Research Team

UNC-CH School of Social Work Faculty:

Tonya Van Deinse, Ph.D., MSW- Principal Investigator

Contact: tbv@unc.edu

Tonya Van Deinse, PhD, MSW, is a clinical associate professor at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work and a mental health services researcher focused on the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions that span the mental health and criminal justice systems. Dr. Van Deinse’s current research projects focus on nationwide approaches to probation for adults with mental illnesses, using implementation science to enhance the uptake of specialty mental health probation, implementing and evaluating integrated re-entry programming for adults with co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders exiting county detention, and evaluating the implementation and efficacy of data-driven supervision guidelines for probation.

Andrea Murray-Lichtman, LCSW – Co-investigator and Clinical Case Consultant

Contact: ajmurray@email.unc.edu

Andrea Murray-Lichtman, MSW, LCSW, is a clinical assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. She completed the NABSW Academy of African Centered Social Work and is currently a doctoral student. Andrea’s research interests include racial equity in access and outcomes across social systems, and her theoretical expertise includes Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and methodologies centering counter-narratives. She has a combined 17 years of physical health, mental health, and substance misuse treatment experience within integrated healthcare and criminal justice settings serving people living with co-morbid mental health, substance misuse, and chronic physical health diagnoses. She currently manages a substance use prevention, education, and research grant and is a co-investigator with the Specialty Mental Health Probation research team. Since joining the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty in 2013, Andrea has taught in the full-time and part-time programs. Her educational philosophy encompasses providing social work education through the lensof racial and social justice. She facilitates students’ insight into the lived realities and agency of marginalized groups, and the impact decisions and interactions with the social work profession have on the lives of the under-resourced. Andrea received the Dean’s Excellence in MSW Advising Award in 2018 and the Dean’s Recognition of Teaching Excellence Award in 2015. Andrea served on the 2020 Anti-racism Task Force for the Council on Social Work Education. She also consults on several international projects for racial and social equity in social work education and practice.

UNC-CH School of Medicine Faculty:

Gary Cuddeback, Ph.D., MSW, MPH – Principal Investigator

Contact: gcuddeba@email.unc.edu

Dr. Cuddeback’s research focuses on individuals with severe and persistent mental illnesses, especially those involved with the criminal justice and those who have chronic and disabling mental health and physical health conditions. He has conducted research on the physical health needs of persons with severe mental illnesses, the prevalence of individuals with severe mental illnesses in prison and probation settings, the role of Medicaid on mental health service use, and recidivism after jail release. His research also includes the characteristics of persons with mental illnesses who are incarcerated in jails versus prisons, and he has used large administrative datasets to develop methodologies for estimating the prevalence and service needs of severe and persistent mental illnesses in a community. Dr. Cuddeback is currently conducting a large, randomized controlled trial of specialty mental health probation here in North Carolina. He has published over 50 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and has been involved in dozens of projects focused on persons with severe mental illnesses.

Project Managers:

Johanna Silbersack Hickey, MSW – Project Manager

contact: jvtsilbersack@unc.edu

Johanna Silbersack, MSW is a project manager for the research team, as well as at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Aging, within the Program on Aging, Disability and Long-term Care. She graduated from Duke University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and human development, and subsequently received her Master’s Degree in Social Work with a focus on policy and contemporary social issues at Columbia University in 2016. Her previous research experience spans a range of topics including supporting the NC Registry for Brain Health, research surrounding care provision in long-term care settings and the wellbeing of long-term care direct workers.

Stacey Burgin, M.A. – Research Associate

Contact: burginse@email.unc.edu

Stacey Burgin, MA, is a research instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She graduated from the University of South Carolina at Columbia in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a minor in French. Burgin received her master’s degree in applied medical anthropology from the University of Memphis in 2011. Stacey is interested in improving the lives of individuals with chronic health conditions, with a focus on individuals with severe and persistent mental illness.

