Dr.Danielle Ramo is Assistant Professor and licensed psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF . She directs the Research on Addictions and Digital Interventions ("Readi") lab (readi.ucsf.edu). Her research program focuses on using digital media to change health risk behaviors including tobacco, alcohol, and other drug involvement. Funded with a K23 Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Ramo has developed the Tobacco Status Project social media intervention to help young adults quit smoking, and is testing its efficacy in a randomized clinical trial with 500 young adults. Additional studies are examining patterns and toxicology of electronic-cigarette use in adolescents and tobacco and marijuana co-use in young adults funded by the California Tobacco-Related Diseases Research Program. Her research has demonstrated the high prevalence of tobacco and marijuana co-use, associations between co-use and smoking, and differences in motivation and thoughts about abstinence for the two substances in co-users.
Dr. Ramo serves as program faculty for the NIDA-funded Substance Abuse Treatment and Services Research Training Program and the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education Postdoctoral Fellowship in the UCSF School of Medicine. Dedicated to teaching and mentoring, she also co-leads a Leadership Seminar for senior trainees in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Ramo has an interest in prevention of substance use disorders in young people. To this end she serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Being Adept prevention intervention program (Beingadept.org), helping to design curriculum and speaking to teens, parents, and school administrators throughout the Bay Area about adolescent substance abuse.
She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Columbia University, a Doctorate from the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, and postdoctoral training in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF.
Meredith Meacham is a postdoctoral scholar in the UCSF Department of Psychiatry’s NIDA Fellowship in Drug Abuse Treatment and Health Services Research. She earned her PhD in Public Health (Global Health) in 2015 from the University of California San Diego/San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program, with a dissertation on polydrug use and risk of HIV and overdose in the U.S.-Mexico border region. She also has an MPH from the University of Washington and an AB from the University of Chicago. As a public health scientist with nearly a decade of domestic and international research experience on substance use, mental health, and HIV, she uses multidisciplinary analytic methods for understanding comorbidities and co-occurring behaviors within changing social and political contexts. In the READI lab she is contributing to analysis and development of tailored smoking cessation interventions on Facebook and developing projects to explore how recreational and medical cannabis users use social media and online communities to seek and share health information.
Dr. Erin Vogel is a postdoctoral fellow in the NIDA Postdoctoral Training Program in Drug Abuse Treatment and Services Research in the Department of Psychiatry at UCSF. She earned her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 2017 from the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio. She also holds an M.A. from the University of Toledo (2014) and a B.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University (2012). As a graduate student, Erin conducted research on social cognitive processes in applied contexts, such as health and social media use. Her dissertation focused on social and temporal comparison in self-evaluations of health and fitness. As a postdoc in the Readi Lab, she is excited to begin researching social media-based interventions for smoking cessation, alcohol and drug use, and other health-related behaviors. Outside of work, a few of Erin’s favorite things include coffee, rainy days, and cooking.
Alina Belohlavek, graduated San Francisco State University with her BA in Psychology. In Fall 2013, she started working in the San Francisco State University Relationships, Emotion and Health Lab where she continues to study social relationships and emotion. Her main research interests include substance use among young adults and close relationship functioning. Alina has presented posters at APS, SPSP, and SFSU COSE Showcase. In her spare time Alina enjoys reading, hiking, and creating the perfect sandwich.
Manpreet Kaur graduated from San Francisco State University with a Masters in Developmental Psychology. As a graduate student, she worked at the Time and Diversity Lab, where she examined the relationship between anxiety and time perspective among adolescents. During her masters, Manpreet translated the Adolescent Time Perspective Inventory (ATI) to an Indian language. She also worked at the Motivation and Emotion lab, studying the motivational and emotional processes among individuals with schizophrenia. Manpreet has presented posters at SFSU graduate showcase and Society for Research in Psychopathology and published a manuscript on her work comparing adolescents in different Indian schools. As a clinical research coordinator in the READI lab, Manpreet will be working on a R34 project that focuses on developing a novel Facebook-based intervention to treat tobacco use and heavy episodic drinking.
Lauren Smith is a Clinical Research Coordinator in the Readi Lab. She graduated from the University of Sydney, Australia with a Master of Applied Science in Health Psychology, and from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in Psychology. Lauren has previously conducted research in the UCSF’s Program in Genetics and Epidemiology of Neuropsychiatric Symptoms Lab on a clinical trial evaluating treatments for Hoarding Disorder, in an alcohol and other drug support organization, working directly with people affected by addictions, and as a graduate student in the University’s Health Psychology Lab on studies examining habit formation and addictions. In the Readi Lab, Lauren works on R21 and TRPRD projects which focus on developing and implementing novel Facebook-based interventions to treat tobacco use in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as coordinates the Digital Health Core. Outside of work, Lauren is a volunteer researcher and Agriculture Committee Member helping to develop a School of Agriculture for Northrise University, Zambia. She also enjoys baking, going to shows, travelling, and being outside.
Mandy Chan graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S in Biochemistry and Cell Biology. She believes that digital health technologies can improve the United States healthcare system by promoting patient engagement, increasing health literacy, and addressing the stigma and accessibility of mental health. In the READI lab, she hopes to learn more about how digital health interventions can influence behavior change. Mandy plans to enter medical school in the next few years. Her free time consists of exploring new terrains, kickboxing, and eating ice cream.
Dr. Larissa J. Maier is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Psychiatry of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to this, she was appointed as a consultant in Drug Use Epidemiology at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Furthermore, she has conducted significant addiction research studies at the Swiss Research Institute for Public Health and Addiction (ISGF), an affiliated institute of the University of Zurich. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical and Health Psychology in 2015 from the University of Zurich with a dissertation on prevalence and correlates of substance use for neuroenhancement. Further areas of expertise include recreational drug use, drug checking, web surveys, and digital health interventions for behavior change. Larissa is part of the Core Research Team of Global Drug Survey (GDS) aiming to make drug use safer, regardless of the legal status of the drug. Also, she is a member of the European Society of Prevention Research (EUSPR) and the related Early Career Forum, the International Society of Substance Use Professionals (ISSUP), the International Society for the Study of Drug Policy (ISSDP), the Society for Prevention Research (SPR), and the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD). In the READI lab, Larissa aims to evaluate the impact of a smoking cessation intervention delivered via Facebook and to produce further valuable research on youth substance use that can help inform drug policy.
READI Lab Alumni
1. Dr. Karma Mckelvey
3. D'Arius Hambrick
4. Oona Kellly
5. Richard Ceballos
6. Ella Corpuz
