Principal Investigator

Christina S. Lee, PhD
Principal Investigator and Director of the HEAL Lab

Christina S. Lee, Ph.D., is a Licensed Psychologist (RI, MA) and an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Boston University (BUSSW). Dr. Lee is a faculty affiliate at BU’s Center for Antiracist Research and the Grayken Center for Addiction. 

Her research bridges the areas of intervention science, addiction psychology, and health disparities. Her work, which has investigated the effects of social and environmental stressors on risky health behaviors among diverse, understudied groups, spotlights the importance of stigma and marginalization on substance use behavior and ways to address it clinically and at the structural level. 

She is PI and co-PI on NIH-funded addiction treatment research: currently training community health workers on Culturally Adapted Motivational Interviewing in BMC Primary Care for Latino/a and Black patients, and working with researchers in New Mexico to develop a bilingual (Spanish) app to increase access to SUD treatment.

Dr. Lee mentors graduate and postdoctoral scholars from diverse racial-ethnic groups, several who are NIH funded (K awardees). 

Dr. Lee is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the NIAAA journal Alcohol Research: Clinical Reports, and the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. She is the Chair of the Diversity Committee for the Society of Addiction Psychology, American Psychological Association, and on the Leadership Committee in the Addiction Special Interest Group (SIG) for the Society of Social Work and Research. She is the incoming Program Chair for Division 50 APA 2024 conference with the theme of Diversity and Addiction Science and Treatment. She has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers since 2006. Dr. Lee is also a senior editor for the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.

Dr. Lee has given invited presentations to the American Society of Addiction Medicine, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, National Institutes of Health, and to the University of North Carolina School of Social Work as well as the Columbia University School of Social Work. 

In her community volunteer work she founded the Integrated Behavioral Health Program at South End Community Health Center (now East Boston) and is part of the Leadership Group at the Grayken Center for Addiction to improve addiction care in minoritized communities.

Curriculum vitae

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Representative Publications 

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BU School of Social Work Profile

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