Meet the Future Doctors
Innovative and Strategic Prevention
in Racial and Ethnic Disparities (INSPIRED) Lab
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.
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.
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.