Research Team

Meet the ASAP Lab!

Dr. Amanda Gilmore, Ph.D., Lab Director

Dr. Amanda Gilmore is a clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development and the Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health. She is also affiliated with the Department of Psychology and the Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence. Dr. Gilmore’s research interests primarily focus on the development and testing of (1) integrated prevention programs for alcohol and drug use, sexual assault, and sexual risk behaviors among high-risk groups including adolescents, college students, and service members, (2) innovative technology-based interventions to improve the rate of treatment access and decrease treatment drop-out among underserved populations; and (3) secondary prevention programs for individuals who experienced recent sexual assault. She is also interested in the acute effects of alcohol on sexual decision making and the development of sexual assault prevention programs that can be effective in real-world settings.

 

Dr. Ruschelle Leone, Ph.D., Lab Director

Dr. Ruschelle M. Leone is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences within the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. She is also affiliated with the Center for Research on Interpersonal Violence. The overarching aim of Dr. Leone’s research program is to inform and develop evidence-based intervention programming to reduce alcohol-related sexual and intimate partner aggression. Using experimental and survey-based methods, Dr. Leone’s work focuses on identifying individual-level attitudes/beliefs (e.g., masculine norms, empathy) and situational-level factors (e.g., acute alcohol intoxication, peer norms) that (1) are associated with violence perpetration and (2) inhibit or facilitate bystander intervention in high-risk situations. Her work also aims to translate these findings into intervention programming to prevent substance misuse and violence. She is currently working on a project to develop an alcohol, cannabis, and sexual assault resistance program for college women.

 

Dr. Nicole Mullican, Ph.D., Lab Manager

Nicole Mullican is Lab Manager of the Alcohol and Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP) Lab in the Mark Chaffin Center for Healthy Development. Nicole has a strong background in applied child welfare research and has collaborated with the Oregon Department of Human Services on efforts to improve foster parent support and retention.

Nicole’s doctoral work in Human Development and Family Studies, a program housed in Oregon State University’s School of Public Health, led to a particular interest in prevention as a means of improving human development. In her role as lab manager, she will use her previous research experience and interest in prevention efforts to support various funded projects in the ASAP Lab.

 

Anna Hutchins, Program Coordinator

Anna Hutchins works on coordinating the Teen Well Check study, a NIDA-funded program to prevent drug use, sexual assault, and sexual risk behaviors in adolescents. She also works on the Change for Military study, a project aimed at adapting a current intervention program that integrates alcohol use and sexual assault prevention to a military context, primarily working with sailors. Anna chose the ASAP lab mainly because of her interest in substance abuse. She hopes to one day work with children and families facing the effects of domestic violence, substance abuse, and trauma.

 

Kate Baule, Program Coordinator

Kate Baule is a Program Coordinator in the ASAP Lab. Kate currently leads Positive Change, a preventative intervention for substance use and sexual assault among college students.

Kate has a background in community-based participatory research and leveraging technology to increase access to healthcare. Before joining Georgia State, Kate worked as a Research Associate at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. As a Research Associate, Kate helped to develop and implement application-based interventions to promote healthy behaviors in a variety of populations. Kate also worked individually with patients as a Behavioral Interventionist in the Pennington Diabetes Clinic.

Kate is passionate about reducing health disparities and making treatment more accessible in community settings. She is interested in multidisciplinary research focusing on adolescents/emerging adults and LGBTQIA+ health. Outside of the lab, Kate also volunteers as a Digital Counselor for The Trevor Project.

Alyssa Bartlett, Research Associate

Alyssa is a Research Associate with the ASAP Lab, working on +Change, the 5-7 Study, and clinical recruitment for Teen Well Check. As a graduate research assistant, she also worked on the Bystander Study. Her research interests lie in trauma-informed care, substance misuse, and advanced data analysis. Alyssa received both her Bachelor of Science in neuroscience and her Master of Public Health in biostatistics from Georgia State University, and will be matriculating to medical school in August 2022.

 

Tehnyat Joy Sohail, Graduate Research Assistant

Tehnyat is a graduate research assistant in the ASAP Lab and doctoral student in the Public Health and Community Psychology dual-degree program with a concentration in Epidemiology. She is currently leading the Panthers4Life (P4L) project to reduce suicidal ideation and behavior, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder among high-risk college students on Georgia State’s campus. P4L aims to improve the existing counseling infrastructure on GSU’s campus to improve outreach and mental health services for all GSU students. Tehnyat’s research interests investigate the effects of sexual violence perpetration and the implementation of primary prevention programs in marginalized communities in low-resource settings. Specifically, she is interested to see if violence perpetration manifests differently in these communities based on sociocultural factors. She is also interested in learning more about effectively disseminating and implementing research to prevent violence at a local and global level.


