Elinam Dellor, PhD
Senior Researcher
Dr. Dellor conducts research on the short and long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect. A key area of interest is the effect of early life trauma on adult behavior and health. Her expertise is in trauma-related physiologic processes as mediating pathways to adult chronic health conditions. Her research focuses on the feasibility of collecting chronic stress biomarkers among child welfare-involved families and caregivers with a focus on the HPA-axis (hair for cortisol) and immune system (dried blood spots for C-reactive protein) activity. She also studies the use of internet technology in linking vulnerable families to social, behavioral, and health services.
Bridget Freisthler, PhD
Professor
Dr. Freisthler’s expertise is in studying how substance use affects parenting, particularly child abuse and neglect. Her research focuses on how drinking and drug use contexts (e.g., where a person drinks or uses drugs) affect abusive and neglectful parenting practices. She uses geographic information systems (GIS; mapping) to identify those contexts and to develop preventive interventions. She is particularly interested in how the substance use environment (e.g., alcohol outlets and medical marijuana dispensaries) is related to a variety of harms, such as child maltreatment. She is currently focusing efforts on reducing child maltreatment among families misusing opioids.
Susan Yoon, PhD
Associate Professor
Dr. Yoon’s research seeks to promote resilience and well-being in children who have experienced childhood trauma, including child maltreatment. Specifically, her research focuses on understanding the longitudinal effects of child maltreatment on child development during childhood and adolescence, with a particular interest in identifying factors and pathways that promote or hinder resilient development following child maltreatment.
Karla Shockley McCarthy, MSW, LSW, PhD Student
Graduate Research Associate
Ms. Shockley McCarthy is a PhD Candidate and a Graduate Research Associate on the EPIC program. Her research focuses on the impact of interpersonal relationships and belongingness within family, school, and community systems on youth with a history of trauma. She is particularly interested in the role of resilience and supportive social networks in buffering the negative effect of early life trauma on mental health and academic outcomes. Ms. Shockley McCarthy has expertise in the application of multi-media technology in dissemination and outreach.
Jennifer Price Wolf, PhD, MSW, MPH
Associate Professor
Dr. Price Wolf is an Associate Professor at San Jose State University, as well as an Associate Research Scientist at the Prevention Research Center in Berkeley, California. Dr. Price Wolf studies how physical and social environments influence substance abuse and the well-being of children and families.
Megan Allbright-Campos, MS, IMFT, PhD Student
Graduate Research Associate
Megan Allbright-Campos, MS, IMFT, is a second year doctoral student with the College of Social Work. Prior to her doctoral studies, Megan attended Ohio State University where she participated as an undergraduate research assistant for three years and graduated with her bachelor’s degree in psychology. Megan received her Master of Science from Purdue University in Marriage and Family Therapy following completion of a quantitative thesis. Following graduation, she worked for four years as a mental health therapist with a foster care agency in Columbus and received her licensure as an Independent Marriage and Family Therapist. Megan aims to use her clinical practice working with families and children involved in the foster care system to guide her future research in foster care. Megan’s research interest centers around foster care reform, specifically related to reduction in rates of placement of children in foster care through parental empowerment and systemic interventions.