Varvara Gulina received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University Fullerton and an MPH from the University of Colorado, Anschutz Medical Center, with a concentration in Leadership and Public Health Practice. Varvara's work focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of gender-based violence and other female-oriented issues. She informs her research through various determinants and social-cultural contexts that influence women's vulnerability to victimization across the lifespan. Some of her previous work includes creating new survey items to capture women’s internal experiences more accurately, as well as research on adolescent dating violence in OC, cultural psychology of trafficking victims, and negative cognitive schemas in college-aged women. Varvara initiated a novel experiment on belittlement of women that resulted in a new lab being opened at CSUF; her work on female sex workers’ perceptions of mistreatment in Russia has also been recently published and presented at various conferences. Varvara is both a Ronald E. McNair and Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Alumna. She is also a Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society member and won the Women in California Leadership Award in 2020. Varvara seeks to continue examining the sociocultural processes that lend to gender-based violence in different countries, focusing on mental disorders and substance use as a consequence. She desires to utilize dissemination and implementation science to inform intervention programs, impact policy (promoting laws that protect girls and women), and improve substance use prevention efforts. Varvara uses her voice to advocate for neglected populations and aims to advance restorative justice for women and girls – helping to create spaces of healing and hope around the world.
Brian Maila
Brian Maila (He/Him/His) received a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology, Bachelor of Medicine, and Surgery as well as a Master of Medicine in Psychiatry from the University of Zambia. During his training at Masters, he was awarded a scholarship by the Australian Government to undertake a short course in mental health care in a public health context at Queensland University of Technology and The Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health based in Cape Town. During this training, Brian explored the Medication for opioid use disorder program at Biala Community Health Centre in Brisbane, which sparked his interest in Addiction. He is the 2021-2022 Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program alumnus at Virginia Commonwealth University, the public health track focusing on Substance Abuse Education, Prevention, Treatment, Research, and Policy. He is looking to actualize his current research proposed activity of conducting a preliminary study to determine the prevalence of co-occurring mental disorders among patients receiving addiction services at Chainama Hills College Hospital in Zambia. Brian’s current research interests include public mental health, addiction psychiatry, mental health legislation, psychiatric aspects of HIV/AIDS and other general medical conditions, maternal psychiatry and substance use, mental health, and substance use in adolescents and young adults, evidence-based substance use prevention and treatment, and understanding the impact of policy on behavioral health and addiction.
