Investigators

Hope Seib McMaster, PhD

Hope serves as a civilian research psychologist at the Naval Health Research Center where she is the Principal Investigator of the Millennium Cohort Family Study and Principal Investigator of the newly funded Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR). Dr. McMaster helped launch the Family Study in 2010 and is now the lead investigator for all foundational papers and the mental health research portfolio director. Prior to joining NHRC, Dr. McMaster taught at the University of Hawaii while her family was stationed at Kaneohe Marine Corp Base, worked as a research psychologist for the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, and examined racial disparities in health for the Nashville Metropolitan Health Department. Over the past two decades, she has published on the topics of racial bias, racial disparities in health, military couple relationships, survey methodology, and factors influencing military spouse well-being. She also has two active-duty military-connected adolescent daughters.

Sarah Carinio

Sarah is a Study Coordinator at the Naval Health Research Center (NHRC) in San Diego, CA. She is currently c oordinating efforts for the Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR). Prior to her role as a study coordinator, Ms. Carinio served as a Research Associate in the Health and Behavioral Sciences Department at NHRC. She received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health from San Diego State University in 2017.

Karen Tannenbaum, PhD

Karen is a research psychologist at NHRC where she is the study lead for three research efforts including a program evaluation study, and two studies investigating barriers and facilitators for help-seeking behavior among Marines with depression and male survivors of military sexual trauma. Dr. Tannenbaum serves as key personnel for the Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) team, supporting survey development and manuscript preparation. Her research interests include romantic relationships, negative interpersonal experiences, sexual identity - behavior discordance, gender expression, and the health and wellbeing of sexual minority/gender diverse military members and military-connected adolescents. She has published empirical manuscripts and technical reports on sexual identity-behavior discordance and military program evaluation.

Sabrina Richardson, PhD

Sabrina is a developmental psychologist interested in child adaptation to military and non-military risk, with a particular attention to relationship processes of resilience. She has worked at the Naval Health Research Center for the past seven years. Among her topics of study, Sabrina has focused on foster youth sibling relationships and narrative meaning making, social worker-youth communication processes, military spouse adjustment to and readiness for future deployments, marital stability among military spouses, and child maltreatment in the first two years of life among military parents. Most recently, Sabrina has been studying child behavioral adjustment to family separation from service.

Neika Sharifian, PhD

Neika is a Research Scientist for the Millennium Cohort Study and the Millennium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) at the Naval Health Research Center. Dr. Sharifian completed her PhD in Developmental Psychology at North Carolina State University and her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. Over the past decade, Dr. Sharifian has published on topics such as modifiable psychosocial factors associated with socioemotional and cognitive aging and health disparities.

Kelly Woodall, MPH

Kelly is an epidemiologist at the Naval Health Research Center serving with the Millennium Cohort Program for over 10 years. She is an author and coauthor on publications addressing physical, mental, and behavioral health among service members and their families, military family readiness and retention, as well as spouse economic well-being. Her expertise is in the management and analysis of complex datasets including longitudinal cohort research designs, mixed survey and archival data, and dyadic data modeling. She is a military spouse with three young children.

Samuel Chung, PhD

Samuel is a research scientist supporting the Millenium Cohort Study of Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) and the Millenium Cohort Family Study at the Naval Health Research Center. Dr. Chung completed his doctoral degree in social and personality psychology at Washington University in St. Louis, where his research focused on the interplay between personal traits and behaviors within close friendships and romantic relationships. Other recent work also includes topics related to traumatic brain injury, blast exposure, and psychological health.

Alex Esquivel, MPH

Alex is a Data Analyst for the Millennium Cohort Family Study (MCFS) at the Naval Health Research Center. His time at NHRC has been primarily with the Family Study where he’s helped publish manuscripts regarding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, military separation, and other various topics. He has also worked as an intern and Research Assistant with the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) prior to his time with the Family Study. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from California State University San Marcos in 2015 and Master of Public Health from San Diego State University in 2017.