Florida A&M University
Dr. Jermaine Robertson
Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Associate Professor of Psychology, and Chair of the Department at Florida A&M University. Dr. Robertson previously served as Director of the Community Psychology Program for over 10 years. His research examines the racial, social, and cultural factors that influence psychological and behavioral health outcomes among African descendant populations, including racial identity, racial socialization, and cultural misorientation. His work also explores barriers to professional mental health help-seeking within Black communities.
Dr. Nkechinyelum Chioneso
Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida A&M University, where she teaches Community Psychology. Dr. Chioneso is a psychologist specializing in Community Psychology and African/Black Psychology, with a research focus on addressing racial trauma through community-based and culturally centered approaches.
Oklahoma State University
Dr. Reanae McNeal
Dr. Reanae McNeal is an Assistant Professor in Africana Studies and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies. Her research involves decolonial and holistic approaches to accentuating the lived experiences and healing activism of Afro-Indigenous, African American, and Indigenous women, and Black enslaved/freedwomen as well as U.S. Women of Color(s). Thus, her research also focuses on the interrelated histories of African Americans and Native Americans, Womanism/Womanist Spiritual Activism, Digital Ethnic Studies/Digital Humanities, and Health/Healing justice.
Dr. Marqua Harris
Dr. Marqua Harris is a healthcare executive and operator whose work focuses on strengthening care delivery systems, advancing population health, and improving how communities experience and engage with healthcare. She specializes in translating strategy into large-scale execution, strengthening care delivery models, improving operational performance, and advancing patient-centered and equitable outcomes. Dr. Harris holds a Ph.D. in Community Health Sciences, where her research examined Black women’s health across the life course, medical mistrust, and prevention-oriented, community-engaged approaches to care. Her work is grounded in long-term population health impact, trust-building, and practical systems design.
Dr. LaRicka Wingate
Dr. LaRicka Wingate is a Clinical Psychologist, Professor of Psychology, and an affiliate faculty member in Africana Studies at Oklahoma State University. She focuses on Black-centered mental health research, particularly exploring protective factors for African Americans and marginalized groups. Her research examines key aspects such as acculturation, racial microaggressions, historical trauma, racial discrimination, and intersectionality, with a focus on Black suicide and mental health.
Dr. Ashley Cole
Dr. Ashley Cole is an enrolled tribal member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation of Oklahoma and a Clinical Psychologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Oklahoma State University. She is also an affiliate member of the Health Promotion Research Center at University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and the Stephenson Cancer Center in Oklahoma City. Her research examines health inequities, health promotion, and health behaviors among American Indian and Alaska Native (Indigenous) populations, including alcohol and substance use, exercise and eating patterns, and mental health. She also investigates social and individual determinants of health among Indigenous communities from both resilience and risk perspectives.
Olufunke Benson
Funke is a Clinical Psychology doctoral student at Oklahoma State University from Nigeria who is currently completing her internship at Emory University. She earned her M.A. in Community Psychology – Clinical Services from University of New Haven. Her research interests focus on identifying culturally relevant risk and protective factors within Black and African American communities that may help mitigate suicidality and other mental health disorders.
University of Mississippi
Dr. John Young
Dr. John Young is a Full Professor and Licensed Clinical Psychologist whose research focuses on evidence-based services, dissemination and implementation science, deliberate practice, and psychological assessment.
Dr. Grace Rivera
Dr. Rivera is an Experimental Social Psychologist whose research examines how lay beliefs are shaped by cultural contexts and social identities, as well as how these beliefs influence individual and interpersonal outcomes. Her scholarship explores topics including psychological well-being, decision-making, social perceptions, racial biases, and relationship satisfaction.
Dr. Sirui Wan
Dr. Wan is a developmental psychologist whose research explores how young people discover and define their niche. Drawing on longitudinal surveys, institutional records, meta-analyses, and field experiments, his current work examines the factors that shape individuals’ educational and career choices across childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. The ultimate goal of his research is to inform strategies that support youth, particularly those from historically underrepresented and marginalized backgrounds, in reaching their full potential.
Dr. Raja Malikah Rahim
Dr. Raja Malikah Rahim is an Assistant Professor of History and African American Studies in the Department of History at The University of Mississippi. As a social and cultural historian, her research interests include United States History, African American History, Sport History, and Oral History, as well as Public History and Digital Humanities.
UT Health San Antonio
Dr. Donald McGeary
Donald D. McGeary, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor and pain researcher at UT Health San Antonio whose work focuses on non-pharmacological, drug-free pain management approaches for veterans and active-duty military populations. Specializing in rehabilitation medicine, his research examines chronic pain treatment and interventions aimed at reducing reliance on opioid prescriptions, particularly for post-traumatic headache and related pain conditions.