Sannisha Dale, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Strengthening Health through INnovation and Engagement (SHINE) Research Program
Chair, Diversity and Equity Committee, Department of Psychology
Dr. Sannisha Dale is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and a Licensed Clinical Psychologist at the University of Miami (UM). She is the Founder and Director of the SHINE (Strengthening Health through Innovation and Engagement) Research Program. Dr. Dale also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Dale completed her PhD at Boston University, internship and postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital /Harvard Medical School (MGH/HMS), and was on faculty at MGH/HMS prior to joining UM. Dr. Dale’s primary research interests are (a) enhancing our understanding of the relationships between resilience, trauma, and health outcomes among individuals with HIV and those placed at risk for HIV, (b) investigating psychosocial and structural factors that relate to HIV health inequities, (c) developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to promote resilience and good health outcomes amongst survivors of trauma and individuals with or placed at risk for HIV, especially individuals minoritized due to racism (e.g., Blacks/African Americans), sexism, heterosexism, and cisgenderism, and who are heavily burdened by the HIV epidemic, and (d) engaging community members and stakeholders in research.
Education
| 2014 | Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Boston Unviersity |
| 2005 | Ed.M Human Development and Psychology, Harvard University |
Professional Experience
| 2017 - | Faculty, University of Miami |
| 2015 - 2017 | Assistant in Psychology/Instructor in Psychology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School |
Honors & Acknowledgements
2015 Vera S. Paster Award
2016 Emerging Professional- Contributions to Research Award
APA Division 45-Society forthe Psychological Study ofCulture, Ethnicity, and Race
2017 Rhoda Johnson-Tuckett Award for Community Engaged Research
Harvard University Center for AIDS Research
2017 Community Heroes Award
2018 Samuel M. Turner Early Career Award for Distinguished Contribution to Diversity Research in Clinical Psychology
2018 Carolyn Payton Early Career Award
APA Division 35, Section 1, Society for the Psychology of Women
Research Interests
I am a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in conducting research on the intersection of mental (e.g., PTSD) and physical health (e.g. HIV) and developing interventions. I completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology at Boston University in 2014, Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School (HMS) in 2015, Predoctoral Fellowship at the MGH/HMS in 2014, and a Master’s Degree in Human Development and Psychology at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2005. I was previously an Assistant in Psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School. I joined the Psychology Department at the University of Miami’s in August of 2017 as an Assistant Professor in Psychology.
My primary research interests are (a) enhancing our understanding of the relationships between resilience, trauma, and health outcomes among individuals with HIV and those at risk for HIV, (b) investigating psychosocial (e.g., microaggressions, discrimination) and structural factors (e.g., poverty) that relate to HIV health disparities, (c) developing effective prevention and intervention strategies to promote resilience and good health outcomes amongst survivors of trauma and individuals with or at risk for HIV, especially members of racial minority (e.g., Blacks/African Americans) and gender and sexual minority groups who are heavily burdened by the HIV epidemic, and (d) engaging community members and stakeholders in research. I have been the principal investigator of four grants in the area of HIV (K23 award from NIMH, F31 award from NIMH, a scholar award via the Harvard Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), and a provost award from the University of Miami). The K23 study (Striving Towards EmPowerment and Medication Adherence [STEP-AD]) developed and assessed the feasibility and acceptability of an intervention to improve medication adherence for Black women with HIV by combining evidence-based strategies for trauma symptom reduction, strategies for coping with racial and HIV-related discrimination, gender empowerment, problem solving techniques for medication adherence, and other resilient coping techniques. The study funded by the Provost Award is aimed at piloting a brief two-session counseling intervention (MI-PrEP) that combines psychoeducation on PrEP, motivational interviewing techniques, and light case management in a culturally-informed manner to promote PrEP uptake among Black women at risk for HIV.
In addition to the noted projects above, I collaborate on several other research efforts. For instance, I am a Co-Investigator on a R01 grant (PIs Howe and Keita) aimed at creating a reliable and valid resilience measure to capture individual, interpersonal, and neighborhood resilience components among African Americans with HIV and assess whether higher resilience facilitates positive HIV outcomes by the level of the neighborhood risk environment. I am also a Co-Investigator and the Scientific Director for Community Engagement for a recently funded P30 grant (University of Miami Developmental Mental Health HIV/AIDS Research Center [PI Safren]). In all research endeavors, I view community engagement and involvement as the key and start to doing research that can be adopted in community settings to have a positive impact. Positive community relationships both ground and inspire my approach to research.
Research Projects
Striving Towards Empowerment and Medication Adherence (STEP-AD)
NIMH 1K23MH108439
P.I. – Dale
Thepurposeofthecurrentstudyistodevelopandassessthefeasibilityandacceptabilityofaninterventiontoimprovemedicationadherence for Blackwomen withHIVbycombiningevidence-based strategies for traumasymptomreduction,strategiesforcopingwithracialandHIV-relateddiscrimination,gender empowerment,problemsolvingtechniquesformedicationadherence,andotherresilientcopingtechniques.Motivational Interviewing to Increase Motivation for PrEP Uptake Among Black Woman at Risk for HIV (MI-PrEP)
University of Miami Provost Award
P.I. - Dale
This proposal will develop and pilot a brief two-session counseling intervention (MI-PrEP) that combines psychoeducation on PrEP, motivational interviewing techniques, and case management (e.g. helping with access to insurance or medication programs for low-income patients) in a culturally-informed manner to promote PrEP uptake among Black women at high risk for HIV.The role of resilience in addressing racial disparities in adverse HIV-related outcomes
NIMH1R01MH112386
P.I. Howe &Keita
Co.I. Dale
This study aims to (1) use advanced concept mapping, which is a mixed methods approach, to generateitems that capture all components of resilience; (2) perform psychometric testing of concept mapping itemsto create a reliable and valid resilience measure that includes all components of resilience; (3a)examine whether resilience and non-resilience individual-level factors (e.g., alcohol/drug use, mental illness,and health insurance) are prospectively associated with HIV outcomes (e.g., clinic attendance, ARTadherence, and virologic suppression) by the level of the neighborhood risk environment; and (3b) assess forinteractions between resilience and non-resilience individual-level factors by the level of the riskenvironment.Publications
Dale SK, Kelso G, Cruise RC, Watson C, Cohen M, Weber KM, Watson C, Burke-Miller JK, Brody LR. "Resilience among women with HIV: Impact of silencing the self and socioeconomic factors" Sex Roles 221-231 (2014).
Dale SK, Cohen M, Weber K, Cruise RC, Kelso G, Brody LR. "Abuse and resilience in relation to HAART medication adherence and HIV viral load among women with HIV in the United States." AIDS Patient Care STDS 28 (3), 136-143 (2014).
