Our Team

Christy Denckla

Christy A. Denckla (PI) is assistant professor of social and behavioral sciences at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She leads the Population Wellness Lab, where her research group is unraveling the psychosocial, biological, and environmental factors that shape experiences of, and responses to, loss and trauma. Drawing on large, longitudinal, population-based cohorts, her team investigates mechanisms that shape psychopathology after trauma, focusing on bereavement across the lifecourse and how it impacts health and well-being. This work seeks to create a world where effective prevention and interventions at the population level support wellness from the cradle to the grave.

She is a member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, and associate member of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

Deborah Chat Dauda

Deborah Chat Dauda (she/her) is a mother, dancer, educator, activist and PhD candidate in the School for Global Inclusion and Social Development (SGISD) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She holds Master’s degrees in public health (MPH) and African studies (MA) from the University of California, Los Angeles. Her research agenda is dedicated to the flourishing of Black women and girls.

She is a recipient of a Fulbright research award to Nigeria, a Harvard HBNU Fogarty Global Mental Health fellowship, a University of North Carolina (UNC) Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Summer Fellow, and the American Philosophical Society’s Lewis and Clark fieldwork grant. Her doctoral research thematically focuses on gender and security matters related to the intersectional experiences and narratives of Black women and girls wherever they are positioned geopolitically. She engages with these issues through the intersection of public health (psychosocial health), the arts (dance), education, and social policy. Her current research interest addresses the psychosocial health of survivors and victims of sexual and gender-based violence through the radical self-care practices of Black women globally.

Deborah is a member of the Community Advisory Council (CAC) at the Community Engagement Research Incubator and Strategy Hub (CERISH). She is also a member of the Community Healing Network (CHN), an organization dedicated to the emotional emancipation and healing of Black communities worldwide.

She is passionate about youth development, storytelling, and co-creating opportunities, spaces, and resources for African and African Diaspora people to flourish and thrive. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading, cooking, street dancing, and playing soccer.

Henri Garrison-Desany

Henri Garrison-Desany (any pronouns) is a Yerby post-doctoral fellow and came to Harvard Chan School after graduating in genetic epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public and with a master’s in international health. Henri studies the impacts of traumatic events on behavioral health, and the relevant polygenetic interactions in multi-ancestry longitudinal cohorts. Henri’s work also aims to center historically marginalized populations, blending social epidemiological and intersectional lenses, to investigate these risks to mental health among transgender, low-income, and pregnant communities.

Sirad A. Hassan

Sirad A. Hassan (she/her) is a second-year Population Health Sciences doctoral student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School. Prior to starting graduate school, Sirad earned her MS in human nutrition from Columbia University and her AB in public and international affairs from Princeton University, with minors in African American studies, African studies, cognitive science, and global health and health policy. Sirad is deeply passionate about public health work that advances population mental health, and she is committed to working collaboratively with diverse refugee and immigrant populations, focusing on increasing health access and addressing racial disparities to improve their health outcomes.

Yoojin Jung

Yoojin Jung is a Master of Science student in aging epidemiology at Harvard Chan School. She graduated with a BS in human development from Cornell University in 2023. Yoojin’s research interests center around the impact of bereavement on older adults’ mental health, and she wishes to contribute to evidence-based interventions that improve quality of life and mental health in aging communities on a global level.

Karolina Edlund

Karolina Edlund (she/her) is a Master of Science student in reproductive epidemiology and a Seiden & Denny Scholar at Harvard Chan School. She holds a BA in neuroscience and anthropology from Kenyon College. Through research, Karolina seeks to understand how social environments shape both emotional and physical well-being across the life course. Under the mentorship of Dr. Denckla, Karolina conducts analyses in the Nurses’ Health Study to explore links between child loss, maternal bereavement, and cardiovascular health. 

Alex Hillcoat

Alex Hillcoat (she/her) is a research assistant in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard Chan School. She holds a master’s degree in epidemiology from Harvard Chan School, during which she investigated the occurrence of friend bereavement among sexual minority and heterosexual youth under the supervision of Dr. Denckla. Alex’s research investigates the mental and physical health sequelae of adverse experiences, with a particular focus on bereavement in youth, and how the occurrence and consequences of adverse experiences varies across social and demographic boundaries.