Eleni Gaveras
Pronouns: She/They
Assistant Professor
SDSU Imperial Valley
Bio
Eleni Gaveras, PhD (she/they), is an Assistant Professor in Social Work at SDSU-IV. Holding an MSW/MPH, their research examines how structural environments such as housing impact mental health, specifically suicidal thoughts and behaviors among LGBTQIA+ young adults. Their agenda aims to develop mental health services and policy tools to reduce suicide risk and increase well-being among LGBTAQIA+ housing insecure young adults. Integral to her research agenda is increasing the representation of sexual and gender minority youth voices and lived experiences in housing and suicide research to build upon existing supports and resilience strategies. Her previous research includes an examination of how qualitative methods can be used to illuminate experiences of suicidal behaviors among transgender and gender-expensive older adults and in rural communities. An NIMH T32 grant and a McDonnell Academy Fellowship funded her doctoral training at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to her academic experience, she has professional public health experience coordinating research among highly mobile populations, including coordinating research to protect the health and well-being of truck drivers, sex workers, men who have sex with men, seafarers, and young people at risk for trafficking with the International Organization for Migration Mission to Tanzania. She has authored/co-authored articles published in Qualitative Social Work, BMJ Open, Social Science and Medicine, and PLoS One.