Resources

Hania Marien, Ph.D. (she/her) is a cis, White, able-bodied, neurodivergent artist, educator, and social science researcher. She collaborates with children and their adults to imagine and create toward social justice. Based on Squaxin, Nisqually, Coast Salish, Cowlitz, and Massachusett land, she is a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, supporting youth-centered Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) and evaluation work in greater Boston. Her doctoral research focused on CPAR with elementary students and how adults can help children develop power analysis. She co-founded Imagining More Just Futures with co-educator Anna Kirby, offering CPAR camps, identity workshops, intergenerational book clubs, and zine-making programs centered on power, identity, and justice.

Maya Hernandez, Ph.D. (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab at the Wellesley Centers for Women. Her multi-method research interests focus on the psychosocial risks and benefits of historically underrepresented adolescents’ social technology use and leveraging the social ecological framework to adolescence in the digital age. She also has extensive experience working in nonprofit management for community youth programs around civic engagement and storytelling. Prior to joining WCW’s Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, she received her Ph.D. and M.A. in Social Ecology from University of California, Irvine and B.A. in Psychology from Johns Hopkins University. She has over a decade of clinical and pediatrics research experience from Boston Children’s Hospital and Stanford University School of Medicine.

Elizabeth Eikey, Ph.D. (she/her) is an Assistant Professor at UC San Diego’s Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and The Design Lab, and Director of the Mental Health in Design (MiD) Lab. She leads interdisciplinary research at the intersection of human-centered design and mental health, with a focus on underserved communities. Through her research and the courses she has developed (e.g., Critical Digital Health, Human-Centered Design and Complex Socio-technical Systems), she advances knowledge on the negative and positive effects of not only digital mental health interventions, but also other types of technologies, such as surveillance tools, diet and fitness apps, and social media. Dr. Eikey examines how digital tools—like DMHIs, social media, and fitness apps—can both support and harm mental health, emphasizing power, privilege, and equity. Her work bridges research, teaching, and community partnerships to guide ethical, inclusive technology design. 

Isabella Bourtin (she/her) is a junior at Rice University majoring in Health Sciences. As a Native American student, she is deeply committed to research that centers Native voices and lived experiences, particularly in the areas of substance use, intergenerational trauma, and mental health. She has worked on community-based projects addressing substance use among Native mothers, and is currently involved in research that uses oral histories to explore culturally grounded narratives around healing and resilience.

In addition to her research, Isabella has helped organize a Native Youth Advisory Board, which is aimed at making mental health care more inclusive, accessible, and responsive to the needs of Native and Indigenous youth. She believes in the power of storytelling, community collaboration, and youth leadership as tools for change. Her long-term goal is to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology and work in partnership with Native communities to address mental health and substance use disparities through both evidence-based research and culturally rooted care.

Emily Moser (she/her) is the Director of YouthLine Programs and a Leadership Team member at Lines for Life, a regional nonprofit focused on prevention education, policy advocacy, and 24/7 crisis services. She oversees youth-focused initiatives, including a national peer-to-peer crisis line, school-based suicide prevention, youth development and mentoring, mental health education, and a pilot for social media-based crisis support. She holds an MPA from Portland State University, an MAT from Lewis & Clark College, and a BA in Business and Dance from the University of Oregon. 

With over a decade at Lines for Life, Emily has held roles in community prevention and youth programming. She trains agencies across Oregon in evidence-based mental health and crisis intervention programs and contributes to statewide youth development efforts through the Oregon Alliance to Prevent Suicide. In her free time, she enjoys the outdoors with her husband, two sons, three dogs, and a cat.

Born and raised on Oʻahu, Joanne Qinaʻau (she/they) aims to steward mauliola through research, clinical, and healing traditions. Jo is currently a T32 research fellow with the UCSF Osher Center, providing integrative health and wellness programs in clinical care, education, and research from a whole-person perspective. Prior to pursuing their PhD in Clinical Psychology, Jo worked on multiple projects in support of culturally sustaining education and provided mind-body-spirit interventions for vulnerable populations in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Caleb Rivera (he/him) is a fourth year PhD student in the Community Psychology program at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, working with Dr. Charlene Baker. As an ʻōiwi story weaver from the island of Maui, he is committed to research that centers and serves communities. Caleb's primary research interests include community-led explorations of moʻolelo and examining the relationship between ʻāina and one's overall wellbeing.

Sarah Momilani Marshall, PhD, LSW (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Thompson School of Social Work & Public Health at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. She received her PhD in social welfare from UH Mānoa’s Thompson School and her MSW from San Josè State University In San Josè, California. Her program of research concentrates on understanding social, behavioral, and cultural determinants of health within rural Hawaiian communities, especially those that impact substance use resistance among Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth. As a Native Hawaiian researcher, she is passionate about addressing health disparities and pursuing health equity for indigenous populations and elevating the voice of Indigenous perspectives.

Scott Okamoto, PhD, MSW (he/him) is a Researcher/Professor in the Population Sciences in the Pacific Program at the University of Hawai‘i Cancer Center and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Dr. Okamoto’s research focuses on the social determinants of health and on developing evidence-based prevention interventions with Indigenous, rural, and underserved communities. He currently serves as the Principal Investigator on a NIH/NIDA-funded, community-based study focused on the development and evaluation of an e-cigarette prevention intervention for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander youth on Hawai‘i Island. He has also served as a Co-Investigator on related NIH-funded projects focused on the implementation and adaptation of substance use prevention with Indigenous communities across Hawai‘i, the United States Affiliated Pacific Islands, and the Southwestern U.S. He has clinical practice experience working with youth and families in residential and shelter-based settings in Hawai‘i and California.

Kalea Hope Morinaga-Omori is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa pursuing her BA in Psychology. She was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu and attended Kamehameha Schools for her primary and secondary education. Kalea's research interests include Indigenous and Native Hawaiian mental health, and indigenous storytelling methods such as the ways knowledge is passed on through processes of oral storytelling traditions. Kalea is passionate about promoting the health and wellbeing of Hawaiʻi's keiki, empowering women, and emphasizing equality for all people. Additionally, she is passionate about giving back to her community through service by volunteering at her local food bank and working with organizations such as Mohala Na Pua. After graduation, Kalea plans to attend graduate school with the goal of acquiring direct service and counseling skills to support Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in Hawaiʻi. On her free time, Kalea enjoys activities such as cooking and baking, reading, writing poetry, and opening and collecting blind boxes.