Our Team
Ayorkor Gaba, PsyD
Director, Behavioral Health Equity Advancement Lab (B-HEAL)
Director, Equity Division, Massachusetts Center of Excellence for Specialty Courts
Clinical Psychologist & Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Chan
Dr. Ayorkor Gaba is a Clinical Psychologist and behavioral health treatment researcher. Her research aims to inform programs, practices, and policies to eradicate behavioral health and health care disparities and foster structural change. Her current work is at the intersection of behavioral health, health equity, and the criminal legal system. Her research also focuses on gender and cultural adaptations of behavioral health treatment interventions. She is clinically trained in family systems, cognitive behavioral and multicultural approaches to treatment. Dr. Gaba is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) NGO team at United Nations where she advocates for global mental health equity. She brings a human rights, systems, and equity lens to her work.
Ashleigh LoVette, Ph.D.
Advancing Equity Study Team Member
Dr. Ashleigh LoVette is a social and behavioral scientist whose research uses strengths-based and community-engaged approaches to promote the health and well-being of adolescents and emerging adults in the United States and South Africa. Her current work examines how resilience, trauma, health behaviors, and social contexts influence sexual and mental health outcomes among girls and young women, particularly those with marginalized identities. Dr. LoVette aims to use her research findings to develop and implement culturally-relevant trauma-informed interventions and to create structural change by informing policy.
Marquita Taylor, Ph.D., MPH, MBA
Advancing Equity Study Team Member
Dr. Taylor is an epidemiologist and senior health leader. She has expertise in operationalizing community-level public health interventions and research to build strong and lasting connections with community partners. She has worked collaboratively on community-engaged approaches to cancer care, increasing diversity and inclusion in clinical trials, and training researchers on community-engaged best practices and community based participatory research. Dr. Taylor’s research interests focus on cancer epidemiology, health equity and health justice, and community engagement. Dr. Taylor has taught courses across the public health field, held several DEI leadership positions, and served as a health equity consultant for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
Gabrielle Moya, MA
Advancing Equity Study Team Member
Gabrielle Moya is a doctoral student in school psychology at Rutgers GSAPP. Her research interests are in systems and community based research along with culturally informed practices. Her clinical interests include bilingual (English/Spanish) and bicultural treatment and intervention. Gabrielle practices using a culturally humble perspective. Additionally interests include neuropsychological assessment with medically compromised populations. She is clinically training in behavioral, cognitive behavioral, family systems and multicultural therapy.
Lindsey Stevens, MPH
B-HEAL Research Coordinator
Ms. Lindsey Stevens has a masters degree in criminology and crimial justice. Ms. Stevens has strong research professional with a history of working with the incarcerated population in Rhode Island and within Drug Courts in Massachusetts. She had conducted research in re-entry services and has worked to optimize case management strategies for adult and youth justice populations throughout the country.
Hanaan Osman, MA
B-HEAL Research Coordinator
Hanaan Osman recently graduated with her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University. During her time at Teachers College, Hanaan has volunteered as a Research Assistant with the Global Mental Health Lab. The projects she has worked on focus on assessing the feasibility and effectiveness of delivering Interpersonal Psychotherapy in Lebanon and Kenya. Her previous research involved conducting a need analysis for implementing mental health interventions for Somali-American youth. Her current research interests include identifying the risk and protective factors of psychological adjustment in ethnic minority youth and translating this knowledge to inform community-based interventions. In the future, Hanaan intends to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Samantha N. Fagan, MA
B-HEAL Research Coordinator
As an aspiring clinical psychologist, Samantha has begun working towards pursuing a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology. She received a Master of Arts Degree from Columbia University in Clinical Psychology in May of 2022 and has extensive research experience working with sensitive populations. Her main interests include working with individuals struggling with Severe Mental Illness (SMI), primarily Schizophrenia and Psychotic-related disorders as well as the intersection of SMI and the development of substance use disorders (SUD). She hopes to one day work as a clinician/researcher to join the efforts of eradicating the stigma that surrounds mental health and mental illness.
Lab Alumni
Amani El-Edlebi was previously a B-HEAL Research Coordinator. She was instrumental in establishing our Community Advisory Board. She has a dual graduate degree in social work (MSW) and public health (MPH) from Wayne State University. Amani’s interest in social work and the criminal justice system began through her community work focused on advocating for legal and policy changes in Michigan that adversely affect in urban communities.
Amani El-Edlebi, MSW, MPH
Bailey is currently a doctoral student in the Medical/Clinical Psychology program at University of Alabama at Birmingham. Before starting the doctoral program, she worked as a research coordinator at UMass Medical School for four years.
While under Dr. Ayorkor Gaba’s mentorship, she enjoyed serving as the primary research coordinator for the BHEAL Advancing Equity Study and collaborating with the BHEAL team. Bailey’s research focus is evidence-based substance use and co-occurring mental health interventions with special interests in harm reduction, community-based participatory research, and health equity.
Bailey Pridgen
Yauris is a doctoral student at William James College where she is pursuing a Doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology (Psy D.) Her research and clinical interests include topics related to racial/ethnic disparities, especially prejudice and stereotyping towards racial/ethnic/sexual minorities, military trauma, neuropsychological assessment, eating disorders and trauma. Yauris helped the lab develop linguistically appropriate materials and informed linguistic and cultural considerations in our work.