Meet the Members of the THESIS Lab

Stephanie Guinosso, PhD, MPH

Manager

Stephanie Guinosso is the Associate Director for HEARTS (Healthy Environments and Response to Trauma in Schools) and Manager of the THESIS Lab. Her work focuses on developing and implementing programs and systems change efforts that foster safe, supportive, and equitable learning and teaching environments. Her specific research interests include: trauma-informed systems, social and emotional well-being, and implementation and improvement science. As a “pracademic,” Dr. Guinosso bridges research and practice, honoring the richness of diverse perspectives while striving for continuous improvement within complex organizational systems. She has led numerous national, state, and local initiatives integrating trauma-informed principles and approaches into schools, school-based health centers, and youth- and family-serving programs. In her free time, she enjoys raising a small human, gardening, dancing, and spending time with friends and family.

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Alan Farsio Mozaffari, EdM, MPH

Alan Farsio Mozaffari is a Health Policy PhD student. His research examines how social and political-economic conditions within systems (e.g., schools, the criminal-legal system, and urban systems) shape developmental health and trajectories in early childhood and adolescence. Prior to starting his PhD, he conducted community-based participatory research with youth and their families in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and St. Louis, MO, as well as quantitative research for a longitudinal, population-based study of young children in Massachusetts. He holds a Master of Education and a Master of Public Health, both from Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Urban Studies from Washington University in St. Louis. In his free time, he plays basketball and jazz, and bikes around San Francisco, where he was born and raised.

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Alisha Kaur Judge

Althea Bustos Ito

Althea Bustos Ito is a first-generation Filipina undergraduate research apprentice shaped by schools that taught her both survival and softness. Rooted in Azusa, she learned early that education can be both lifeline and battleground, where stories are too often dismembered and forgotten. She sees Ethnic Studies as a practice of re-membering, loving refusal, and critical care. As a Teaching Intern with Liberation Learners in East Oakland, she helps cultivate classrooms where students are loved into language, power, and promise. An aesthete at heart, she is drawn to fashion, beauty, and style as diasporic technologies for preserving, reclaiming, and expanding cultural imaginaries for BIPOC people. Sometimes, the archive walks into the room with us, dressed in what we learn to carry forward.

Anna Wikle, MPH

Anna Wikle is a UC Berkeley School of Public Health alumna and current Research Data Analyst at the UC Berkeley School of Education who contributes her background in public health and data analysis to her work at the THESIS lab. Anna's current research informs policy and practices to improve health equity.he contributed to a paper titled "Determinants of Dental Absenteeism among California Youth," which is currently under review at JDR Clinical & Translational Research. She also is working on a paper that analyzes the distribution of quality school police officers based on school demographics. Outside of work and THESIS, Anna enjoys yoga, hiking, and cycling–enjoying the beautiful scenery of the Bay Area!

Aukeem Ballard, MAT, MA

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Byron Lu

Byron Lu is an undergraduate research apprentice at UC Berkeley pursuing a B.A. in Statistics. Driven by a desire to create meaningful social impact through data analysis and statistical modeling, he focuses his research interests on coding across statistical programming languages like R and Stata, with direct applications to biostatistics and public health. At the THESIS Lab, he currently works on the SPOT (Student Perspectives Over Time) project as part of the methods team, ensuring clarity across the methods, results, and supplementary sections while verifying consistency and spot-checking point estimates. Outside the lab, Byron enjoys playing chess, guitar, and basketball.

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Christina Chang

Christina Chang is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in psychology with minors in journalism, global public health, and public policy. Her research interests center on youth mental health and well-being, particularly in school contexts. Christina’s current work includes an honors thesis examining how teacher-student relationships shape positive help-seeking attitudes among high school students; a paper co-led with Dr. Darling-Hammond on how racism harms student, educator, and caregiver health through K–12 scholastic mechanisms; a literature review with Meghana Ammula on social media usage and mental health among vulnerable youth; and a mixed-methods project with Ekene Azuka focused on demystifying Networked Improvement Communities. In her free time, she enjoys creative writing, art, and making and indulging in sweet treats.