Field Students, Practicum Students, and Research Assistants:

Tracy Barbera, MS – Research Assistant

Contact: tlpowers@live.unc.edu

Tracy is currently a PhD candidate in the Organizational Behavior program at Kenan-Flagler Business school. Her research focuses on mental health wellness in the workplace and how organizations can better support individuals with mental health disorders.

Mackensie Disbennett, BSW, BA – Graduate Research Assistant

Contact: kensied@email.unc.edu

Mackensie Disbennett is a graduate student in the MSW program at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work. She is originally from the Eastern Shore of Maryland. For her undergraduate studies, she attended Salisbury University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work and Psychology. There, she had the opportunity to serve as a research assistant for a faculty member in the Psychology Department whose research was centered on group relations and prejudice. In her current studies, she is specializing in the Community, Management, and Policy Practice concentration within the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work with aspirations to pursue a future career indicative of nonprofit management and administration, community engagement, research, and one day, professorship at a university following the pursuit of a doctorate.

Lee Doyle – Capstone Team Member

Lee Doyle is a third year MSW/MPH student at UNC Chapel Hill. Before coming to UNC, Lee worked for ten years in sexual violence and intimate partner violence prevention and education and has been doing youth work for over thirteen years. Lee currently serves as a teaching assistant at Gillings School of Global Public Health. Lee’s research interests include queer and transgender health, sexual and intimate violence prevention, and adolescent sexual health.

Krycya L. Flores Rojas – MSW field intern

Krycya L. Flores Rojas is a Graduate Research Assistant and a second year MSW Candidate with a concentration in Community, Management and Policy Practice at UNC-Chapel Hill. As a graduate research assistant, Krycya is working on the NC Victims of Crime Needs Assessment Project. She earned her B.A. in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from UNC-Greensboro. As an undergraduate student, she had the opportunity to serve as a research assistant in the Sociology and Psychology Department. Krycya has years of experience working with the refugee and immigrant community as a program coordinator and is originally from El Salvador.

Mary Hillemeier – Gillings Capstone Team Member

Mary is a third-year MPH/MSW student in the Health Equity, Social Justice and Human Rights (Public Health) and Community, Management, and Policy Practice (Social Work) concentrations. Mary did her Undergraduate studies in her hometown of Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan. She also studied Ecological Horticulture at the University of California, Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. For the past eight years, she has worked on community-based sustainable agriculture initiatives. Her areas of interest include equitable food access, land sovereignty, and sustainable food systems. In her free time Mary loves growing/cooking/sharing food and exploring outdoors.

Chase Ijams – MSW field intern

Contact: chasei@email.unc.edu

Chase Ijams is a second-year MSW candidate at the UNC School of Social Work, with a Community, Management, and Policy Practice concentration (CMPP). His previous experience includes working with people with severe and persistent mental illness, people experiencing homelessness, and as a Peace Corps volunteer on the archipelago of Vanuatu, where he served as a literacy facilitator. As a graduate research assistant, Chase primarily focuses on the Durham County Integrated Reentry project. He is interested in the intersection of severe and persistent metal illness, the criminal legal system, and substance misuse, with a focus on supporting folks while they transition back into the community. He received a BS in psychology at Appalachian State University in 2016.

Lainey Johnson – Research Assistant

Contact: laineyj@email.unc.edu

Lainey is a graduate student in the MSW Program at the UNC School of Social Work, with a direct practice concentration. She is a PrimeCare-OUD Trainee and Substance Use and Addictions Specialization student. Her prior work experience involved working with individuals experiencing homelessness, folks with severe and persistent mental illness, and the interaction with problematic substance use. She plans to pursue licensure as an LCSW and LCAS focused on the intersectionality of adult mental health, substance use, criminal legal system involvement, and homelessness. As a graduate research assistant, Lainey is supporting both the NC Victims of Crime Needs Assessment Project and the Specialty Mental Health Probation Team. She earned her BA in Psychology in 2016.

