Dismantling Mental Health Disparities: Meet the 2026 Emerging Scholars

Arya Patel is a junior at Drew University studying Media & Communications and minoring in Physics and Photography. She plans to become a patent lawyer, along with running her own photography business.

Her research is based on the South Asian student population and how they are affected through cultural and familial expectations surrounding academic success — contributing to stress, anxiety, and burnout — and how culturally tailored storytelling reduces the stigma of seeking mental health support.

Ashley Hassman is a junior at Drew University pursuing a dual degree in Psychology and Sociology. Her academic and research interests center on mental health, peer support, and how cultural, familial, and systemic pressures shape students’ emotional well-being.

Through research, storytelling, and peer counseling, she is particularly interested in reducing stigma around mental health support and amplifying student voices to promote more accessible, compassionate, and culturally responsive care among BIPOC communities.

Felix Lou is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University studying Medicine, Health, & Society and Asian American Studies. His project, in collaboration with Yutian Li of Harvard College, examines the structural and cultural factors behind Asian American help-seeking. He is interested in leveraging history to contextualize mental health disparities and develop culturally-tailored recommendations to improve equity.

Yutian Li is a sophomore at Harvard College, studying Neuroscience and Government. As a human rights activist and public speaker, she is passionate about destigmatizing mental health and improving access to mental health support for marginalized communities. In the future, Yutian hopes to pursue a MD-PhD degree in psychiatry and public health policy. Her research explores how stereotypes and cultural factors impact help-seeking behaviors among AAPI college students.

Abigail Demosthene is a third-year undergraduate student at Northeastern University, majoring in Behavioral Neuroscience. She has an extensive background in neuroscience and healthcare equity research. Her research project examines the relationship between faith and religion and the willingness to utilize mental health resources. It focuses on how religious coping and medical mistrust shape attitudes toward professional mental healthcare in minority communities.

Samantha Pierre, a Junior at Northeastern University, majors in Data Science and Behavioral Neuroscience. The research focuses on Black churches and members’ viewpoints regarding the usage of mental health resources to identify if there is hesitation and why. In turn, this research will lead to more social awareness and destigmatize the misconceptions involving mental health.

Mary Le is an undergraduate computer science student at Oregon State University with research experience in artificial intelligence and current participation in a technical AI safety accelerator program. Her technical interests include mechanistic interpretability, or understanding how AI systems internally reason and make decisions, in order to improve transparency and safety.

Alongside her technical work, Mary has been involved with multiple nonprofit and youth-led social impact organizations, including work in youth grantmaking, mental health advocacy, and community-based initiatives. These experiences shape her commitment to developing and deploying emerging technologies responsibly, with attention to their impacts on marginalized communities.

Oluwadara Elkanah is fourth year undergraduate student at Oregon State University. She studies Human Development and Family Sciences focusing on Child Development, with a minor in Sociology. Her academic and professional interests center on education policy and advocacy for students of color and students with disabilities. She plans to become an educator and pursue a Masters in Educational Leadership and Policy.

Dara works with multiple nonprofits, one that supports Black youth, and one that supports children experiencing cerebral palsy in Nigeria. She is also the founder of Golden Touch, a hair business rooted in cultural care and creative entrepreneurship. Her research will explore the intersection of AI ethics and mental health outcomes for BIPOC youth.

Karena Meinhardt is a senior undergraduate student at Oregon State University. She will graduate with a major in Human Development and Family Sciences (Child Development option) and a minor in Psychology. Karena plans to pursue a career in research and has gained experience through multiple research labs at OSU, including the K-Readiness Lab and the Adjustment, Identity, and Racism (AIR) Lab.

She is deeply passionate about mental health and how it manifests within communities, a commitment reflected in her on-campus work. Karena serves as an ambassador for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). Her dedication to community well-being is evident in her academic work, career goals, and in her project through Active Minds.

Karena aims to be actively involved and ahead of the curve in mental health education and its marketing. By examining the experiences of children — specifically Black and Brown adolescents — in a predominantly white state, Karena and her team seek to better understand their needs and develop more effective ways to support them in the future.

Kimberly Munayco is a third year undergraduate student at Rutgers University-Newark, majoring in Biology with a minor in Psychology within the Honors College. She intends to attend medical school and work as a medical professional, driven by a desire to provide equitable healthcare to underserved communities. Kimberly’s interest in mental health and holistic patient care has prompted her to investigate how psychoeducation might raise awareness and increase access to mental health resources among young adults from various socioeconomic groups. Her research focuses on BIPOC and low-income communities, which frequently encounter systemic barriers to care, and compares individuals who receive psychoeducation to those who do not in order to better understand the factors driving involvement with mental health services. Kimberly hopes to motivate people to seek help and prioritize their well-being by offering a variety of initiatives. She hopes that by highlighting the value of education, representation, and easily accessible resources, they can promote proactive mental health care. Kimberly’s ultimate goal is to incorporate these insights into their future medical practice, ensuring that marginalized groups receive caring, knowledgeable, and culturally sensitive care.

Gustavo De Lima is a second year undergraduate at Rutgers University Newark. He is majoring in Neurobiology as well as Psychology under Rutgers Newark’s Honors College program. Gustavo aspires to pursue an MD/PhD, eventually practicing psychiatry with a special interest in working with children and young adults. Gustavo is passionate about breaking barriers to mental healthcare for the socioeconomically disadvantaged through peer-to-peer advocacy as well as volunteer initiatives in healthcare.

Through his research in various cognitive neuroscience laboratories, Gustavo has explored the influence of stress on value-based decision making and goal directed behavior in rodent models. His project hopes to identify factors that encourage help-seeking behavior in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations through community engagement, conversation, and outreach.

Zainab Adeoye is a sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Health and Societies with a double major in International Relations. She is a first-generation, pre-law student with a strong interest in health policy and mental health parity. Growing up in the Bronx, Zainab developed a deep commitment to mental health awareness, particularly within West African communities. Her project centers on mental health awareness and culturally responsive interventions in African Muslim communities, with a focus on the religious and cultural stigmas surrounding mental health.

Sndra Elabbas is a first-year undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania with an intended major in Neuroscience and a minor in Linguistics, and aspires to pursue a career in medicine. Her commitment to mental health advocacy began in high school through her work with Active Minds, where she organized guest speakers and led fundraising initiatives to support school-wide mental health efforts. She hopes to continue and expand this advocacy within the university setting.

Her project, developed alongside Zainab Adeoye, centers on the Black Muslim community. This research seeks to explore how faith and cultural identity intersect to shape mental health experiences within African Muslim diasporas. Through partnerships with local communities and Muslim Student Associations, the project aims to generate meaningful research and contribute to broader efforts to improve mental health understanding and care for Black Muslim youth.