HEY! Lab Team

Co-Directors of the Lab

Allegra R. Gordon, ScD, MPH (she/her)

Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health
Instructor, Division of Adolescent/Young Adult Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Core Faculty, Harvard SOGIE Health Equity Collaborative, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Affiliated Faculty, The Fenway Institute, Fenway Health
allegrag@bu.edu

Allegra Gordon is a social epidemiologist who uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to understand the mental and physical health impacts of discrimination as well as the effects of gender norms and stereotypes on the health of young people across sexual orientations and gender identities. She earned her doctorate in Social & Behavioral Sciences with a concentration in Women, Gender, and Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds an MPH in Sociomedical Sciences with a concentration in Sexuality and Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and a BA in Education and Environmental Studies from Swarthmore College. Current projects examine: the relationship between gender expression and health behaviors among U.S. adolescents; the effects of online environments (particularly social media environments) on substance use and disordered eating behaviors among transgender and gender-diverse young adults; barriers to and facilitators of access to HIV prevention services and sexual health and wellbeing among transgender and gender-diverse young adults; and the harmful effects of weight stigma on the health of sexual and gender minority populations.

Kimberly M. Nelson, PhD, MPH (she/her)

Associate Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Boston University Medical School
Core Faculty, Harvard SOGIE Health Equity Collaborative, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
knel@bu.edu

Kimberly M. Nelson earned her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Washington (UW) and a PhD in clinical psychology also from UW. She also completed a fellowship at the Fordham University Research Ethics Training Institute. Having both a public health and psychology background, Dr. Nelson’s research focuses on understanding and intervening on psychological and structural determinants of health inequities with a particular focus on sexual health inequities among marginalized adolescents and adults. Additionally, her work focuses on the ethical and legal issues involved in sexual health research and interventions with adolescents and ways to use technology effectively and ethically for data collection and health promotion interventions.

Core Faculty

Gabe Murchison, PhD, MPH (he/she/they)

Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health
grmurch@bu.edu

Gabe Murchison is a social epidemiologist addressing the impact of marginalization on the health and wellbeing of LGBTQ people, particularly adolescents and young adults. Their work focuses on interpersonal relationship experiences (e.g., dating violence, identity-related support) as risk and protective factors for substance use, depression, and anxiety. In this research, she draws on principles of intersectionality, epidemiologic approaches to causal inference, and a strengths-based/positive youth development perspective. Dr. Murchison is Principal Investigator of the Whole Selves Project, a NIAAA-funded, community-engaged research project exploring the intersection of marginalization, romantic relationship experiences, substance use, and mental health in young adults who are transgender and/or nonbinary. He completed his BA (Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) and MPH (Social & Behavioral Sciences) at Yale University, followed by a PhD (Population Health Sciences) at Harvard University and a postdoctoral fellowship with the Yale AIDS Prevention Training Program.

Lynsie Ranker, PhD, MPH (she/her)

Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health
lranker@bu.edu

Lynsie Ranker is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences. She is a social epidemiologist interested in exploring the complex connections between contextual factors (e.g., state policies, social media-based exposures) and substance use among youth. Recent projects include variations in alcohol use and treatment access among college students, drinking trajectories from adolescence into young adulthood, and a content analysis of poly-substance use discussions on Twitter. She received her PhD in epidemiology and her MPH from Boston University School of Public Health.

Staff

Sam Haiken, MPH (she/her)

Research Fellow

Sam has been researching adolescent sexual health and wellbeing with the HEY! Lab since 2022. Prior to joining the HEY! Lab, she received her MPH from Boston University School of Public Health, where she researched attitudes toward PrEP among transgender young adults with Dr. Allegra Gordon. Sam has also worked as an advocate for bicycle and pedestrian safety in New Haven, CT. In her free time, Sam enjoys knitting, reading comics, and getting lost in the Arboretum.

Sangeeta Subedi, MS (they/she)

Research Fellow

Sangeeta is a researcher who is excited about bringing an intersectional, qualitative lens to reproductive justice work. Prior to joining the HEY! Lab, Sangeeta researched access to and experiences of gender-affirming care as a clinical research specialist at the Center for Gender Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. They received their MS in Medical Anthropology and Cross-Cultural Practice from Boston University in 2022, where they conducted research on how queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) conceptualize family and navigate family-building processes. She also holds a BA in Psychology and Educational Studies from Swarthmore College. In their free time, Sasngeeta enjoys spending time outdoors, taking on unnecessarily fancy baking projects, and making snarky faces at her cat.

Current Trainees

Gordon Team

Frankie Greene
Maternal & Child Health Fellow
Master of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health

Rebecca Rohac
Practicum Student
Master of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health

Felipe Ruiz, MPH
Doctor of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health

Nelson Team

Aaliyah Gray, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow, Florida International University

Claudine Lavarin, MPH
Doctoral Candidate in Health Services and Policy Research, Boston University School of Public Health

Felipe Ruiz, MPH
Doctor of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health

Past Trainees

2024

River Armstrong – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2023-2024)

Emilio Loret de Mola – Research Assistant, Boston University School of Public Health (2022-2024)

Christian Badillo – Research Assistant, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (2023-2024)

Hannah Knapp-Broas – Maternal & Child Health Fellow and Research Assistant, Boston University School of Public Health (2022-2024)

Katherine Coyle – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2023-2024)

Shannon Lozier – Maternal & Child Health Fellow and Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2023-2024)

2023

Alexandra Gago – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2023)

Alana Martinusen – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2022-2023)

Matisse Monty – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2022-2023)

Christian Paredes – Research Assistant and Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2020-2023)

Maya Zaslaw – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2023)

2022

Allyson Cogan – Maternal & Child Health Research Fellow and Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2020-2022)

Akshay Nathan – Practicum Student, Boston University School of Public Health (2021-2022)

Arianna Rahimian – Maternal & Child Health Research Fellow, Boston University School of Public Health (2021-2022)

Journey Simmons – Research Assistant, Boston University School of Public Health (2021-2022)

2021

Kaitlin Haupt – Maternal & Child Health Research Fellow, Boston University School of Public Health (2020-2021)

Claire Stout – Research Assistant, Boston University School of Public Health (2020-2021)