ETUDES Scholars — ETUDES Center

The ETUDES Scholars Program

The ETUDES Scholar program is for early career investigators (graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and Assistant Professors) who are pursuing a career related to identification and treatment of youth at high risk for depression and suicide, and are interested in a formal affiliation with the ETUDES Center.

The ETUDES Scholar program provides access to a range of ETUDES resources to further career development, including:

Formal mentorship from two ETUDES faculty members
Attendance at regularly scheduled ETUDES trainings with experts in the fields of youth suicide, implementation science, health equity, data analytics and digital mental health (among others!)
Access to data, data management and data analysis consultation and support to prepare manuscripts, presentations and grant proposals
Biannual meetings with the cohort of ETUDES Scholars to build collaborations and learn about other scholars’ ongoing work in this area
Potential for pilot funding to collect preliminary data in support of grant proposals
Opportunity to collaborate on ongoing ETUDES projects of interest
Attendance at annual ETUDES Scientific Advisory Board Meetings

Are you interested in becoming an ETUDES Scholar?

Recruitment opens in June 2024 for our Fall 2024 cohort of ETUDES scholars!

For the Fall 2024 cohort, we are focusing on early career investigators who are postdoctoral fellows, scientists, and/or Assistant Professors.

Interested individuals are encouraged to reach out to the Co-Chairs of the Training Committee, Drs. Tina Goldstein, PhD (goldtr@upmc.edu) and Jami Young, PhD (youngjf@chop.edu) to discuss their interest.

Eligible candidates will then submit an application for formal consideration.

Meet the Current ETUDES Scholars Cohort! (2022-2024)

Dashawna J. Fussell-Ware, PhD, LSW

Assistant Professor, University of Tennessee Knoxville College of Social Work

Dr. Fussell-Ware is primarily interested in researching the disparities in mental health treatment access for youth of color and hopes to address this by promoting mental health literacy. As an ETUDES Scholar, she hopes to continue her past research to develop and test a mental health literacy tool for youth of color. She seeks to improve skills in survey development and analysis, intervention development, psychometrics, grant proposal formation, and training opportunities.
Jaclyn S. Kirshenbaum, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University

Dr. Kirshenbaum is interested in the processes that change during adolescence and how they relate to suicidality. She hopes that as an ETUDES scholar, they will learn more about mobile sensing, sleep health, predictive modeling, suicidality, and conducting research at multiple sites. She proposes research that will test whether separately and/or combined, social disconnectedness and poor sleep health predict suicidal thoughts or behaviors in youth. Building these skills will help her to apply for future research grants studying the modifiable processes that impact youth suicidality.
Brittney D. Singletary, LCSW

PhD Student, New York University Silver School of Social Work

Singletary hopes to build on her background in mood disorders, trauma, and suicidality in youth, particularly youth of color, in the ETUDES Scholar program. She seeks to investigate how sociocultural and psychosocial factors affect suicidality in Black youth using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. To accomplish this research, Singletary is seeking training in advanced statistical analysis, cultural competence, and community-based participatory research with the ETUDES Center.
Benjamin T. Paul, LCSW, BCD

PhD Student, University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work

With a background in social work in the U.S. Army, Paul seeks to partner with the BRITEPath team to learn more about youth suicidality and racial disparities in mental health, which he can tie into his foundation of knowledge working with the military. Working with the ETUDES Center would help improve skills in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis and administering clinical assessments. Paul believes experience with the ETUDES Center will help bridge gaps in his knowledge that he can take forward into future case conceptualization.
Kavya Mudiam

PhD Student, University of Oregon Clinical Psychology

Mudiam is interested in racial disparities in the U.S., and how Black and Hispanic/Latinx youth, confounded with LGBTQ+ identity, are at a higher risk for suicidality. She hopes to draw from data collected in the TSC and SMILEY studies to pull information regarding behavioral health experiences and the pros and cons as well as acceptability of behavioral health interventions, especially for youth of color. She also hopes to receive mentorship on conducting mixed-methods research with qualitative elements.