Current Research Scholarship & Awards

The UCLA Psychiatry Office of JEDI are excited to announce the…

2024 Anti-racism and Mental Health Seed Grant funded by the Friends of Semel Awardees

1. “Behind the Masjid Walls: A community-centered study to assess Muslim youth mental health needs in Greater Los Angeles”
   • PI: Samia Nawaz, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow
   • Co-PI: Ragda Izar, MD, Psychiatry Resident
   • Co-PI: Afsara Haque, MD, Psychiatry Resident
   • Faculty Advisor: Manal Khan, MBBS, Assistant Clinical Professor
2. “Multi-system Strategies to Promote Minoritized Family Mental Wellbeing After Experiences of Homelessness with Young Children”
   • PI: Alyssa R. Palmer, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Fellow
   • Co-I: Roya Ijadi-Maghsoodi, MD, MSHPM, Asst. Professor-in-Residence
   • Co-I: Blanca Orellana, Ph.D., Asst. Clinical Professor
   • Co-I: Nastassia Hajal, Ph.D., Asst. Clinical Professor
3. “UCLA-LAUSD Mental Health Partnership: A Mental Health Literacy Intervention Among BIPOC Adolescent Peer Health Leaders from Under-Resourced Communities”
   • PI: Frederick Burton III, MD, PGY-3 Psychiatry Resident
   • Co-PI: Amira Collison, MD, CF-1 Child Psychiatry Fellow
   • Co-I: Shirley De La Cruz-Jimenez, SRA-1
   • Faculty Mentors: Sheryl Kataoka MD, MSHS (Professor Emeritus); Roya Ijadi-Maghsoodi MD, MSHPM (Asst. Professor-in-Residence)
   • Community Partner: The Los Angeles Trust for Children (LA Trust)

2021 Anti-racism and Mental Health Seed Grant Awardees

1. “Antiracism Learning Groups”
   • Dr. Ann Crawford-Roberts, Psychiatry Resident
   • The Antiracism Learning Group (ARLG) is an educational intervention that focuses on group processing and learning in parallel with individual reading and reflection. The goals of this intervention are to deepen antiracism learning among Psychiatry Department members, unpack individual and collective participation in racism, and cultivate a community of Department members committed to antiracism.
2. “Opioid-Related Overdoses among Black and Latinx People Experiencing Homelessness: Building a Community-partnered Plan to Respond to Fentanyl”
   • Rohit Mukherjee, MD MPH, Psychiatry Resident, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior
   • This project aims to survey Black and Latinx PEH drug users and key stakeholders who work with drug users to help identify programs and policy shifts that would protect Black and Latinx drug users from fentanyl overdoses. The goal of this project will be to develop data that will inform program development and advocacy campaigns to center the voices and needs of Black and Latinx drug users.
3. “The Black Joy Project: Examining Resiliency in Black Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Caregivers”
   • Emnet Z. Gammada, PhD (Clinical Gero-Neuropsychology Fellow, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior)
   • Through restorative/focus groups, the Black Joy Project (BJP) aims to address multiple knowledge gaps surrounding Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD), determine how Black ADRD caregivers define Black Joy, and examine what elements of ADRD caregiver-defined Black Joy overlap with current models of caregiver support.

In addition to peer-reviewed publications, seed grant awardees have presented at Semel Grand Rounds and their work has been covered in the media:

Center for Health Journalism: https://centerforhealthjournalism.org/our-work/reporting/blacks-alzheimers-face-obstacles-care