Team Members

FOUNDERS

Professor, Justice Studies & Sociology, Montclair State University, Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Violence Prevention and Intervention, Coordinated Community Response, Strategic Planning, Identifying and Seeking Funding Opportunities to Develop Programs, Evaluation Research, Institutionalization of Programs

Medical Director, Project HEAL – A Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program, Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Assistant Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Health & Department of Emergency Medicine, Hackensack Meridian

School of Medicine, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Violence Prevention and Intervention, Addiction, Emergency Medicine

CURRENT STAFF

Research Fellow in Justice Research

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Qualitative research, life course criminology, process-tracing methods

Administrative Coordinator

Adjunct Professor, English, William Paterson University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Coordinating projects, proofing manuscripts

Research Assistant 

MA in Social Research and Analysis & Certificate in Data Collection and Management, Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Qualitative Research, Data Collection and Analysis

Research Assistant 

MA in Social Research and Analysis & Certificate in Data Collection and Management, Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Community Engagement, Community-Based Research, Qualitative Research, Data Collection and Management

Research Assistant 

MA Student in Social Research and Analysis at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Data Collection and Analysis, Scholarly Literature Review, Manuscript Proofreading

Ms. Hafsa Quadri

Communications & Research Intern

BA Student in Political Science at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise - Social Justice Research, Social Media Handling, Content Creation, Digital Engagement

Ms. Gaelle Daceus

Research Intern - Fall of 2026

BA student in Psychology at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey USA

Expertise - Data Analysis (SPSS, R, Excel and Tableau), Analytical skills and Data Entry

CURRENT RESEARCH SCIENTISTS AND COLLABORATORS

Dr. Becky Ofrane, DrPH (Public Health collaborator)

Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health, Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Expertise: Reproductive and maternal health

Maternal and Child Health Workforce Catalyst Program 

Dr. Patricia McGaughey, Ph.D., CNM, MSN (Nursing collaborator)

Associate Professor, Montclair State University School of Nursing

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Midwife, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center

Expertise: Maternity health services

Maternal and Child Health Workforce Catalyst Program

Dr. Suvarna Cherukuri, PhD, MBA (Justice Research Scientist)

Professor of Sociology, Siena University,

Loudonville, New York, USA

Expertise: Gender Based Violence, Imprisonment, Capital Punishment

Dr. Cyril S. Ku, PhD (Computer Science Research Scientist)

Professor, Computer Science, William Paterson University

Wayne, New Jersey, USA

Expertise – Data Science, Natural Language Processing, Data/Text Mining, and Machine Learning

Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Expertise – Racial Equity, Specialty Courts, Reentry Programming, Critical Carceral Studies, Program Implementation

& Evaluation, Mixed Methods

Assistant Professor of Social Work at Chicago State University

Champaign, Illinois, United States

Expertise –Qualitative Research, Gun Violence Prevention, Men’s Mental Health

Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Expertise – Biostatistics and Epidemiology

Chief, Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Residency Program Director & Vice Chair of Education & Research,

Department of Psychiatry, Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Expertise – Mental Health, Child Psychiatry, Women's Leadership

Dr. Nicholas Flugrad MD (Healthcare Collaborator)

Psychiatry Resident Physician at Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Expertise – Psychiatry

Dr. Jared R. Dmello, PhD (Justice Research Scientist)

Senior Lecturer in Criminology, The University of Adelaide

Adelaide, Australia

Expertise – Illicit networks, Marginalized Populations, Violence Against Women, Program/Policy Implementation and Evaluation

FORMER STAFF & COLLABORATORS

Clinical Program Manager, Project HEAL – A Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program

Neptune, New Jersey, USADr. Cyril S. Ku, PhD (Research Scientist)

Professor, Computer Science, William Paterson University

Wayne, New Jersey, USA

Expertise – Data Science, Natural Language Processing, Data/Text Mining, and Machine Learning

Dr. C. Clare Strange, MSW, PhD (Justice Research Scientist)

Assistant Research Professor, Department of Criminology & Justice Studies, Drexel University

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Expertise – Courts, corrections, treatment/rehabilitation, program/policy implementation and evaluation

Board of Directors Endowed Chair

Chair, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

NorthShore University Health System

Ms. Ghowash Irshad, M.A (Psychology Research Scientist)

Research Team Lead- AROS lab, Fall  2026

Doctoral Clinical Intern – NPTC, Indiana  2026-27

Candidate, PhD Clinical Psychology 

Montclair State University, New Jersey, USA

Quantitative and Qualitative Research, Data Collection and Analysis, Mentor 

Community Partnership Coordinator

BS in Biology and Psychology Villanova University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Coordinated Community Response, Grant Management

Medical Student at Hackensack Meridian Health School of Medicine

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Research Analyst at Department of Psychiatry at Hackensack Meridian Health

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Resident at Hackensack Meridian health

Neptune, New Jersey, USA

Vice Chair of Operations, Department of Psychiatry,Jersey Shore University Medical Center

Neptune, NJ, USA

PhD in Criminal Justice at CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA

Expertise - Reentry, Corrections, Addiction

PhD in Criminal Justice at CUNY Graduate Center, New York, USA

Expertise - Data Analysis, Justice Research, Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences (EES), The Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY)

Expertise - Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial data analysis, demography (including satellite imagery), remote sensing, and programming in R and Python.

Research Assistant – Spring 2024

Graduate Student in Information Technology at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Google App Scripts, Data Collection and Analysis

Research Assistant – Summer 2023

BA Sociology junior and Psychology minor at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Data Organization, Scholarly Literature Review, Policy Review

Research Assistant – Summer 2023

BA Sociology senior at Montclair State University

Montclair, New Jersey, USA

Data Collection, Scholarly Literature Review, Policy Review

Research Assistant – SUMMER 2023

Medical student at Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, Florida

Asbury Park, NJ

Data Collection, Scholarly Literature Review, Policy Review