معرفی
Claudia-Santi F. Fernandes serves as Vice President of Research and Evaluation at Born This Way Foundation while holding academic appointments as Assistant Clinical Professor in the Child Study Center and Assistant Professor Adjunct in the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science at Yale School of Medicine. Her career bridges clinical practice, public health, and digital innovation with a focus on youth mental health and substance use prevention.
Her educational background includes an EdD from Columbia University Teachers College in Health & Behavior Studies (2017) and an MA from New York University Steinhardt School in Applied Psychology (2009). Before transitioning to research, she worked as a public school teacher, bilingual school counselor in New York City, and founding leadership member at Bard High School Early College Newark.
Dr. Fernandes specializes in developing and evaluating digital interventions to improve youth mental health and wellbeing, with particular emphasis on suicide prevention among youth who misuse substances. Her research employs a public health approach to scale evidence-based interventions through schools and digital platforms. She has led significant NIH-funded projects including the HEAL initiative to address opioid misuse in youth through school-based health centers.
Her publication record demonstrates consistent focus on digital game interventions for health behavior change, with recent work spanning HIV prevention, opioid misuse prevention, mental health promotion, and school-based interventions. These studies reflect her commitment to innovative, technology-mediated approaches to reach youth at scale.
Among her honors are the YCCI Scholar Award (2021), multiple NIDA/NIH Loan Repayment Program awards, and her current fellowship as a 2024-2025 Public Voices Fellow with The OpEd Project.
Dr. Fernandes actively translates research into practice through collaborations with XRPediatrics, CHIL@Yale, and The ACCESS Lab. She previously served as Deputy Director of Mental Health & Wellbeing at the play2PREVENT Lab and as Project Director for the NIH/NIDA-funded HEAL initiative. Her work bridges research, policy, and implementation to improve youth mental health outcomes nationally.
