C2S Graduate Students

Vicki Chung, PhD student in Human Development & Social Policy
(vicki-chung@northwestern.edu)

Vicki Chung is interested in studying the context and everyday lives of immigrants, as well as the mental and physiological health effects of acculturation stress, discrimination, and other challenges facing immigrant children and their families. Her current research examines various psychological, social/relational, and environmental factors that affect the cognitive performance and school adjustment of immigrant children.

Amy Desantis, PhD student in Human Development & Social Policy
(a-desantis3@northwestern.edu)

Amy Desantis’ research interests include the roles of micro- and macro-level factors (e.g., public policies, health behaviors, and physical and social environments) as contributors to racial/socioeconomic health disparities.  In particular, she is interested in how the social environment, mediated through stress and psychosocial processes, influences physical and mental health outcomes.  Her current research focuses on racial/ethnic differences in HPA activity (stress hormone patterns).  

Jean Hunleth, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(j-hunleth@northwestern.edu)

Jean Hunleth studies cultural and African anthropology and received a Fulbright Award for her work in November 2007. Her dissertation uses children to understand AIDS and tuberculosis in Zambia.

Chelsea McKinney, PhD/MPH student in Human Development & Social Policy
(chelseamckinney@northwestern.edu)

Chelsea McKinney is a doctoral student in the School of Education and Social Policy and a Master's student in Public Health at Northwestern University. She is interested in the social determinants of health disparities and their effect on child development. Her current research studies the childhood obesity epidemic from a family systems perspective

Emily Mendenhall, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(e-mendenhall@northwestern.edu)

Emily Mendenhall’s research focuses on medical anthropology and her interests include sexual and reproductive narratives, mental health, social networks, structures of power, health disparities, gender, race, migration and transnational communities in Chicago and Latin America.

Molly Metzger, PhD student in Human Development & Social Policy (mollymetzger@gmail.com)

Molly Metger’s research interests include early childhood interventions and the effects of physiological stress on health, including the relationship between social-emotional skills and later achievement.

Melissa Minor, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(m-minor@northwestern.edu)

Melissa Minor studies cultural and biological anthropology.

Colleen Nyberg, PhD student in Anthropology
(c-nyberg@northwestern.edu)

Colleen Nyberg is a doctoral candidate specializing in biological anthropology. Her dissertational research investigates childhood health and market integration among the Tsimane’ of Bolivia.

Elizabeth Quinn, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(e-quinn2@northwestern.edu )

Elizabeth Quinn is a doctoral candidate studying biological anthropology. Her research interests include developmental plasticity and programming, human milk composition, beliefs, behaviors, and practices regarding breastfeeding, child history and growth, and the life history theory. Her dissertation examines the relationship between maternal early life and nutrition, growth, and milk composition in adulthood.

Elizabeth Sweet, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(e-sweet@northwestern.edu)

Elizabeth Sweet is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology and a Master's student in Public Health at Northwestern University. As a biocultural anthropologist, her research focuses on the cultural dimensions of stress and the role of stress in health inequalities in the United States. Her dissertation research examines relationships among culture, stress, and health for African American adolescents in the Chicago area.

Lindsay Till, PhD student in Human Development and Social Policy
(ltill@u.northwestern.edu)

Lindsay Till's research interests include social inequality, stress, and health disparities among children and adolescents. She is interested in studying how interpersonal relationships mediate physical and mental health outcomes for adolescents and young adults from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Sophie Trawalter, Postdoctoral Fellow in C2S at the Institute for Policy Research, PhD in Psychology
(s-trawalter@northwestern.edu)

Sophie Trawalter studies the behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dynamics of interracial contact. Her dissertation examined whether behaviors during interracial contact reflect coping responses to stressful encounters. She plans to extend this work by exploring short-term psychobiological outcomes (e.g., cortisol levels) and long-term health outcomes of interracial contact.

Melanie Vento, PhD/MPH student in Anthropology
(m-vento@northwestern.edu)

Melanie Vento studies biological anthropology. Her research interests concern non-western societies and specifically the influence of culture on immune functions and the connection between bio-markers and weight gain.