Melissa DuPont-Reyes, PhD, MPH

Trained as a psychiatric and social epidemiologist, Dr. DuPont-Reyes is an interdisciplinary public health scholar that centers her research on issues of health equity in population mental health among young and diverse populations. Her research seeks to understand how early prevention of mental illness stigma among adolescents may help reduce disparities in mental health care access and utilization across the life course. Her current projects address three important issues in mental illness stigma research: (1) the development and testing of low-dose, high-reach mental health anti-stigma interventions via school mental health education and mass media, (2) evaluation of mental illness stigma across intersectional social identities, and (3) advancing mental health help-seeking theory to help further our understanding of familial aggregation of mental illness. Through her mental health research, Dr. DuPont-Reyes has led studies on U.S.-based Spanish language media that has broader public health implications.