People

Principal Investigator

Afroze N. Shaikh

Afroze N. Shaikh (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology programs. She earned her master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling and Behavioral Medicine from Boston University and her doctoral degree in Counselor Education and Practice from Georgia State University. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC-GA) and has provided counseling services in various community and hospital settings to individuals and families impacted by community violence and trauma.

Her research and advocacy efforts broadly aim to identify approaches to prevent suicide, enhance culturally sensitive training, and expand mental healthcare access by examining factors that influence health service use. She has presented on this work both regionally and nationally and is published in various counseling journals. 

Afroze is dedicated to the mentorship of emerging professional counselors and is actively involved in multiple professional counseling organizations, including the Texas Counseling Association (TCA), the International Association of Addictions and Offender Counselors (IAAOC), and the National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation (NBCCF).

Research Team

Jackie Yang

Jackie Yang (he/him) is a fourth-year doctoral candidate in the Counseling Psychology program at UT Austin. He is a first-generation student and has earned his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Psychology and Counseling Psychology from UT Austin. He is currently a counseling psychologist in training and is providing counseling services at UT Austin’s Counseling Mental Health Center to the larger student body at UT Austin. 

Jackie’s research focuses on addressing factors that impact the mental and behavioral health of people who experience structural barriers, specifically among Asian American people. Jackie largely focuses on dismantling the model minority myth, contributing to a new understanding of the Asian American experience, and ensuring those rendered “invisible” in society is visible again. Additional research interests consist of understanding subtle, everyday experiences of exclusion, parental messages of race and ethnicity, help-seeking behaviors, mental health stigma, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. 

Jackie is a Ronald E. McNair scholar and has provided mentorship to other underprivileged students who want to pursue a graduate degree or career in psychology related fields. He is an Integrated Behavioral Health scholar at UT Austin and has been trained in providing mental health care in an interdisciplinary setting. Jackie has been previously awarded the Texas Leadership Research Scholars fellowship and nominated for the Outstanding Graduate Research Fellowship award. 

Katie Hurley

Katie Hurley (she/her) is a second-year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program at UT Austin. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Global Health at Duke University. She works as a Graduate Student Assistant for the Longhorn Wellness Center’s mindful UT program and as a Practicum Counselor at UT’s Counseling and Mental Health Center.  

As an Army Veteran, Katie’s research interests include Soldier and Veteran suicidality, help-seeking, and mental health. More broadly, she is interested in the social determinants of U.S. health disparities and suicidality. Katie is also a John Edelman scholar.  

In her free time, Katie enjoys exploring Austin’s hiking trails, coffee shops, and breweries with her husband and their dog.  

Abigail Varghese

Abigail Varghese (she/her) is a second-year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program at UT Austin. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University. She is working as the facilitator for the BASICS/CASICS program at the Longhorn Wellness Center and as a Graduate Student Assistant within Healthyhorns. Based on her past experiences as a university crisis line operator, her broad research interests include suicide intervention, help-seeking behaviors, crisis lines, & minority mental health.

Haleigh Armstrong

Haleigh Armstrong (she/they) is a first-year doctoral student in the Counseling Psychology program at UT Austin. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychological and Brain Sciences from UC Santa Barbara in 2023. Following graduation, Haleigh worked as a research coordinator and grant administrator for the UCSB Social and Health Equity Lab, where she contributed to research examining health disparities among queer communities of color.

As a doctoral student, Haleigh aims to further explore how systemic inequality drives health disparities within marginalized communities, with a particular focus on transgender youth. In her free time, you can find Haleigh exploring the great outdoors or enjoying a good cup of coffee at a local cafe.

Alex Lao

Alex Lao is a first-year PhD Epidemiology student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health. He is a first-generation student and earned a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in May 2025 from UTHealth and a Bachelor of Science in Public Health in May 2023 from the University of Texas at Austin. 

His broad research focuses on suicide prevention and mental well-being among youth and adolescents. Moreover, he supports, researches, and advocates for mental health by transforming data into real-world prevention and suicide prevention. He also focuses on the intersection of mental health, LGBTQ+ health, and substance use, particularly among Asian Americans. Alex has extensive hands-on experience in qualitative and quantitative research, policy analysis, operations, and community mental health outreach, gained through collaborations with non-profit organizations such as the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Mental Health America of Greater Dallas (MHAD), the Coalition for Student Well-being (C4SW), and the Austin Asian Community Health Initiative (AACHI).

Hannah Martinson

Hannah Martinson is a Registered Mental Health Counselor Intern in the state of Florida, and currently works at a private practice. She earned her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Counseling from Arizona State University. Her clinical interests include working with couples, adults, and teens experiencing relationship concerns and/or a breakup, as well as those affected by anxiety and grief.

Hannah is interested in expanding the literature surrounding mental health help-seeking behaviors and the utilization of mental health services, particularly in underserved and at-risk populations. She hopes that her research will increase access to mental health services and their utilization.

Research Collaborators