Staff Directory

William Frey (he/they) is a doctoral student at Columbia University's School of Social Work, coordinator of the SAFElab, and researcher in the Cogburn Research Group. His research focuses on race and whiteness within the context of digital technoculture, and the individual and collective role of white people in the perpetuation of socio-technological systems of domination and power (e.g., digital racism). He has expertise in contextual analysis of social media, social media data ethics, and community/domain expert involvement in computational mixed methods research. William received his M.S.W. in community organizing from the University of Michigan's School of Social Work.

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Tyrone Christen Joseph MSW' 18 is a recent graduate of the Columbia School of Social Work. He worked closely with Dr. Cogburn on several projects including the development of the PROP curriculum and research into the spectrum of anti-Blackness and western society's impact on Black hair. His work centers around deconstructing systems of oppression in healthcare and education with a focus on iatrophobia and anti-oppressive education. 

Tobin Asher is the Associate Director of Global Partnerships at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University. He has worked at Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab since 2015 where he facilitates research projects, lab outreach, and travels around the world to share findings and insights from the lab's work. He also creates VR interactives, programs virtual worlds, shoots and edits 360 video, and composes music scores. He sees VR as a powerful tool to help create experiences that encourage us to re-shape the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us. His VR pieces have been featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in NYC, the Los Angeles Film Festival, and the New Orleans Film Festival.

Tiffany Younger is the founder of the Social Change Agents Institute(SCAI), a project that brings social workers, professionals, and educators to developing countries within the African Diaspora to offer free mental health services and social change workshops in countries such as South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Brazil. Prior to running the institute, Tiffany worked as a Policy Fellow for United States Senator Kirsten Gillibrand where she focused on issues of criminal justice, gender and race equity. 

Tiffany obtained her Masters Degree in Social Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. She is an Adjunct Lecturer at Columbia University School of Social Work and the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College  where she teaches Social Welfare Policy and Human behavior and the environment.

Currently, Tiffany is obtaining her doctoral degree in Social Welfare at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, where she is a fellow in the Hunter-Weill T32 Transdisciplinary Research Program where she serves as a Clinical Research Fellow at Weill Cornell studying Clinical Epidemiology. Her research focuses on the relationship between stress and heart disease. She is obtaining her doctoral degree in Social Welfare at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College.

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Tariro is currently a graduate student at Columbia University pursuing her master's degree in the Advanced Clinical Practice track with a focus in contemporary social issues. She is interested in the ways social cognition and critical consciousness impact racial identity development. Tariro graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 2016. In her free time she likes to read, write, and hike. Tariro will be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2020. 

She/her/hers 

Tariro will be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2020. 

"I am applying to Social/Developmental Psychology PhD programs this fall. I am interested in the ways social cognition and critical consciousness impact racial identity development.My other research interests seek to further understand the dynamics of implicit bias, emotions, and expressive behavior related to race and its implications."

Talia Weiss is the Lab Manager and Director of Medical Research at Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab. She received her Bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College, where she studied Neuroscience and Digital Art. Interested in more deeply exploring the intersection of these two fields, she went on to pursue a Master's degree in Biomedical Visualization from the University of Illinois at Chicago. While in graduate school she discovered a passion for developing virtual reality applications for medical education and simulation. Talia has experience designing, programming, 3D modeling, and animating for VR and AR applications. As VHIL's lab manager, she manages teams of undergraduate students, programmers, research assistants and interns, facilitates research projects, coordinates lab outreach, and maintains the lab's software and hardware. As Director of Medical Research, Talia leads the lab's medical VR research efforts.

Shellae Versey is a psychologist and critical health researcher, and her interests focus on questions at the intersection of social determinants of health, the environment and an aging society. Her research examines links between health and social engagement, as well as implications of place and policy for older adults. In a separate thread of research, Shellae explores social epidemiology and intersectionality, with a focus on health outcomes among women. Shellae is currently working on a geographical mapping project for changing spaces, and exploring the dynamics of community and social engagement in cities. She teaches Healthy Places: Practice, Policy and Population Health and Community Psychology at Wesleyan University.

