Sarah Valentine

Dr. Sarah Valentine is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry at BUSM and Clinical Psychologist at BMC. She is the Director of the Program of Research in Implementation Science, Minority Stress, and Mental Health (PRISMM). The aim of PRISMM is to improve quality of mental health treatments for diverse, minoritized, and underserved populations, including racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and refugee populations, and sexual orientation and gender minority populations. To do this, clinical research projects focus on: (1) conceptual research to understand the intersection between discrimination (minority stress) and traumatic stress; (2) stakeholder-engaged tailoring of existing evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); (3) addressing system-, provider-, and patient-level barriers to implementing evidence-based treatments for PTSD; and (4) conducting effectiveness studies on the application of evidence-based treatments for PTSD in real-world settings. The long term goal of these efforts is to reduce PTSD health disparities through the development, implementation, and dissemination of treatments that dually address minority stress factors (e.g., discrimination, stigma, and access barriers) and mental health symptoms. Dr. Valentine received an NIMH-funded K23 grant (2018-2023) that aims to optimize a brief cognitive behavioral therapy for PTSD for use in safety net primary care.

Dr. Valentine received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Suffolk University, and completed her predoctoral internship and postdoctoral research fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School.