Ashli Owen-Smith

Ashli Owen-Smith is a behavioral scientist affiliated with the School of Public Health at Georgia State University, where her research focuses on mental health disparities, suicide prevention, and integrative/complementary approaches for complex mental-physical health conditions. She works with underserved populations including refugees/immigrants, incarcerated individuals, and LGBTQ+ communities through community-based participatory research and mixed-methods frameworks. Her current projects are funded by CDC, DBHDD, and DPH.

• Education: Ph.D. in Behavioral Sciences (Emory, 2009), S.M. in Public Health (Harvard, 2005), B.A. in Psychology (Smith College, 2001)

Her research spans mental health, trauma, suicide prevention, and mindfulness-based interventions. Recent work examines telehealth adaptations for chronic pain and mental health, vaccine hesitancy in refugee communities, and social determinants of suicide. She leads studies on gender-affirming care and health disparities in LGBTQ+ populations.

Key article trends include epidemiological analysis of suicide risk factors, COVID-19 impacts on mental health, ICD-10 coding for autism, and complementary medicine in trauma recovery. Subfields span telehealth, health equity, mental-physical comorbidity, and community engagement.

Students she has mentored include C.A. Scarlett, T. Griner, and M.M. Sesay. Her work integrates public health policy, clinical research, and health systems analysis.