Previously, Shellae was a postdoctoral fellow at Rutgers University in the Institute of Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. Her work has been supported by the NIH (NIMH, NIA and NIMHD) and has been recognized by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender at the University of Michigan. Her current and future research projects aim to advance interdisciplinary conversation about the ways in which the environment gets under the skin.

Shellae grew up in South Carolina and graduated from Tuskegee University with a B.S. in biology. She then earned her M.P.H in The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, M.S in epidemiology from the School of Public Health at The University of Michigan, and Ph.D. in psychology from the Department of Psychology (Program in Personality and Social Contexts) at the University of Michigan, where she also taught undergraduate courses in psychology, human development, and political psychology.

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Prema Filippone (LMSW) is a doctoral student at the Columbia School of Social Work. She is interested how systematic exclusion, stigmatization and racism serve as drivers for racial disparities in health care. Her research centers on examining the effects of intersectional stigma and racism on women’s health decisions, engagement in care, and overall health outcomes. Prema is dedicated to research that helps us better understand the influence of racism and discrimination on the production of racial disparities in health. 

Prior to pursing her doctorate, Prema supervised the implementation of a National Institutes of Health grant. As a social worker, she worked as a Program Director supervising various direct support services, housing programs, and court advocacy programs for commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked women and girls. Prema holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Sociology from Rutgers University and a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University.

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Nnenne Ogbonnaya is currently a master's student at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. They graduated from Kean University in Union New Jersey with a B.A. in psychology and a minor in American Sign Language. Before applying for Teacher’s College, they worked diligently at the New York State Psychiatric Institute-Columbia Medical Center since 2016 within various research groups ranging from child epidemiology to clinical geriatrics. Nnenne has also worked briefly within the New York Police Department’s Psychological Section, this helped them broadening their interest and helping them to become more of a diligent Research Aide. 

During their undergraduate they completed their bachelor thesis on the police academy training looking at how training is supposed to be implemented in society verses how it actually is implemented and seeing how police officers perceive their own job within society. Their current research interest has evolved to include but are not limited to using virtual immersive environments to further understand ongoing psychosis and behaviors particularly within marginalized and incarcerated populations. Nnenne believes that tracking neuropsychological activity will dramatically set at ease the mental discomfort for marginalized and incarcerated people that they believe needs this intervention the most. Therefore reducing the rate of recidivism and opening more creative paths to rehabilitation. 

As a research assistant in the Cogburn Research Lab, Nnenne contributes their skills through conducting literature reviews, assisting with the studies as well as providing practical help dealing with possible academic problems.

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Nina Johnson is recent graduate of the Columbia School of Social Work Master’s program. Nina studied Advanced Generalist Practice and Programming with a concentration in Contemporary Social Issues. Nina who is originally from the Chicago suburbs, received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Coe College. After graduation, Nina worked as the Program Director at the Office of Community Engagement there. The next year Nina worked in a Chicago suburb as the Birth to 3 Program Director for a school district.

Nina’s research assistant experience includes working in a human development and a social neuroscience lab at the University of Chicago. Nina has helped collect and analyze data for a longitudinal study about the emotional physical effects of loneliness and she has helped manage research about how humans react to stressful and unexpected situations. Nina also has experience working with male chicks for understanding the effects of methamphetamines.

Nina worked with Dr. Courtney Cogburn’s Research Group as a research assistant at the Columbia School of Social Work that focuses on the virtual reality project, the 1000 cut series. Nina also worked with Dr. Desmond Patton's SAFELab and developed e-learning modules for youth to reflect on their social media use.

Nina's current research interests include understanding Black wellness and the current gaps in society for Black people to access proper wellness spaces and health care experiences.

