Our Research Focus
The GRACE team, based within the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researches mental health disparities in Black communities with a focus on the nature of suicide in Black boys and men. Using a community-based, mixed methods approach, the team studies how racialized experiences
influences feelings about suicide and other mental health outcomes.
​
The Team
Leslie Adams
Director
Dr. Leslie Adams is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research interests explore the intersections between gender, racism, and public mental health outcomes among people of African descent, with specific focus on improving mental wellbeing among Black boys and men. Her externally-funded research agenda leverages smartphone-based approaches to bridge gaps in mental health care among those in crises. She also focuses, domestically and globally, on understanding the influence of racism across social contexts through comparative, cross-cultural mental health research among individuals of African descent. To conduct this work, Dr. Adams uses a variety of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, including latent variable approaches, intensive longitudinal design, semi-structured interviews, and community-engaged research approaches.
Prior to her faculty position, Dr. Adams was a David E. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. She completed her doctorate in Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and earned her B.A. and MPH from Dartmouth College.
Aubrey DeVinney
Research Program Coordinator
Aubrey is the GRACE Lab's Research Program Coordinator. She currently works on IRB preparation, recruitment, data collection, and qualitative analysis for the lab in the EMA Adult Men, Youth, and Provider studies. She also manages the GRACE Lab website. Outside of the GRACE lab, she works on other projects in the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health involving school-based suicide prevention programs in youth and proximal suicide risk by psychological autopsy. Her interests include youth suicide prevention, non-suicidal self-injury, and masculine norms as they relate to suicide ideation in boys and men.
​
Aubrey received her BA in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the Summer of 2020, where she previously volunteered as an Undergraduate Research Assistant at the Bardone-Cone Lab for eating disorders. After her time with the GRACE Lab and Johns Hopkins, she plans to go into a Clinical Psychology PhD program to further study suicide in youth populations.
Jasmin Brooks Stephens
Graduate Research Affiliate
Dr. Jasmin Brooks Stephens earned her dual Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jasmin is currently a Clinical Fellow in Psychology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. She recently received her PhD in Clinical Psychology at the University of Houston. She specializes in interdisciplinary translational research and culturally responsive treatment approaches that address suicide and mental health disparities within Black communities.
​
Specifically, Jasmin’s current program of research focuses on utilizing mixed methods approaches to examine how race-related stressors influence suicide vulnerability and internalizing mental health disorders within Black populations. Her area of expertise also includes identifying culturally relevant protective factors to promote mental health recovery. She aims to apply her findings to the development of culturally mindful clinical interventions that reduce racial stress and promote psychological well-being within Black communities.
Dahlia Aljuboori
Research Assistant
Dahlia is a recent MHS graduate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Mental Health Department. She graduated from the University of Baghdad, College of Medicine in 2010 and practiced as a General Physician in Iraq before moving to the USA.
Outside of the GRACE lab, she is working with the Behavioral Health Leadership Institute (BHLI) a non-profit organization serving East Baltimore Community and as a Research Coordinator for Dr. Johannes Thrul at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Her research interests focus on looking at the intersectionality between suicide and disparities for marginalized populations, integrating health services into the underserved Baltimore community, and implementing preventative strategies.
During the last ten years living in the United States, she’s developed a passion for looking beyond her medical aspiration for individual psychiatric diagnosis and treatment and more towards population risks, associations, intersecting injustice, and preventative methods to decrease mental health burdens on families and health systems
Mia Campbell
Doctoral Student
Mia N. Campbell (B.S., Georgetown University, 2018; MHS., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2022) is a yoga instructor and PhD student in the Department of Mental Health at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research interests are centered around adolescent mental health and well-being. She is particularly interested in examining and understanding trends in symptoms of depression and trauma among minoritized adolescent girls. Additionally, Mia has an interests in understanding the influence of the social and built environment on modifiable mental health outcomes. She aims to incorporate principles of spatial epidemiology and social and behavioral science to better understand the influence of social and built systems on youth empowerment and mental illness prevention and mitigation.
As a member of the GRACE Lab, Mia contributes to data analysis and visualization along with publication preparation.
GRACE Alumni
Former Senior Research Program Coordinator
Thomasina Watts
Thomasina Watts is a recent graduate of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, earning her MSPH from the department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health, in 2022, with a concentration in Women’s, Sexual and Reproductive Health. 
She received her BA in Anthropology, as well as a BSPH in Community Health from Indiana University- Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in 2016. Her current research interests include gender-based violence, HIV and STI prevention and management, and community-based participatory research.
She formerly worked as the Sr. Research Program Coordinator for the GRACE team. 
Former Research Assistant
Veronicah Kiende
Veronicah Kiende is an MHS student in the Department of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. She received her Master of Science in Medical sociology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2020.
Currently, her interests lie in overall mental health education, understanding risk factors, the burden of mood and anxiety disorders related to suicide, and how they present in low-resource settings, especially marginalized communities.
Veronicah is hoping to formulate mental health strategies that can then be implemented to help facilitate mental health care equity in low-income countries/communities.
Former Masters Student
Katrina Dauigoy
​Katrina Dauigoy is recent MPH graduate and began her work at the GRACE lab conducting a systematic review on interventions focused on Black youth suicide in the US. She currently serves as Vice President of Account Services at Syneos Health, a global biopharmaceutical services organization, leading client teams in implementing market access strategies. Katrina conducted her graduate internship at SAMHSA, working with states on implementing evidence-based practices for youth and young adults with early serious mental illness and first episode psychosis under the Mental Health Block Grant. Her research interests are centered around mental health policy, youth injury prevention, and health disparities. She is particularly interested in the implementation of community-based programs that help to reduce adverse childhood experiences that increase risk for adverse mental health outcomes in high-risk communities. Katrina has over 12 years of experience in the healthcare consulting industry working to improve patient access to pharmaceutical therapies, and integrate resources between large healthcare systems and community-based practices.
She received her BS in Health Care Management and Policy from Georgetown University, and completed her MPH at Johns Hopkins University.
Undergraduate Members
Current Undergraduates
Brandon Nefferdorf - Loyola University Maryland '25
​
Janiah Fields - McDaniel College '25
Undergraduate Alumni
Chesna Bosnic - McDaniel College '24
​