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Ekene Azuka, MA

Ekene Azuka is a fourth-year doctoral student in School Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Dr. Frank Worrell. She is also pursuing the Early Learning Science & Child Policy Graduate Certificate. Ekene earned her M.A. from Berkeley’s School of Education and her B.S. from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development. Her research interests include trauma-informed education, implementation science, educational policy, and school improvement, with a focus on how schools can effectively implement and sustain practices that support students impacted by trauma. Her current research includes developing and evaluating the TIP-PPEE Framework, a trauma-informed, implementation science-guided framework for K–12 schools; the Promising Practices: Reducing Suspensions for African American/Black Students and Demystifying the NIC projects; and the HEARTS Professional Learning Institute Feasibility and Acceptability project. Outside of research, Ekene enjoys competitive karaoke, acting, musical theater, roller derby, and board games.

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Elaina Lee

Elaina Lee is a current Masters in Public Health student in the Maternal Child and Adolescent Health concentration. A double bear, she received her undergraduate degree in Public Health with a minor in Data Science. Since joining the lab, Elaina has contributed to projects about alternative school practices on student mental health, the impact of school policies on scholastic outcomes over time, and pediatric social determinants of health screeners. Her research interests include identifying how medical systems can bridge health disparities, especially for families and children. In her free time, she loves drinking lots of coffee and finding the best eats in Berkeley!

Grace Nakashima

Grace Nakashima is an MPH student in Health and Social Behavior at UC Berkeley, advised by Dr. Sean Darling-Hammond. They hold a B.S. in Public Health (Epidemiology) from UC San Diego. Her background in LGBTQ+ centered harm reduction and trauma-informed care shape her research: with curiosity and attention to the people behind the patterns. With THESIS, Grace studies racial harassment and substance use among Asian students while supporting the team as a GSR. Over Summer ‘26, she worked with UCSF to research non-fatal overdoses among PWID in Oakland and SF - work she will develop as her quantitative capstone project. She researches critical consciousness, discrimination, and suicidality among racialized queer communities. Outside work, Grace enjoys rock climbing and clowning around town.

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Katie Nguyen

Katie Nguyen is a fourth-year undergraduate student studying Public Health on the pre-med track. Her research examines how race influences community interactions with education and healthcare systems. At THESIS, she supports the Home-School SEL (Social-Emotional Learning) Mismatch project under Xueqin Lin, contributing to administrative coordination, data collection, and analysis. Outside the lab, she enjoys spending time in nature, playing tennis, and going to the gym.

Lesley Martinez

Lesley Martinez is an undergraduate student studying psychology and education at UC Berkeley. As a recreation specialist for the City of San Pablo, she played a key role in reviving and facilitating a free community program for underprivileged youth, bridging research into practice. For THESIS, her research focuses on improving mental health access in under-resourced K-12 schools by examining current trauma-informed practices and bias in school policy. She supported Ekene Azuka's paper applying implementation science to trauma-informed practices in schools, which is currently under review at School Psychology Review. During her free time, Lesley enjoys baking, crafting, and traveling.

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Uriel Cardoza

Uriel Cardoza is an MPH student concentrating in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at UC Berkeley, where he also earned his BA in Public Health. His research interests include youth wellbeing, mental health, social disparities, and chronic diseases. Joining THESIS as an undergraduate, Uriel collaborated with Alan Mozaffari on the "Pathways of Digital Embodiment" project, where he co-led the conceptualization of pathways between social media application features, feature-specific experiences, youth mental health outcomes, and protections that mitigate adverse mental health effects. In his free time, Uriel loves to try new cafes with friends, attend live music shows and concerts, and read fiction novels.

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Vaibhavi Nataraj Kulkarni

Vaibhavi Kulkarni is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UC Berkeley, majoring in statistics and planning to pursue a Master's in Biostatistics. Coursework in causal inference and applied regression shaped her interest in using statistical methods to answer public health questions, along with an ongoing interest in how those findings are communicated visually. Her research interests include causal inference, public health, and data visualization. As a new member of the THESIS lab, she is supporting the literature review for “Reviewing Student Perspectives Over Time to Track Progress and Identify Priorities.” Outside of research, she enjoys reading, exploring new cafes around Berkeley, and fostering puppies!

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Vansh Mathur

Vansh Mathur is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying philosophy and data science and an advocate for youth in the criminal legal system. At THESIS, he works under Anna Wikle on the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” project, examining student behavioral responses to school resource officers. He is also completing a fellowship at the Vera Institute of Justice, researching the efficacy of AI tools in prosecution and case management. Outside the lab, Vansh has danced for twelve years and is the former captain of UCB Azaad, Berkeley's Bollywood dance team.

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Xueqin Lin, PHD, MEd

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