Karestan C. Koenen, PhD aims to reduce the population burden of mental disorders through research, training, and advocacy. She is passionate about using science to overcome violence and trauma, which are major preventable causes of health problems globally.

Dr. Koenen’s research focus is three-fold.  First, she studies why some people develop PTSD and related mental and physical health problems and why some people are resilient when exposed to similar traumatic events. Dr. Koenen is a co-principal investigator on the NIMH-funded AURORA study, led by Dr. Samuel McLean with Drs. Ronald Kessler and Kerry Ressler.  Dr. Koenen also co-leads the PTSD working group of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, which aims to identify genetic variants that increase risk and resilience following trauma exposure. Second, she investigates how violence, trauma, and PTSD alter long-term physical health and accelerate aging. Much of this work is done in collaboration with the Nurses’ Health Study. Third, she aims to expand access to evidence-based mental health treatment for survivors of violence and trauma. To this end, she co-wrote the book, Treating Survivors of Childhood Abuse: Psychotherapy for the Interrupted Life with Drs. Marylene Cloitre and Lisa Cohen.

Dr. Koenen leads the NIMH-funded Training Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Biostatistics (T32) and the Interdisciplinary Concentration in Population Mental Health.  She also advises masters and doctoral degree students in the Departments of Epidemiology and Social Behavioral Sciences. In addition, Dr. Koenen leads the Trauma Epidemiology and Population Mental Health Research Group for her students and post-doctoral fellows.  The group is primarily a forum for trainees and junior investigators to present and receive feedback on work-in-progress, but also includes presentations on advanced research methodology and career development.

Dr. Koenen advocates for survivors of violence and trauma. In May 2011, Dr. Koenen testified before the House Foreign Affairs Full Committee about the epidemic of sexual violence and victim blaming culture of the Peace Corps. She has written for the Boston Globe, the Washington Post, the Huffington Post, and the Women’s Media Center’s Women Under Siege Project, which investigates how rape and other forms of sexualized violence are used as tools in conflict. Dr. Koenen also consulted on the documentary, It Happened Here, which examined the epidemic of sexual assault on university campuses.  In addition, Dr. Koenen speaks to lay audiences about the latest scientific findings around violence and trauma.

Sarah Lowe, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Yale School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the long-term mental health consequences of a range of potentially traumatic events, as well as the impact of such events on other domains of functioning, such as physical health, social relationships, and economic wellbeing. Her work explores the mechanisms leading from trauma exposure to symptoms, and the role of factors at various ecological levels—from genetics to neighborhoods—in shaping risk and resilience. She uses a range of methodologies to achieve her research aims, including structural equation modeling, latent growth curve analysis, geospatial modeling, and qualitative analysis, among others. Dr. Lowe received her Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts Boston and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training program at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She previously held an appointment in the Department of Psychology at Montclair State University, where she played a key role in developing the department’s first doctoral program.

Patricia Watson, PhD is a senior educational specialist for the National Center for PTSD and assistant professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, in the Department of Psychiatry.

She is co-author of the Psychological First Aid (PFA) Field Guide and the Skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR) Manual, produced by the National Center for PTSD and the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

She is also a co-author of the Combat Operational Stress First Aid (COSFA) Field Guide, produced by the Department of Defense, the Defense Centers for Excellence, and the National Center for PTSD, and the Stress First Aid and Curbside Manner manuals for fire and rescue personnel, produced by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

She has additionally co-edited three books on disaster behavioral health interventions, numerous articles on resilience and early intervention, SAMHSA guidance documents, and articles and chapters on disaster mental health, resilience, combat and operational stress, and pandemic flu.