Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Sarah Elizabeth Neville, Ph.D. (Rhode Island Hospital, 9/1/22-8/31/25) obtained her B.A. and M.A. in child development at Tufts University. After working on USAID-funded projects in Sub-Saharan Africa for three years, she completed her Ph.D. at Boston College School of Social Work. Her dissertation focused on the subjective well-being of children leaving residential care institutions ("orphanages") in Kenya and reuniting with family and utilized participatory and mixed methods to develop and validate a quantitative measure of well-being informed by children's own priorities and experiences. She then came to The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University to complete a postdoctoral fellowship within the Research Training Program on the Adolescent/Young Adult Biobehavioral HIV T32. At Brown, Sarah received an outstanding score for a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award titled "Promoting mental health for children reuniting with family after living in residential care institutions in Ghana: Adaptation and testing of a trauma-informed, attachment-focused intervention," which is currently pending. Sarah originally planned to continue her trajectory towards becoming an independent researcher focusing on interventions for children in residential care institutions in low- and middle-income countries, children at risk of entering them, and those reintegrating with families, though her next career steps are now uncertain. She would like to thank her mentors, colleagues, union, and family for their support. She is also grateful to all USAID and NIH workers and partners who have until now devoted their careers to alleviating human suffering worldwide.