She/her/hers

Nina will be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2020. 

Nga Bui is currently a dual-degree student at the Columbia School of Social Work (Advanced Clinical Practice) and Mailman School of Public Health (Sociomedical Sciences). She grew up in Oakland, CA, which gives her great pride for shaping her and is critical of the current backward prioritization of money over people taking place there. She was a student organizer in the Asian American Pacific Islander Health Research Group and co-founded the Blood Pressure Project while at UC Berkeley. She is currently organizing with the Campaign for an Elected Civilian Review Board, which fights for police accountability in New York City. She believes that a human society based on cooperation is possible, and we will not always live in one where people live lives not of their own making. She is committed to doing her part to make this a reality. In her free time, she enjoys meditation, spotting sparrows and expressing gratitude to plants. 

Nakita Rakel Joseph is a social worker, researcher, adjunct lecturer and community organizer. Her research focuses on the impact of systems of oppression on the health of Black people, nationally and globally. 

Mingyi He is an international student from China. She is pursuing her MSW degree at the Columbia School of Social Work, focusing on clinical practice. She graduated from the University of Minnesota (UMN) with a B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Cinema and Media Culture. At UMN, she worked with a research project studying bystanders to bullying in college. Mingyi's research interests include discrimination on media, virtual reality therapy, and trauma.

Michael Nkereuwem received his BA in Sociology from Georgia State University, where he graduated Cum Laude in 2018. He is currently at Columbia University and a candidate for a Masters of Science in Social Work, with a Clinical focus on Health and Mental Health; he is also a candidate for a Minor in Technology. He has worked on a research project testing the efficacy of technological interventions meant for Black, HIV/STI drug-involved women; the project was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His future research will focus on trying to understand the role of gender in black experiences with racism. Michael will be collecting data from a virtual reality racism experience, created by Dr. Cogburn and the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford University.

Pronouns: Him/His/He 

Makeena graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in Psychology and Sociology from Emory University in 2015. At Emory she worked as a lab assistant in the Goodman lab exploring the relationship between maternal depression and infant development. Specifically she worked with editing EEG data and attended meetings that tied her work to the larger aims of the research. Currently Makeena is a candidate for her Masters in Social Work at Columbia University where she is delving deeper into the countless nuances of systematic and cultural racism, intersectionality, environmental justice, the juvenile justice system, and the criminal justice system as a whole. In efforts to take part in mitigating the detrimental racialized disparities blatantly existent in this age of mass incarceration, Makeena hopes to open a rehabilitative diversion program for youth labeled juvenile delinquents in the future. She is especially passionate about supporting those most targeted by our system, the Black and Brown people of this country.

Keesha Moliere is a recent grad from Loyola University Chicago with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Spanish and Sociology. At Loyola, Keesha worked in two labs both studying the outcomes and effects of exposure to community violence on black adolescents and their mental/physiological health. She also was a Sociology research fellow under a center that sought to combine research and policy in a "activism research" lens and was a LGBTQ scholar/advocate for three years. She intends to enter a doctoral program for clinical psychology a few years in the future. Her research interests lie in the psychological distress, due to environmental stressors, of black adolescent girls, black LGBT, and Haitian immigrants in the US. She hopes to do more proactive initiatives with research such as implementing some programs that help address these issues in those targeted communities.

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Kate is currently a graduate student at the Columbia University School of Social Work, in the Advanced Clinical Practice track, expected to graduate in May of 2019. She received her Bachelor's in Integrative Neuroscience from SUNY Binghamton. Before studying for her MSW at Columbia, Kate served in AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps for two years as a Team Leader, working with Non-Profit organizations in service to communities across the Southwest region of the United States. Kate is dedicated to understanding race and racism in all spaces, specifically in how racism presents in the treatment and diagnosis of individuals with mental illness.

