Alessia Robbiani

Master Student in Clinical Psychology at University of Lausanne (CH)

Alessia Robbiani born and raised in Ticino, received a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Lausanne in 2023. She is currently a second-year Master's student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Lausanne. Her passion for psychology and the well-being of young people led her to do a research internship with the HappyB project under the supervision of Dr. Laura Marciano.

Her contribution includes the write-up of the HappyB project report and active participation research activities of science communication. She will take part in the Happiness 2.0 Lab project as a research assistant. In the future, she would like to pursue a professional career that allows her to coincide clinical practice and scientific research.

(e) alessia.robbiani@unil.ch

Ally Zhang

Ally Zhang is a Canadian and American board-certified Registered Dietitian. She completed a Master of Public Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a Bachelor in Nutritional Science at McGill University. Before her time at Harvard, she was a Full-time Public Health Dietitian in Canada focused on planning and operating nutrition programs to promote the health of the 0 to 18-year-old population. During this time, she also worked on 2 startup projects in her spare time. One is a map that tracks racism, and promotes allyship and awareness and the other promotes better mental health through gratitude journaling. The latter resulted in a Gratitude Workshop co-hosted with the Center for Health and Happiness in Spring of 2023. Her current research with Dr. Marciano focuses on bidirectional influences between adolescent social media use and mental health and loneliness.

(e) xiao_zhang@hsph.harvard.edu

Jennifer Lewis

Jen Lewis, M.Ed, Program Manager of Youth Workforce Development at the Roxbury Tenants of Harvard (RTH), lives and works in her community RTH, a resident-led affordable housing community in Mission Hill. She has worked in positive youth development in Boston for 30 years and is passionate about making space for youth voice and sharing pathways for personal wellness and social change. The team of Health and Wellness Peers at RTH was designed with this in mind. Gaps exist in support for teen’s mental, emotional, and social health, and we seek to acknowledge and address these gaps through teens’ experience and work with this group.

This team identifies priority issues affecting teens’ health and wellness and then strategizes to educate and take action to move these issues in a positive direction. New teens join each summer or school year session and raise up what’s impacting them. Then we educate ourselves and plan action to impact these issues. We are currently partnering with the 84 movement, working on an upstream racial justice project on disproportionate school discipline. Building community, amplifying youth voice, and sharing tools of social change is the reason and the reward for this work! Jennifer will be involved during all the phases of the HappyB2.0 project at the RTH.

(e) jlewis@roxburytenants.org

Eleanor Dong

Eleanor is a research associate at the Education Development Center (EDC) and has over 4 years of research experience. She has worked with diverse stakeholders in education and health, including Boston schools and school districts to conduct research and develop curricula for adolescents. She has worked on numerous projects that promote adolescents’ mental health and well-being. She holds an EdM from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and a BS in Psychology Research from the University of Toronto. She also holds a Project Management for Development Professionals (PMD Pro) certificate and is fluent in English and Chinese. She in involved in the HappyB2.0 project for the development of study materials, participants recruitment, data collection, and scientific publications.

(e) edong@edc.org

Sundas Saboor

Dr. Saboor is a trained clinical physician from Pakistan. She graduated from Khyber Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan in 2015. She holds a Master of Public Health from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, USA.

Dr. Saboor’s professional experience includes drafting research proposals, teaching graduate students, community service in Pakistan, Canada, and the USA, and public health education. She mentors young emerging students regarding professional development from Pakistan, Canada, and the USA. She has worked directly with immigrant women in social welfare centers and hospitals. She has performed literature searches, systematic literature reviews, drafting of reports, and communication of results to analyze the link between digital media use and happiness in children and young adults for the HappyB project at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She has worked on the following projects with Dr. Marciano:

1. Marciano, L., & Saboor, S. (2023). Reinventing mental health care in youth through mobile approaches: Current status and future steps. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1126015. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1126015 

2.  Saboor, S., Medina, A.A., Marciano, L. (2023). Application of Positive Psychology in Digital Interventions for

3. Adolescents and Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of (Randomized) Control Trials. [Ongoing]

4. Marciano L. Bekalu M, Lin J., Sato T., Saboor S., Viswanath K. (2023). Does social media use make us happy? A meta-analysis on social media and positive well-being outcomes. SSM - Mental Health [Ongoing] 

In her downtime, Dr. Saboor likes to spend quality time with family and enjoys watching historical documentaries. In addition, she dedicates time to learn and try new recipes.

