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
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.
Hannah Knapp-Broas (she/her)
Research Assistant, Practicum Student, and Maternal & Child Health Fellow
Master of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health
Hannah is currently pursuing her MPH at BUSPH with certificates in Community Assessment, Program Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (CAPDIE) and Sex, Sexuality, and Gender. She is passionate about sexual health, reproductive justice, and youth empowerment. Her experiences working to improve adolescent sexual health include being a teaching assistant for a sex ed class in high school and a peer health educator throughout college. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in healthcare.
Current Trainees
Gordon Team
Christian Badillo
Research Assistant
Master of Public Health Candidate, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Katherine Coyle
Practicum Student
Master of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health
Frankie Greene
Maternal & Child Health Fellow
Master of Public Health Candidate, Boston University School of Public Health
Shannon Lozier
Maternal & Child Health Fellow, 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)
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)