We lead innovative, equity-driven research to advance clinical practice, empower communities, and build global partnerships. From hospitals to schools to international collaborations, our projects work to dismantle barriers to health and justice.

Our Research Projects

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  • This project explores the implementation of an evidence-based drug and alcohol prevention program called SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) in inpatient units within a large urban pediatric hospital. The BOSSTT study includes three aims designed to assess the current workflow of the inpatient units; gather valuable insights and ideas from groups of teen patients, caregivers of teens, and hospital staff; and pilot the implementation of SBIRT with teens with chronic medical conditions. Information gathered from this study will be used to inform the development of a highly scalable approach to SBIRT implementation that can be used in pediatric hospitals across the country. 

  • This project compares two evidence-based approaches to Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for adolescent substance use in primary care: standard implementation of SBIRT which involves an adolescent-only approach, and the SBIRT-Family approach, which systematically integrates caregivers in the SBIRT process. The goals of this study are to prevent escalation of alcohol and other drug use, reduce co-occurring behavior problems, and link youth and families to services as appropriate. 

    This is a multi-site study and is also conducted at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Clinical

Community

  • This project explores the implementation of SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment) in School-Based Health Centers in the third largest school district in the country. The ROOTSS study involves gathering insights from school staff, teens, and caregivers of teens through focus groups and observations of the current workflows at two School-Based Health Centers to inform strategies for implementing SBIRT for teens with chronic health conditions in these settings. 

  • In partnership with the University of Lucerne, the GLLOBE-LHS project incorporates health equity principles into the research training of doctoral researchers in the Swiss Learning Health System to better understand and address health inequities in Switzerland. The goal of this project is to equip the next generation of healthcare providers with confidence to incorporate health equity frameworks and participatory research methods into their work. 

Global