Population Wellness Lab
The Population Wellness Lab, led by Dr. Christy Denckla, studies how adversity, including trauma, loss, and bereavement, affects mental health, physical health, and well-being. We are driven by the ultimate question: how do people adapt and recover from these adverse events? What is the difference between normal grief and pathological grief? How does loss shape our understanding of the world and ourselves? Ultimately, we aim to prevent trauma exposure as well as the subsequent cascade of physical and mental adverse effects at the population health level.
677 Huntington Avenue
Kresge Building, Room 706 Boston, MA 02115
Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Our professional and scholarly commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging aligns synergistically with the mission of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
As faculty at Harvard Chan School, Christy Denckla has cultivated inclusive excellence across her mentorship, pedagogy, and equity in science, scholarship, and public health. She joined the faculty from a highly collaborative, diverse, and international community, which she has continued to cultivate and expand through mentoring and service.
Denckla’s investment in an inclusive academic setting also emerged from her early experiences growing up in Northern Canada on a cattle ranch without electricity or running water, instilling an appreciation for the nuances associated with joining academia from non-traditional backgrounds. As a result, Denckla’s mentoring style focuses on inclusivity, validation, support, and explicit discussion of the “hidden curriculum” that so many students coming from under-resourced backgrounds face when joining institutions of higher education.