2025 GVRC Firearm Suicide Prevention Fellows

Aubrey DeVinney

Aubrey DeVinney, BA, is a Research Program Coordinator at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Austin Starkey

Austin is a clinical psychology graduate student at Louisiana State University studying suicide prevention and intervention among youth and young adults under the mentorship of Dr. Ryan Hill.

Barry Bryant

Dr. Barry Bryant is a senior resident in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. After graduation, Dr. Bryant will begin Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Bryan Barks

Bryan Barks is the Southeast Regional Director at the Tennessee Suicide Prevention Network. Before assuming this role, she spent nearly a decade in the Washington, DC, and Baltimore areas working in gun violence prevention and earning a Master of Health Science in Mental Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Carly Ragin

Carly Ragin, M.S., is a Research Lab Manager at the Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation with the Atlanta VA Healthcare System. Committed to advancing suicide prevention research and strategies within Black communities, she is interested in employing digital tools and identifying culturally relevant factors to develop tailored approaches.

Catie Sappenfield 

Catie Sappenfield, PhD, is a second-year Clinical Psychology graduate student at the University of Georgia working in Dr. Brian Bauer's Science of Suicide Lab. Her clinical and research interests focus on suicide prevention during high-risk periods (e.g., after an inpatient hospitalization) and on the impact of public policy on suicidal behaviors in adolescents and young adults.

Chelsea Howd

Chelsea Howd, B.S., is currently completing her master's degree in Psychological Sciences at Western Kentucky University and is a graduate student in Dr. Brausch's Suicide and Risk Behaviors Lab.

Collen Walsh

Colleen S. Walsh, PhD, is a postdoctoral research fellow at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. As a developmental scientist, she uses a social-ecological perspective to examine the prevalence and patterns of firearm behaviors and identify protective factors for firearm violence and suicide prevention.

Emma O'Brien

Emma O’Brien, B.A., is a first-year clinical psychology doctoral student at Louisiana State University, where she works with Dr. Raymond Tucker in the Mitigation of Suicidal Behavior Lab. Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she spent the past four years working as a clinical research coordinator at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, studying suicide in older adults.

Gretchen S. Goldman

Gretchen S. Goldman, MSN, RN is a third-year PhD in Nursing student at Duquesne University. Gretchen’s area of interest is pediatric firearm injury prevention.

Jacey Henrichs

Jacey Henrichs is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Counseling Psychology program at the University of Iowa. Her work focuses on suicide prevention with LGBTQIA+ and rural populations.

Lindiwe Mayinja

Lindiwe Mayinja, B.S., is a first-year clinical psychology doctoral student at Vanderbilt University. Her research focuses on understanding structural and contextual risk factors that increase risk for firearm-related suicide among marginalized youth and young adults.

Matthew Wetenkamp

Matt Wetenkamp is the Collaboration and Partnerships Coordinator for the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, where he works with firearm owners and the firearm industry to help prevent firearm injuries and deaths. He is a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran and lifelong firearm owner who has spent more than a decade working in veteran services, suicide prevention, men’s mental health, and firearm safety.

Mia Aassar

Mia Aassar is a Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. Mia is passionate about using mixed methods research to understand and improve the implementation of policies intended to prevent

firearm suicide.

Michael LeDuc

Mr. Michael LeDuc, M.A., is a doctoral student in clinical psychology in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Texas Tech University. His research interests include understanding suicide risk and using ecological momentary assessment to inform practical prevention strategies that individuals find valuable.

Megan McCarthy

Megan McCarthy is the Research and Evaluation Coordinator at the University

of Colorado Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative. Her work focuses on firearm suicide

prevention, policy analysis, and working with the firearm-owning community to prevent adverse firearm outcomes.

Nathan Stoermer

Nathan Stoermer, is a student and a 22-year veteran of Fire and Emergency Medical Services. Nathan holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership and is currently enrolled in the Doctor of Social Science program at Wilmington University.

Savannah Morgan

Savannah Morgan, M.S., is a first-year clinical psychology doctoral student at Vanderbilt University. Her research is focused on youth violence prevention and the role of violence exposure in the development of adolescent suicidality.

Tyler Rice

Tyler holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and is pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Florida State University. Her work focuses on understanding and mitigating distal and proximal risk factors for suicide, with a particular emphasis on minoritized

populations.

Yi-Fang Lu

Yi-Fang Lu is a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Center for Social Science Innovation, University of Iowa. She received her PhD in Criminology, Law and Society from George Mason University.

Zondra Smith

Zondra D. Smith is a proud graduate of Rutgers University-Camden, where she earned an executive master's in public administration. As the Administrative Coordinator for the Rutgers School of Nursing-Blackwood campus, Zondra is a passionate advocate for social justice dedicated to addressing critical issues in education and healthcare while championing the needs of at-risk youth.