Faculty Profile
Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD, LCP
- Assistant Professor, Health Behavior and Health Education
Dr. Riana Elyse Anderson is a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and on leave as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health. She earned her PhD in Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Virginia and completed a Clinical and Community Psychology Residency at Yale University's School of Medicine and a Fellowship in Applied Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. On the whole, Dr. Anderson aims to facilitate healing in Black families with practical applications of her research and clinical services, as well as through public engagement, teaching, mentorship, and policy recommendations. Dr. Anderson uses mixed methods to study discrimination and racial socialization in Black families and apply her findings to help families reduce their racial stress. She is particularly interested in how family-based interventions help to improve Black youth's psychosocial well-being and health-related behaviors. Dr. Anderson is the developer and director of the EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) intervention and loves to translate her work for a variety of audiences, particularly those whom she serves in the community, via blogs, video, and literary articles. Finally, Dr. Anderson was born in, raised for, and returned to Detroit and is becoming increasingly addicted to cake pops.
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Applied Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
- Predoctoral Internship, Clinical and Community Psychology, Yale University, 2015
- PhD, Clinical and Community Psychology, University of Virginia, 2015
- MA, Clinical and Community Psychology, University of Virginia, 2011
- BA, Psychology and Political Science, University of Michigan, 2006
- discrimination
- racial socialization
- stress and coping
- intervention
- mental health
- Black families
Research Projects:
Develop a virtual program for youth of color to learn about and process racialized
experiences. By collaborating with developers of adult-based programs, Anderson hopes
to fill the gap in programming addressing youth needs of healing from racial discrimination
and learning from evidence-based and empirically supported racial socialization strategies
Implement a 5-session family and culturally based intervention (EMBRace: Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race) in Detroit and develop comparative studies to establish efficacy of the intervention relative to other treatments. Develop and mentor research staff and students through data analysis, manuscript preparation, and grant proposals. Assess whether EMBRace reduces racial stress and trauma for both parent and child through quantitative, qualitative, observational, and physiological analyses.
Anderson, R., Heard-Garris, N., and DeLapp, R. (2021). Future Directions for Vaccinating Children from the American Endemic: Treating Racism like a Virus. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 51, 1, 127-142.
Anderson, R., Jones, S. C. T., Metzger, I., Saleem, F., Anyiwo, N., Nisbeth, K., Bess, K., Resnicow, K., and Stevenson, H. (2021). Interrupting the pathway from discrimination to psychological outcomes: The contribution of racial worries and racial socialization competency. Child Development, 92, 2375-2394.
Jones, S. C. T., Anderson, R., and Metzger, I. (2021). "Standing in the gap": The continued importance of culturally competent intervention in CBT for Black youth. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 5(3), 327-339.
Metzger, I., Anderson, R., Are, F., and Ritchwood, T. (2021). Healing interpersonal and racial trauma: Integrating racial socialization into TF-CBT for African American youth. Child Maltreatment, 26 (1), 17-27.
Saleem, F., Anderson, R., and Williams, M. (2020). Addressing the "myth" of racial trauma: Developmental and ecological considerations for youth of color. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 23, 1-14.
Anderson, R. E. and Stevenson, H. (2019). RECASTing racial stress and trauma: Theorizing the healing potential of racial socialization in African American families. American Psychologist; Special Issue on Racial Trauma and Healing: Theory, Research, and Public Policy, 74, 63-75.
View full list of publications at https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3LONTJoAAAAJandhl=en
Email: rianae@umich.edu
Google Voice: 586.960.5735
Twitter: @rianaelyse
Office Address: 75 Alta Road, Study 41
Stanford, CA, 94305
For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu
Areas of Expertise: Child Health, Mental Health, Racism
Riana Anderson in the News
5 Tips from Mental Health Experts on Transitioning Out of COVID Restrictions
Riana Anderson featured in PBS News
Seven Ways the Pandemic Is Affecting Our Mental Health
Riana Anderson featured in Greater Good Magazine