Jeremy Bailenson is founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Thomas More Storke Professor in the Department of Communication, Professor (by courtesy) of Education, Professor (by courtesy) Program in Symbolic Systems, a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment, and a Faculty Leader at Stanford’s Center for Longevity. He earned a B.A. cum laude from the University of Michigan in 1994 and a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Northwestern University in 1999. He spent four years at the University of California, Santa Barbara as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and then an Assistant Research Professor.

Bailenson studies the psychology of Virtual and Augmented Reality, in particular how virtual experiences lead to changes in perceptions of self and others. His lab builds and studies systems that allow people to meet in virtual space, and explores the changes in the nature of social interaction. His most recent research focuses on how virtual experiences can transform education, environmental conservation, empathy, and health. He is the recipient of the Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Stanford.

Elise Ogle received her BA and MA from Stanford University, where she studied the psychological and behavioral effects of virtual reality on empathy. She previously worked in the Virtual Human Interaction Lab at Stanford, where she designed immersive, educational experiences to increase pro-social attitudes and behaviors. Her work, 1000 Cut Journey (2018), Coral Compass: Fighting Climate Change in Palau (2018), and Becoming Homeless (2017), has premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. She is currently a program manager at Limbix.

Durrell Malik Washington Sr. is an advocate for Juveniles and families impacted by mass incarceration. Durrell received his Bachelor’s in Social work from York College of the City University of New York in December 2016 and he received his MSW in May 2018 from Columbia University School of Social Work. A native New Yorker Durrell is currently a Staff Associate, Officer of Research in the Justice Lab located in the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University. Durrell works on the Youth Justice Initiatives Project which aims to end the use of prison like facilities for young people around the country and shift to a culture where community-based approaches leads the way. Durrell will begin a PhD program in Social Work at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration in the Fall of 2019 where he will conduct research aimed at understanding the intersections between juvenile justice, mental health, and other systems of care; and how those systems are ultimately pipelines to the incarceration of black and brown youth.

Associate Professor Desmond Upton Patton is a Public Interest Technologist who uses qualitative and computational data collection methods to examine the relationship between youth and gang violence and social media; how and why violence, grief, and identity are expressed on social media; and the real world impact these expressions have on wellbeing for low-income youth of color. Dr. Patton is the founding Director of the SAFE lab, a member of the Data Science Institute, a faculty affiliate of the Social Intervention Group (SIG) and holds a courtesy appointment in the department of Sociology. He is the recipient of the 2018 Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), and was named a 2017-2018 Fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society.

Dr. Patton studies the ways in which gang involved youth conceptualize threats on social media, and the extent to which social media shapes and facilitates youth and gang violence. In partnership with the Data Science Institute, he is developing an online tool for detecting aggression in social media posts. Dr. Patton’s research on “internet banging” has been featured in the New York Times,Chicago Tribune, USA Today, NPR, Boston Magazine, ABC News, and Vice. It was cited in an Amici Curae Brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in Elonis v. United States, which examined the interpretation of threats on social media.

Dominic Cathey MSW’17 (Social Enterprise Administration) worked with the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (NYS OCFS) in the Division of Juvenile Justice and Opportunities for Youth Enhancement Program Fund (DJJOY EPF), an organization dedicated to developing alternative placements and establishing education as a source of esteem and worth for young people.

As the EPF Technical Assistant, Dominic oversaw the management of the enhancement funds for 12 detention facilities which provided a curriculum that empowers men of color to deconstruct the consistent exposure to oppressive rhetoric from mass media, politics, education, and policy structures to develop a holistic narrative for success.

David graduated with his Bachelor of Arts from the College of Media and Communication from Temple University in 2013. He completed a year of service in the AmeriCorps program City Year from 2013-2014 in Philadelphia where he provided tutoring, classroom support, and group facilitation for middle school children in low income communities. Afterwards, he worked at Getting Out and Staying Out in New York City as an administrative assistant, program facilitator, and upstate correspondent for justice involved adolescents and young adults from 2014-2016. Currently, David is finishing his Masters of Social Work and Masters of Public Health as dual degree candidate at Columbia University. His work includes examining health disparities in communities of color in the United States, linking the intersection of HIV and mental health in sub-Saharan Africa, exploring racism through the lens of virtual reality in 1000 Cut Journey, harm reduction maintenance with active drug users, and therapy in the setting of New York City.

Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn is an associate professor at the Columbia University School of Social Work and faculty of the Columbia Population Research Center. She employs a transdisciplinary research strategy to improve the characterization and measurement of racism and in examining the role of racism in the production of racial inequities in health. Dr. Cogburn’s work also explores the potential of media and technology in eradicating racism and eliminating racial inequities in health. She is the lead creator of 1000 Cut Journey, an immersive virtual reality experience of racism that premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. She also co-directs the Justice + Equity + Tech (JET) laboratory at Columbia University. Dr. Cogburn completed postdoctoral training at Harvard University in the Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholar Program and at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. in Education and Psychology, and MSW from the University of Michigan and her BA in Psychology from the University of Virginia.

Chloe Martin is the Project Manager with the Cogburn Research Group at Columbia University. Prior to joining the Cogburn Research Group, Chloe was a research assistant at SAFElab, where she conducted qualitative research on social media use. She utilizes restorative justice practices in her work and has facilitated restorative justice circles with young men incarcerated at Rikers Island. She received her MSW at Columbia university and her BA in Psychology and Sociology and Michigan State University.  

Chelsea Allen is an Advanced Practice doctoral candidate who earned an MSW and BSW at University of South Carolina at Columbia. Chelsea’s area of interest includes understanding the effects of cultural and historical trauma on African American communities. Previous to her time at Columbia School of Social Work, Chelsea worked in the mental health and child welfare settings, as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Chelsea is passionate about addressing issues related race, discrimination, and oppression. She joined the Cogburn Research Group in Fall 2019. 

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Brittany Ribeiro Brown is pursuing her master's degree at the Columbia School of Social Work in the Advanced Clinical Practice track. She is a recipient of the Dialectical Behavior Therapy fellowship and is a passionate social work researcher. She aspires to provide evidence-based treatment to communities who experience multiple levels of oppression and marginalization. She's dedicated to examining how race, class, critical consciousness, historical trauma, and immigration status show up in a clinical context. Brittany graduated with a degree in Sociology from Pepperdine University.

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Brittany will be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2020. 

"I'm applying to Developmental Psychology and Social Work PhD programs this fall. I’m passionate about the impact of racism on mental health and physical health, and its varied impact across major contextual shifts (e.g. immigratory transitions)."

Angie Belen Monreal  is a first year graduate student at Columbia School of Social Work. She recently graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Sociology and minor in Labor and Workplace studies. During her time at UCLA, she conducted research on healing from parental incarceration, specifically focused on daughters of color. Her research interests include mass incarceration, immigration, gangs, and trauma.

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Angie will be applying to doctoral programs for Fall 2021. 

"I hope to apply Fall 2020 to Sociology and Social work PhD programs. I am particularly interested in looking at the intersection between mass incarceration and deportation in communities of color.I am also interested in the topics of healing from parental incarceration, female gangs, and prison abolition."

Angel Han, MPH, currently is a Research Associate at AcademyHealth in Washington, D.C. At the Cogburn Research Group, Angel provided support for the content development of the 1000 Cut Journey virtual reality project and its subsequent evaluation. Angel is dedicated to finding innovative strategies that promote health equity, and understanding how technology can fight and continue to promote inequity. SPACE Angel holds a Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Akanksha Rajput is a Data Science masters student at Columbia University. She is a machine learning enthusiast and passionate about applying her data science skills to uncover useful insights from data to make an impact on society.

She joined Cogburn Research Group Fall 2018. She is using her analytics skills to find insights for the research of media-based cultural racism.