BFRR Lab Research Team
A multidisciplinary team of scholars committed to centering the voices and experiences of Black children, adolescents, and families while exploring how culturally grounded, strength-based assets can be leveraged to support their well-being and development.
Bios
Sheretta T. Butler-Barnes, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
Sheretta Butler-Barnes is a developmental psychologist and has the expertise and scholarly work on the impact of racism and the use of culturally strength-based assets on the educational and health outcomes of Black American families. She is currently an Professor and Dean's Distinguished Professorial Scholar at the Wash University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work. Before coming to the Brown School, Butler-Barnes was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Michigan's School of Education affiliated with the Center for the Study of Black Youth in Context. Butler-Barnes received her Ph.D. and MA from Wayne State University in psychology and a BS in psychology from Michigan State University.
JaNiene Peoples, PhD, MS, CHES
Faculty Affiliate
Dr. Peoples is an Assistant Professor at Florida State University, College of Social Work. She is a former National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 Predoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on examining risk and protective factors associated with mental health and behavioral (mostly substance use) outcomes among adolescents and emerging adults (ages 18-29) through an intersectional lens. Her work is also driven by building evidence that informs tailored interventions for populations disproportionately affected by mental health and substance use problems, particularly Black Americans.
Dr. Peoples received her PhD from Washington University in St. Louis, Brown School of Social Work, MS in Health Education from Texas A&M University, and a BS in Health and Human Performance from the University of Memphis. She is also a Certified Health Education Specialist and Certified Personal and Executive Coach.
Ivy Smith, BS
Graduate Research Assistant
Ivy is a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Division of Computational and Data Sciences Program and a Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity & Equality (CRE2) Fellow. She is interested in better diagnosing mental health disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, binge eating disorder, and depression) among female African American emerging adults (ages 18-29) utilizing data science methods and applications. Ivy is currently involved in a research project that focuses on Black families and racial violence. She received a BS in both Mathematics and Computer Science from Tougaloo College.
Emani Sargent, MSW, LSW
Graduate Research Assistant
Emani Sargent is a fifth-year PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work. She is a graduate of Miami University of Ohio with a BS in Family Studies and Human Development (2013) and a master's degree in Social Work (2015). Emani is broadly interested in research focused on achieving health equality for racial, sexual, and gender minorities with a particular focus on sexual health, mental health, and overall wellness. Her work examines HIV prevention and care interventions across the continuum. This includes exploring structural, social, and cultural determinants of health and well-being. She is interested in looking at the impact of stress and racism on health outcomes, how the family influences health, and the significance of social support.
Marlena Debreaux, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Washington University in St. Louis
Dr. Marlena Debreaux is a current postdoctoral research scholar in the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis working with Dr. Sheretta Butler-Barnes in the Black Families, Race, and Resilience lab. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from the University of Louisville and American University, as well as having completed her doctoral work at Vanderbilt University. Currently her work centers on understanding how Black adolescents and their families recognize non-interpersonal forms of racism and the strategies they use to limit their effects. Considering herself a developmental critical race scholar, Dr. Debreaux applies tenants of critical race theory to the study of the normative developmental experiences of U.S. residing African descendant youth in understudied contexts, to the analysis of how racism inhibits mental health functioning, and the identification of protective factors that may mitigate the effects of racial harm on youth.