Alex Keown – MSW Intern

Bailey McInnes – MPH Candidate

Contact: rosebm@live.unc.edu

Bailey is a second-year MPH student in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. As a practicum student, Bailey works with a research team at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work and the NC Governor’s Crime Commission to conduct a statewide victim’s needs assessment. Bailey also works as a research assistant for CFAR, where she works on a team conducting a systematic review of sexual violence instruments and on a qualitative study of drug use-associated infective Endocarditis. Outside of her work, Bailey volunteers as a Domestic Violence Hotline advocate with the Compass Center and is the social chair for her MPH cohort. Her primary research interests are sexual violence, victim advocacy, and mental health.

Bex Orton – Graduate Research Assistant

Lindsay Savelli – Gillings Capstone Team Member

Lindsay Savelli (she/her/hers) is a second-year MPH student in the Health Equity, Social Justice and Human Rights concentration at the Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she is also pursuing a Graduate Certificate in Participatory Research. As an MPH student, Lindsay recently worked as a research assistant on a retrospective cohort study looking at trends and disparities in occupational fatalities in North Carolina. Most recently, she worked as a summer intern with the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), where she conducted qualitative coding and analysis of engagement strategies used by PCORI research awardees. Her evolving public health interests include community-based participatory research and action, environmental justice, health equity, mass incarceration, and healthcare access.

Dhon Urg – MPH Candidate

Contact: urgdhon@unc.edu

Dhon Urg is currently an MPH student in the University of North Carolina Gilling’s School of Global Public Health. His professional experience includes over 8 years of public health-related work in governmental and private settings.

Kacia Vines – Graduate Research Assistant

Allison Waters – MSW Research Assistant

Allison (Ally) is a student in the MSW program at UNC, pursuing the Direct Practice track with a focus on the intersection of mental health services and criminal legal systems. After several years of working in research and policy, Ally realized she wanted a stronger interpersonal dimension to her career and decided to transition into the mental health field. She provided crisis counseling and was on a Community Support Team in Washington, DC, before relocating to Chapel Hill to pursue her Master’s in Social Work. As an intern with the Orange County Office of the Public Defender and a Research Assistant for Dr. Tonya Van Deinse, Ally is working to build knowledge of specialized mental health approaches and promote diversion and deflection from the criminal legal system. Ally has undergraduate degrees in Economics and Environmental Studies from Brown University and a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.

Julia Weinrich – Gillings Capstone Team Member

Kristen Witkemper – Gillings Capstone Team Member

Kristen is a second-year MPH Candidate concentrating in Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Alongside her fellow MPH Capstone team members, Kristen supports the NC Governor’s Crime Commission through the planning and conduct of a statewide assessment of crime victims’ needs. In addition to her work with the NC Governor’s Crime Commission, Kristen works as a Research Coordinator at UNC’s Institute for Trauma Recovery, where she supports studies focused on predicting and preventing posttraumatic stress disorder among survivors of sexual assault. Kristen particularly enjoys working in the intersections of mental health, feminist theory, and systems thinking.

Suzy Ziaii – Graduate Research Assistant

Contact: sziaii@unc.edu

Suzy is a Graduate Research Assistant and a second-year MSW Candidate with a concentration in Community, Management and Policy Practice at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her previous experience includes work in legal services programming for survivors of domestic violence in Washington, DC and community mental health and wellness support for adult refugees in NC. She received her B.A. in Government and Hispanic Studies from the College of William & Mary.

Affiliate Faculty

Ashley Givens, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Givens’ is an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri Columbia’s School of Social Work. She focuses her work on traumatic histories, criminogenic risks and needs, and serious mental illnesses among early adults (18-29 year olds) involved in the criminal legal system. Dr. Givens studies programming and interventions that provide opportunities to this population, as well as equip officers to be

better prepared to assess the risks and needs of this age group. Additionally, she works to improve living conditions, social support, and resource access for all system-involved individuals.

Mariah Cowell, MSW – Project Manager

Contact: mariah.cowell@utah.edu

Mariah Cowell is a doctoral student at the University of Utah College of Social Work. Her past work experience includes community-engaged research, project management, and program evaluation. She received her Master’s Degree in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2019 and a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2017. Her research interests include hyper-incarceration and the criminal justice system, racial equity, and incorporating anti-oppressive frameworks into practice.

Meet the Team