Biography

University of Maryland Baltimore County - Psychology

Behavioral Health Epidemiologist at TechWerks, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
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Katie L.
Nugent
Silver Spring, Maryland
I am a psychiatric epidemiologist that works to improve public health. Currently I investigate topics related to mental health service use in active duty military populations. This includes investigations of predictors of behavioral health symptoms and receipt of care. I also develop interventions for behavioral health providers to facilitate appropriate treatment. My interests lie in the study of protective factors that promote resilience in the face of stress, the effects of stress on the body, the path to recovery and predictors of good outcome after the experience of mental illness.

Early in my career I worked for several years on a psychiatric unit of a community hospital, and developed a passion for helping individuals with schizophrenia cope with their symptoms and achieve their goals. I completed a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology and became licensed as a LCPC. I then completed a rigorous doctorate program in Public Health, focusing on psychiatric epidemiology. During my graduate training I worked on several studies related to recovery from severe mental illness and promoting physical health of persons with SMI. I then completed a 3 year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Maryland Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, where I investigated how alterations in the stress response system in individuals with schizophrenia and their relatives may relate to psychiatric impairments and somatic comorbidities. I was awarded a NARSAD Young Investigator Award in 2013 for a research project in this domain and became an Instructor at the MPRC in 2014. During this time was also an instructor of Abnormal Psychology for undergraduates at the Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County.