Nashalys Salamanca, Graduate Research Assistant

 

 

 

 

Kennicia Fortson, Graduate Research Assistant

Kennicia is currently working on the 5-7 Study and Teen Well Check projects. She joined ASAP to build her expertise and skills as a researcher in the prevention of risk behaviors and adverse health outcomes. Kennicia was intrigued by the opportunity to collaborate with peers and colleagues to conduct impactful research while learning and shaping her own values around public health research and practice.

 

Jessica R. Prince, Graduate Research Assistant

Jessica is a graduate research assistant working on the PE+ER study and the DoD SAPRO project within the ASAP lab. As a first-year graduate student within the Clinical-Community PhD program, she joined the ASAP lab because her interests lie broadly in violence prevention among high risk groups. This lab provides her an array of opportunities to collaborate with other scholars and work from multiple different frameworks to reduce high risk behaviors like sexual assault.

 

Sofina Tran, Research Assistant

I am a volunteer research assistant with the ASAP lab. I am involved with Georgia Prevention Project as I am a student liaison on campus for the College Prevention Project to reduce drug misuse on campus and spread awareness regarding drug misuse. I am interested in helping ethnic minority groups in terms of maternal mortality. I am interested in helping improve communities with their Maternal and Child health. My fun fact is that I have lived in Wyoming.

 
 
ASAP Lab Alumni

Dr. Elizabeth A. Mosley, PhD MPH

Elizabeth A. Mosley, PhD MPH was a postdoctoral research associate with ASAP lab from July 2020 to June 2021. In her current role at GSU as a Clinical Assistant Professor, she works with Drs. Gilmore and Leone on the Department of Defense sexual violence prevention initiative. Dr. Mosley is also the co-Principal Investigator of the Georgia Doula Study with Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia and co-Principal Investigator of the Georgia Medication Abortion Study with SisterLove.

 

 

Daniel W. Oesterle (he/him/his) is a clinical psychology doctoral student at Purdue University. His research examines affective, behavioral, and cognitive risk factors for sexual aggression.

 

 

Idara Umo, MPH

Idara Umo has four years of experience working in healthcare. Idara works as a Workforce & Special Programs Manager at a primary care association (PCA). She has gained progressive experience supporting COVID-19 preparation needs, developing the PCA’s weekly newsletter, and advancing new platforms that bolster communication with its members and partners. Idara has supported her PCA’s Emergency Preparedness Workgroup and Workforce Advisory Group by developing agendas, creating presentation slides, writing meeting summaries, and establishing new relationships with other PCA workgroup leaders nationwide. Idara used her knowledge of new platforms, such as Canva and Wix, to support her organization’s reliance on its internal team. In so doing, she co-created the framework for the organization’s new website. A fun fact about Idara is that she is multilingual, and she worked at a bakery for two years!
 
 
Sarah Evers
 
Sarah is excited to be starting her clinical practicum and internship in GSU’s Rehabilitation Counseling Masters Program. She is also working in GSU’s HOPE (Helping Others Promote Empathy) Lab conducting clinical assessments for a project that is equipping the aging network to address social isolation, loneliness, and elevated suicide risk among vulnerable older adults during COVID-19 and beyond. She is thrilled to be part of this partially nested randomized controlled trial funded by the Department of Health and Human Services. A fun fact about Sarah is that in her family, they make waffles and have a “waffle bar” every Saturday morning!
 

Anushka Parekh

Anushka worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant with the ASAP Lab for almost two years, and it was an irreplaceable experience! She currently works as a Medical Assistant at Summit Spine and Joint Centers, a pain and interventional treatment clinic, and she will be joining the Class of 2026 at VCOM Carolinas for Medical School this July! She hopes to specialize in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, working with patients with neurological conditions such as spinal cord injury, strokes, and brain injuries.

 

Harshita Yepuri

Harshita chose to research at ASAP because of her interest in studying emotion and decision making, identifying the risk and protective factors for alcohol-related aggression, sexual assault, violence, and family dynamics. She hopes to eventually start her own research project. A fun fact about Harshita is that she studies serial killers in her free time! 

 

 Sruthi Kumar

Sruthi was involved with Teen Well Check and ASAP at GSU studies. She also assists the lab with deidentification and qualitative coding. She chose ASAP because she has always been passionate about children’s psychology and felt it was the perfect opportunity to experience working with a team that shares the same passions. She secretly hopes to one day open a vegan Italian restaurant in Europe!

 

Tuananh Bui

Tuananh was involved with the Alcohol/Masculinity study as well as the 5-7 Suicide study. He initially chose to be in this research lab to better understand the mental health issues that occur within our community and how to properly interact and minimize these concerns. Tuananh hopes to acquire these experiences in the hopes of getting into Medical school. Fun fact: He makes delicious chicken pesto pasta!

 

 

Sidharth Dharmmireddy

Sidharth Dharmmireddy was working on the 5-7 study. He chose to work at ASAP because of his interest in the roles of intoxication and substance abuse in decision making. A fun fact about Sidharth is that he has recently taken up skateboarding as a pastime.