jmross4@ncsu.edu

Julia Ross entered the Applied Social Psychology program in Fall 2021. She completed her B.S in Psychology at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. Julia uses an intersectionality lens to study how sexism, racism, and weight stigma poses risks to Black women's health in the United States. She is specifically interested in body ideals and eating behaviors of Black women such as stress eating. She hopes to develop and implement culturally informed and strength-based interventions. She completed a Translational Science internship with the Living FREE Lab at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Health Disparities Research internship at the MD Anderson Cancer Center. Upon graduation, she will begin a position as a Lecturer at the University of Houston - Clear Lake. 

See her research here 

mcholla2@ncsu.edu 

Melissa Holland entered the Applied Social Psychology program in Fall 2023 after graduating with a BA in Psychology from Saint Louis University. Melissa is interested in studying the impact of social media on Black health. She is specifically interested in the health behaviors of Black women who are exposed to Western/Eurocentric beauty standards within online communities. She completed a Community-Driven Research and Design internship with Village of Wisdom and a Science Governance and Innovation internship with the American Psychological Association. 

See her research here

oobadejo@ncsu.edu 

Oreoluwa Badejoh entered the Applied Social Psychology program in Fall 2023. She completed her B.S in Psychology from the University of Georgia. Oreoluwa is interested in studying how social support systems and online spaces can be promotive of physical health and development in Black adolescent and young adulthood populations. She completed an interdisciplinary internship focused on informing user-centered design of emerging technologies in partnership with engineers through the Institute for Connected Sensor-Systems. 

See her research here

mallen7@ncsu.edu 

(she/her/hers)

MarQia Allen entered the Applied Social Psychology Program in Fall 2025. She completed her B.S. in Biology & Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. MarQia is interested in studying how digital health literacy mediates the relationship between online racism and health behaviors. Specifically, she wants to observe how this relationship impacts the health outcomes within the Black population. 

acamero@ncsu.edu 

(she/her/hers)

Ayana Cameron entered the Applied Social Psychology program in Fall 2025. Previously she received her B.S in Behavioral Sciences from the United States Air Force Academy, followed by her M.A in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience at George Mason University, working with Dr. Martin Wiener. Ayana is interested in studying the psychophysiological impacts of misinformation online. Specifically, Ayana seeks to understand how socio-cultural factors influence an individual’s physiological response to misinformation and the resulting health behaviors and outcomes.

Dr. Perusi Muhigaba (formerly G. Perusi Benson) earned a PhD in Applied Social Psychology in 2023. Their research interests include examining health care access and utilization for Black transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals and communities through collaborative and equitable research practices. They are currently a project manager & research analyst for the Evaluation and Strategic Planning team at the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Duke University. 

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Dr. Abbey N. Collins earned her PhD in Applied Social Psychology in 2026. Abbey examines the psychosocial determinants of cardiovascular health, health behaviors, and physiological stress responses in Black women in the United States. She hopes to use these insights to identify areas for early intervention and to assess potential protective mechanisms to mitigate cardiovascular disease risk in this population. During her PhD, she was the recipient of numerous research awards and completed a Biostatistics internship at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and a Behavioral Sciences internship at Innovation Research and Training, Inc (iRT). Her dissertation focused on the feasibility and acceptability of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. 

See her research here