(e) sundassaboor@hsph.harvard.edu 

Susanna Morlino

MSc Susanna Morlino is a cognitive psychologist and communication expert. She attained her Master of Science in Cognitive Psychology specializing in cognitive and communication psychology at San Raffaele University and University of Lugano (joint degree between Italy and Switzerland). She is also Cialdini Certified Coach and Founding member of the Cialdini Institute, founded by Dr. Robert Cialdini in 2023 to disseminate the principles of ethical persuasion. She also holds an executive master in Neuromarketing and Behavior Design. MSc Morlino's professional expertise encompasses an array of activities including significant research collaborations, development of informative projects, and application of psychology in digital media. Notably, she has collaborated with Dr. Laura Marciano on the HappyB project at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and University of Lugano, and on Agorà project "Siete connessi?" about digital media and wellbeing among children and adolescents. The main contributions include:

1. Camerini, A. L., Morlino, S., & Marciano, L. (2023). Boredom and digital media use: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Comput. Hum. Behav. Rep, 11(100313), 10-1016.

2. Morlino, S., Trojaniello, D., Sanna, A., Camerini, A. L., & Marciano, L. (2022) Applying the Health Belief Model to explain cybersecurity behaviors of hospital employees [Poster]

3. The plague of social media use:The role of social comparison versus problematic social media use on adolescents’ well-being [On Going]

Currently, MSc Morlino serves as the Head of Marketing and Communication at BeMore Group, renowned in Italy for its pioneering role in disseminating psychology since 2012 under the stewardship of Luca Mazzucchelli, an internationally recognized author. In this role, she combines her deep understanding of psychology with innovative communication strategies to promote psychological awareness and well-being. Parallel to her marketing and communication role, she continues her professional practice as a psychologist, using Positive Psychology approach to foster mental health and well-being starting from individuals' values.

(e) susannamorlino@gmail.com

Adrián Medina

Adrián Medina, Ed.M., is a developmental scientist and population mental health specialist. They received their Master's of Education in Human Development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2023 wherein they specialized in developmental cognitive neuroscience particularly in the context of pediatric mental health. Adrián is currently pursuing a Master's of Public Health in Health & Social Behavior with concentrations in both population mental health and maternal/child health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, expecting to complete their program in May of 2024. Here, they are pursuing specialized training in behavioral epigenomics, psychiatric epidemiology, and population mental health strategies. 
Adrián's professional experiences encompass multimodal data collection, drafting research proposals and manuscripts, collaborating with other scholars for interdisciplinary research, teaching/mentoring of emerging scholars, and advocacy-based work within the greater Boston & Chicago areas within the U.S. They have worked with various populations in clinical settings, particularly within a psychiatric hospital and local primary care clinic. In collaboration with Dr. Marciano & Dr. Saboor, Adrián has worked on systematic reviews and contributed to the preparation of disseminating the findings on these comprehensive reviews via journal publications to further establish the therapeutic potential of digital interventions that leverage positive psychology frameworks in promoting positive mental health outcomes among youths. They have worked on the following projects:

1.  Saboor, S., Medina, A. A., & Marciano, L. (ongoing). Examining the Integration of Positive Psychology in Digital Interventions for Adolescents and Young Adults: A Commentary Review of (Randomized) Controlled Trials. Journal of Clinical Medicine.

2. Saboor, S., Medina, A. A., & Marciano, L. (ongoing). Application of Positive Psychology in Digital Interventions for Youths: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of (Randomized) Control Trials. JMIR Mental Health.

Outside of their scholarly endeavors, Adrián enjoys spending time with their dog, family, and friends. They also value pursuing activities that encourage diverse cultural experiences and personal growth, like learning new languages, exploring different foods, and traveling to various parts of the world.

(e) amedina1@g.harvard.edu

Shari Kessel Schneider

Shari Kessel Schneider, MSPH, is a Senior Project Director at Education Development Center and an expert in adolescent health and school health, working to advance knowledge of effective programs and practices to improve the physical and mental well-being of youth. She leads initiatives focused on survey research, program evaluation, and training and technical assistance. Her content expertise in adolescent health and risk behaviors includes: bullying and cyberbullying; social media use and digital wellness; substance misuse; and mental health. Schneider leads EDC’s MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey to monitor emerging adolescent health trends and provides technical assistance to school districts in using student survey data to inform educational efforts, prevention programming, and policymaking. She also directs a project specifically focusing on development of school-based strategies to promote digital wellness among girls in the MetroWest Boston region and address the mental health consequences of digital media use. Schneider holds a MSPH from the Harvard University School of Public Health and a ScB from Brown University. Her role in the HappyB2.0 project includes contributing to the development of study protocols, enrolling participants, collecting data, and contributing to study publications.

(e) skschneider@edc.org

Soumya Mohanty

Master student in Global Health and Population in Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health

Dr. Soumya Mohanty born and raised in India holds a medical degree MBBS, MD and has been working as a physician since the last 6 years. She is currently pursuing her Master's in Public Health (MPH) with a focus on Global Health and Population from the Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health. Her past research has been focused on adolescent health, preventive and community health which is what drew her to work on the HappyB project as a research assistant. She believes in the idea of health equity and aims to promote inclusion, communication, and collaboration to transform it into reality.

