoritized adolescents are critical. The design of such interventions should include: (1) adolescent involvement, (2) cultural tailoring, (3) developmental theory, and (4) consideration of the social determinants of health. This article describes how these elements have been successfully incorporated into adolescent preventive health interventions and used to design #DoubleTap4Health, a community-based social media health intervention for Black adolescents from a low-income community. The results of a feasibility pilot of #DoubleTap4Health suggest that (1) attention to these elements in the intervention design process is feasible and advantageous to ensuring that the intervention components are appropriate and well received by adolescents, and (2) the intervention demonstrated promise as adolescents showed improved engagement in PHBs and media literacy skills. Lessons learned and next steps for intervention development are discussed. Including the above four elements in the design of preventive health interventions for adolescents from minoritized communities is critical to promoting health equity.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Sasha A. Fleary

  The Graduate Center, CUNY

  37 shared

• Carolina de Oliveira Gonçalves

  Tufts University

  6 shared

• Emily Zhang

  Boston College

  6 shared

• Jessica Pappagianopoulos

  University of Virginia

  4 shared

• Catherine Quirion

  Pearson (United States)

  4 shared

• Karen M. Freund

  Tufts Medical Center

  4 shared

• Somya Rastogi

  City University of New York

  2 shared

• Janelle Applewhite

  James Madison University

  2 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Child Study and Human Development

  not provided