Meet the Future Doctors
Innovative and Strategic Prevention
in Racial and Ethnic Disparities (INSPIRED) Lab
Demeisha Carlton-Brown
Doctoral Research AssistantDemeisha Carlton-Brown is a Ph.D. student at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Her research interests are: 1) multigenerational trauma amongst Black populations and 2) behavioral interventions to reduce trauma symptoms. Demeisha currently serves as an interventionist within the INSPIRED Lab for the Substance Use Prevention and Education Research (SUPER) program, which is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
In her former role within the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis, she worked for the Race & Opportunity Lab where she focused on resource navigation, strategic planning, program management, staffing operations, and community-based participatory research. Demeisha graduated from Parkland Community College with an AA in Psychology prior to transferring to the University of Illinois, where she served as an undergraduate research assistant within Dr. Elizabeth Stine-Morrow’s Adult Development Lab & Dr. Robin Jarrett’s Ethnographic Research Lab.
David French
Research AssistantDavid French is a graduate student at the UNC School of Social Work. At the Inspired Lab, David is a research assistant studying recent substance use trends among adolescents and a facilitator within the Life Skills Training Program.
Alejandro Martinez
Research AssistantAlejandro Martinez III is a PhD student in the Quantitative Psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his B.A. in psychology and M.S. in Experimental Psychology at the University of Texas at San Antonio. His research interests in Quantitative Psychology include estimators of nonlinear structural equation models, instrumental variable estimators, and measurement. In addition to these interests, his research in the Inspired lab involves examining factors related to the onset of substance use.
Jennifer Traver
Research AssistantJennifer Traver is a PhD student in the Quantitative Psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her B.S. in Psychology and Data Science and M.S. in Psychology from the College of William & Mary. Her research interests include the measurement and analysis of longitudinal data, the development of resilience in children and adolescents, and the causes and implications of substance use. In addition to working in the INSPIRED lab, Jen is a peer educator at UNC’s Violence Prevention and Advocacy Services.
Emmanuel Amoako
Research AssistantEmmanuel Owusu Amoako is a Royster Fellow and third year doctoral student at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Emmanuel received a bachelor’s degree in social work and sociology from the University of Ghana in 2018. He worked as a teaching assistant with the social work department where he taught quantitative methods in social research. He earned his MSW from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, where he specialized in research and economic development. He also served as a graduate research fellow for social and economic development working on HIV/AIDS related studies in Uganda and Ghana at the Brown School. He currently works with the Health Lab at the University of Chicago as a Research manager and provides research support on the study aimed at reducing opioid mortality in the Illinois area. His research interests include poverty reduction interventions and policies, such as asset-building and wealth creation strategies that focus on dismantling systems that economically oppress women and their children as well as individuals in carceral settings.