“The BRITE Center funded a summer research program at UCLA when I was a third year undergraduate at Loyola Marymount University. After receiving mentorship from Dr. Anna Lau and one of her graduate students, and attending the workshops organized by the center, I knew I wanted to go to graduate school to study the development of ethnic minority children.”

Virginia earned a PhD from UCLA’s Developmental Psychology Program, where her research focused on ethnic/racial discrimination among youth, particularly those from immigrant backgrounds. She is currently an assistant professor at California State University, Northridge, in the Child and Adolescent Development Department. Her research continues to focus on understanding social and cultural factors that influence the academic, psychological and physical well-being of ethnic minority and immigrant children and adolescents.

“In addition to conducting data analysis [at the BRITE Center]…I helped prepare research results for dissemination at community group meetings. This experience gave me insight into the importance of community outreach and involvement in the research process and in translating empirical findings to advocacy work.”

Amanda is the outcomes and assessment research scientist at the Kessler Foundation Research Center, where she conducts epidemiological research investigating the role of social factors in the experience of disability and chronic illness.  She directs the Kessler Center’s data collection and analysis for the Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems national database and related projects.  She is the principal investigator of a K99 Pathways to Independence Award (from the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Child Health and Development), which investigates the role of economic, social and built environment characteristics on long-term outcomes following spinal cord injury.  Through this research she has demonstrated the importance of considering the effect of place on health and well-being following acquired disability. Amanda received her master’s and doctoral degrees in public health from UCLA, where she trained in epidemiology, medical sociology, survey research, biostatistics and clinical psychology. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers University.

“In 2005, I joined the Center under Dr. Mays. Thanks to Dr. Mays’s research, I was inspired to raise new questions about ethnic minority stress and resilience in cross-cultural psychiatry. The center’s exciting intellectual energy and Dr. Mays’s positive example encouraged me by proving that women, too, can successfully enjoy science careers while creating social change.”

Liza Anulao received her BA from UCLA in women’s studies, with minors in history of science and medicine and LGBT studies. After her time with the BRITE Center, Liza was a National Science Foundation scholar studying the social psychology of LGBT relationships, and then a case manager on Skid Row in Los Angeles. While a Jump Start mental health fellow, she worked with teens and is currently preparing for a clinical and research career helping people recover from schizophrenia.