Law & Psychiatry Program News

Drs. Gina Vincent and Spencer Lawson recently published a brief and podcast related to their research on Pretrial Risk Assessment: Behavioral Health and Racial Equity, a partnership study with the Policy Research Associates.

Law & Psychiatry Program Co-Director, Gina Vincent, PhD, will be giving the keynote speech at the Colorado Department of Human Services — Division of Youth Services 2024 Annual Fall Conference.

Law & Psychiatry Program clinicians Natalie Anumba, PhD, ABPP, and Danielle Rynczak, JD, PsyD, ABPP along with Lara Guzman-Hosta, PsyD at Boston Medical Center, presented to the APA Division 18 Psychologists in Public Service on September 6, 2024.

Hosted by The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, UMass Chan Medical School, and UC Berkeley’s Risk-Resilience Lab, Principal researchers Gina Vincent and Jennifer Skeem will share key findings for this initial analysis, including research-based strategies for juvenile justice supervision, case planning, and service delivery to enhance public safety and improve youth outcomes.  

Law & Psychiatry Program Co-Director, Gina Vincent PhD, will be presenting at the NIJ 2024 National Research Conference "Advancing Justice Through Science" Sept. 16-18, 2024 in Pittsburg, PA.

Danielle Rynczak was chosen to give a “Featured Presentation” (less than 2% of presentations are chosen) titled: "Preventing Burnout: Sustaining Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Efforts in Public Service Settings", at the 2024 Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

Law & Psychiatry Program Co-Director, Natalie Anumba PhD, received the American Psychology-Law Society Outstanding Service as Member-at-Large Award at the 2024 Annual APA Convention held August 8-10, 2024.

Spencer G. Lawson, PhD, a senior research scientist in the Law and Psychiatry program in the Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center, or iSPARC, at UMass Chan, has been named a W.E.B DuBois Fellow and received funding from the National Institute of Justice to help launch a project aimed at creating a model for correctional agencies to identify and reduce potential racial and ethnic disparities and thoroughly assess their classification systems, which are used to determine custody level designations and facility assignments for incarcerated individuals.

Dr. Gina Vincent, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, iSPARC Researcher, and Director of Translational Law & Psychiatry Research was awarded a new research grant on Pre-Trial Risk Assessment from the MacArthur Foundation.

Dr. Gina Vincent, Director of Translational Law & Psychiatry Research, Co-Director Law & Psychiatry at iSPARC recently did a 2-part podcast with the RFK Community Alliance about her work on Juvenile Risk Assessment.