(e) soumya_mohanty@hsph.harvard.edu

Jenna Mee

Jenna Mee is a PhD student in computer science at the University of Saskatchewan. She has a passion for leading projects that highlight the importance of Patient Oriented Research and interdisciplinary model building in her field. Some of her work includes research on how service dogs aid veterans dealing with PTS, analyzing colorectal cancer screening barriers, the impacts of COVID-19 on homelessness, and the outcomes of teaching mindfulness practices to dementia caregivers. She is not only a highly skilled agent-base modeller and leader, but a mom to a 2 year old - so thrives in an ever changing and sometimes chaotic environment. 

(e) jennaneiser@gmail.com

Yuning Liu

Yuning Liu is a PhD student in the Population Health Sciences program at Harvard University. She specializes in understanding the interaction between digital life and wellbeing. Specifically, she studies the impact of social media on individuals' sense of well-being and explores ways to enhance evidence-based online health communication. Yuning's approach draws from a multidisciplinary toolkit, incorporating theories from health communication, psychology, and mental health, while applying advanced statistical and computational methodologies. Yuning also aims to leverage the richness of data from social media platforms from both developed and developing countries in her research. Yuning was originally trained in Medicine, Economics, and Global Health. Before starting her PhD at Harvard, she was a data scientist at JPMorgan Chase Institute. She worked as a research scientist intern at the social science division of Meta (Facebook) during the summers of 2022 and 2023. As a social scientist focusing on population development, Yuning aims to provide evidence on social media and mental wellbeing, which would inform further innovative actions and policymaking.

(e) yuning_liu@g.harvard.edu

Pietro Bianchi

Pietro is an Italian research assistant for USI. He received his bachelor’s in psychology in 2019 and then he obtained his Master’s degree in Cognitive Psychology in Health Communication (a joint degree between Università della Svizzera Italiana and Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele) in 2024. He is particularly passionate about social media and their psychological impact on people and he will take part in the Happiness 2.0 covering the role of research assistant. In the future he would like career to combine his passion for academic research and psychology in his professional career.

(e) pietro.bianchi@usi.ch

Geyi Wang

Geyi Wang is a Ph.D. student specializing in health communication, misinformation, and social media. She uses her research to enhance understanding of human mental health, decision-making, and motivation. As a communication scholar, Geyi is passionate about applying communication theories to explore various phenomena, incorporating insights from psychology, sociology, and political science. She is committed to taking an interdisciplinary approach to her investigations, aiming to bridge multiple disciplines in her research. 

 (e) geyiwang@hsph.harvard.edu

Khalida Himes

Khalida Himes is a licensed clinical social worker who also holds a professional educator license. Khalida graduated from Fordham University in NYC with her Master’s degree in social work. Khalida is a school social worker and racial equity leader; she also owns a private practice providing counseling services. Khalida specializes in trauma informed treatment and is trained in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing.

Rachel Havekost

Rachel is the bestselling author of "Where the River Flows,” “Write to Heal,” and "The Inner Child Journal." Along with her other titles, "The Self-Healer's Journal" and "The Grief Workbook," Rachel has single-handedly built an online social media presence of 300k+ individuals devoted to de-stigmatizing mental health. A recent graduate from EWU with an M.Sc. in psychology, Rachel is excited to infuse an evidence-based lens into her stories of lived experience with mental illness.

Lindsay Fleming

Lindsay is a licensed therapist, private practice owner, Tedx speaker, and content creator. Her clinical work is predominately with children, teens, and young adults struggling with ADHD and Anxiety. Her work on social media focuses on de-stigmatizing therapy and mental health psycho-education for her over half a million followers.

James Taylor Jr.

James Taylor Jr. is the founder of we as men inc. and the just Be Conference. He has been in church and business Leadership for over 20 years. He built to success business with great mentors and now us become a business coach and a life coach. This passion began because he didn’t see people like him in many spaces and he has also wanted to reach the youth and found adults because of his childhood growing up in a broken home before being raised by his grandmother and aunt. He has stated, “My goal is to help the next generation grow faster and healthier than I did, in business and in life”.

Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter

Brinleigh Murphy-Reuter is the Founder & CEO of Science To People (S2P), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing science communication. S2P envisions a future where science is universally accessible, allowing people to confidently navigate their lives, make evidence-based decisions, and foster the development of products and services that contribute to a better future. By translating complex scientific insights into common language and disseminating facts widely, S2P aims to support evidence implementation and build a more informed and equitable society.

Summya Khatoon

Summya is originally from Pakistan and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration from Dow University of Health Sciences in Karachi. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health (MPH) at Boston University, specializing in Environmental Health, Science Communication, and Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation. With a deep passion for environmental health and public health equity, Summya integrates environmental science, science communication, and community engagement in her work. She focuses on the intersection of these fields, where innovative research and collaborative solutions can address complex health challenges. At Boston University, she has contributed to research on the impact of environmental factors on health outcomes and participated in initiatives promoting sustainability and health equity. Summya is committed to bridging research and practice, empowering communities to create healthier and more sustainable futures.

(e) summyak@bu.edu