Behavioral Health Concentration

Karen Azucnea Alfaro, MPH, is a doctoral student in the Behavioral Health concentration and NIAAA pre-doctoral trainee. She received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Global Health degree from Loma Linda University and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a minor in Psychology from San Jose State University (SJSU). Karen worked as a Behavioral Health Navigator in the Emergency Department at Kaiser Permanente where she worked with patients who came in for substance use disorders. She has worked on a variety of qualitative and quantitative research projects through her universities and in Guatemala and Malawi, Africa. Karen is a McNair Scholar through SJSU where she conducted independent research on intimate toxic relationships. Her research interests include intimate partner violence, substance use disorders, global health (specifically global mental health), reproductive health and maternal mental health. 

Sophia Balkovski is a doctoral student in the Behavioral Health concentration and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism predoctoral trainee. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Public Affairs from the University of California, Los Angeles where her research focused on substance abuse policy, health equity and barriers to healthcare, specifically for Medicaid patients receiving medications for Opioid Use Disorder. She also has research interests in sustainability, urban planning, and public transportation.

Robert Bohler, MPH, MA is a PhD candidate and NIAAA pre-doctoral trainee studying behavioral health policy. He recently served as a Rappaport Policy Fellow through the Harvard Kennedy School of Government at the Massachusetts State House, and as the lead researcher for a report and community forum held by the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum on the impact of opioids on rural and small communities in Western Massachusetts. Mr. Bohler is currently working on several research projects at Heller, including payment and policy tracking projects that are part of the HEALing Communities Study and the Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector, a website that highlights innovative community-based interventions to address the opioid crisis. Before coming to Brandeis, Mr. Bohler received an MPH with an emphasis in Epidemiology from the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University and received an AB in Economics from the University of Georgia. He worked in collegiate recovery and community-based efforts to address substance use disorder (SUD), serving as a grant writer for a proposal to establish a recovery community organization in his community. He has published on the SUD continuum of care and recovery science and his research interests are in opioid policy, medications for opioid use disorder, recovery trajectories, financing and delivery of SUD treatment, and developing effective SUD treatment systems. Mr. Bohler is also a consultant for the Recovery Research Institute at MGH/Harvard Medical School and is actively involved in the Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR).

Christian Gochez is a doctoral student in the Behavioral Health concentration. He earned a dual bachelors of arts in Sociology and Psychology with minors in Pre-Law and History at D’Youville University. Christian is also a veteran of the United States Coast Guard where he served as a Health Services Technician. He has assisted with research projects regarding cultural blind spots and the intergenerational discourse on sexual and reproductive health education. His research interests include transgender issues, substance use disorders, and eroding barriers to effective health care.

Allie Silverman is a doctoral student in the Behavioral Health concentration and NIAAA pre-doctoral trainee. Silverman has worked for the Rural and Minority Health Research Center and the Student Health Services Sexual Health Office, South Carolina. She has also done research on Medicaid funding for substance use disorder.

Her research interests include sexual health, substance use disorders, health care delivery, and quality improvement. She received her Master of Public Health in Health Services, Policy and Management and Master of Social Work at the University of South Carolina. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in neuroscience and psychology from Boston University.

Adam Vose-O'Neal is a PhD candidate in the Behavioral Health concentration. For the last several years, licensed clinical social worker Adam Vose-O’Neal has worked in a clinical practice in Providence, R.I. where he specializes in treating clients with addictions. Now, Vose-O’Neal is enrolled in the Heller PhD program with a concentration in behavioral health, and is a National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Fellow. He continues to treat clients in Providence, and hopes to maintain a clinical practice while pursuing a research career. For his dissertation research, he plans to pursue deeper questions of addiction, sobriety and social networks informed by his experience as a clinician.

“Something that’s come up in my practice is seeing how people get sober. One interesting thing is that they don’t always do it through conventional treatment. I’ve seen clients that disconnect or connect with people in their lives—change jobs, move, start a new relationship, get out of a relationship—and it’s had an impact on their path not just to sobriety, but sustained sobriety. That’s interesting to me. Not just how people get sober, but stay sober.”

Vi Thi Tuong Vu from Ho Chi Minh City (HCM), Vietnam, received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, and a Master’s degree in Public Health.  She is a PhD student in the Behavioral Health concentratiom. She has worked for the HCMC HIV AIDS Committee and Vietnam HIV Addiction Technology Transfer Center at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, HCM. She has spent over 18 years providing HIV, addiction treatment and prevention interventions and capacity building for substance use disorders (SUD) related to HIV patients and for clinical staff in Vietnam. Her career mostly focuses on developing interventions, through pre-and in service, based on evidence-based practices, especially for the most vulnerable groups such as women who are injecting drug users. This will assist in bringing health and wellbeing to the SUD patients and their families and to their communities.

Micah Webster is a PhD student in the Behavioral Health concentration and a NIAAA pre-doctoral trainee. He holds a BA in Political Science from Vassar College. His background is in contract research for a variety of population health topics, including several projects studying community engagement for preventing and treating substance use. Micah's research interests include qualitative methods, community engagement, and mental health. He seeks to understand how individuals think about their health and behaviors, linking this to more effective prevention of adverse mental health and substance use outcomes.