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Elizabeth Handley, Ph.D.

Research Director, Mt. Hope Family Center
Assistant Professor, University of Rochester
Elizabeth Handley, Ph.D.
Dr. Handley’s research is grounded in the developmental psychopathology framework and explores multilevel and transactional risk and protective mechanisms of development among at-risk children and families. She has data analytic expertise with multiple-levels-of analysis directly applicable to child welfare research, including data analysis with epigenetic, genetic, immune, and neuroendocrine data. Dr. Handley also provides quantitative support and consultation to faculty and students in various departments at the University of Rochester.

Corey Nichols-Hadeed, J.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center
Corey Nichols-Hadeed, J.D.
Ms. Nichols-Hadeed’s role in LIVV has primarily focused on exploration of the impact of policy and law on public health outcomes, with a primary focus on safety and injury prevention. The primary goal of this work is to translate what is learned about the impact of policy into actionable practices. Ms. Nichols-Hadeed also has expertise in regulations governing human subject research, conducting research with vulnerable populations in community settings, and coordinating court-based research studies linking victims of intimate partner violence with mental health. This work is centered on the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and community-based projects.

Justin Russotti, Ph.D., LCSW

Associate Director of Research, Mt. Hope Family Center
Justin Russotti, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Russotti’s research is guided by a developmental psychopathology framework and focuses on understanding how psychopathology unfolds over time within an individual as a result of complex culminations of dynamic interactions between the individual and their environment. He is particularly interested in the etiological roots and mechanistic underpinnings of stress-related and internalizing disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety). More specifically, Dr. Russotti has examined how the developmental timing of adversity may influence internalizing disorders, with an emphasis on early-life adversity. Recently, Dr. Russotti has investigated the effect of parental factors and high-risk parenting conditions (parental psychopathology, parental maltreatment history, and parenting stress) on offspring psychopathology. Dr. Russotti is also involved in longitudinal research designed to investigate the long-term psychological and biological effects of chronic stress (e.g., compromised physical health, allostatic load, epigenetic modifications). Dr. Russotti is a licensed clinical social worker in New York State with expertise in providing psychotherapy interventions to children, adolescents, and adults.

Melissa Sturge-Apple, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
University of Rochester
Melissa Sturge-Apple, Ph.D.
Dr. Melissa Sturge-Apple is Dean of Graduate Studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering, and a Professor of Developmental Psychology at the University of Rochester. She has established expertise in advancing knowledge of our understanding of parenting within the family context and implications for child development broadly, with a particular emphasis on parenting at risk. At a substantive level, her work has advanced how different theoretical formulations may inform understanding of the determinants of aberrations in parenting within stressful ecologies including family systems theory, stress system functioning, self-regulation frameworks, and attachment theory.

Jody Todd Manly, Ph.D.

Clinical Director, Mt. Hope Family Center
Sr. Research Associate, Clinical Director & Assistant Professor, University of Rochester
Jody Todd Manly, Ph.D.
Dr. Todd Manly has served in Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, Evaluator, and Project Director roles on several federally-funded research projects involving the linkages among child maltreatment, domestic violence, poverty, and community violence with preschool and school-aged children as well as adolescents. As Clinical Director at the Mt. Hope Family Center, she has coordinated the implementation of evidence-based treatment models and evaluation of these models in treatment evaluation research. She has conducted numerous trainings on the impact of trauma on children’s development and on implementation of evidence-based trauma treatment for children at high risk for abuse and neglect.