Project Team

 

Cynthia Fraga Rizo, PhD, MSW – Project Investigator

Dr. Rizo is an Assistant Professor at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Dr. Rizo has worked on a number of projects in the area of interpersonal violence, including intimate partner violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault. She is currently working on a project to develop school-based sex trafficking content for students as well as protocols to identify and connect at risk youth and victims to needed community services.

Sandra Martin, PhD, MSc – Project Investigator 

Dr. Martin is a Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health, and Associate Dean for Research, in the Gillings School of Global Public Health the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her research includes: high school-based programs to educate students about sex trafficking and refer high-risk/trafficked students to appropriate resources, campus climate surveys of sexual misconduct, evaluation of sexual assault prevention, and work to better understand differential responses/sequela after sexual assault.

Rebecca J. Macy, PhD, MSW – Project Investigator

Dr. Macy is a professor, the Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development, and the L. Richardson Preyer Distinguished Chair for Strengthening Families at the UNC at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. She also serves as the editor-in-chief for the Journal of Family Violence. Macy is a Fellow of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and Guest Professor at Jinan University in Guangdong, China. Her research comprises 18 years’ experience conducting community-based studies that focus on intimate partner violence, sexual violence, human trafficking, and improving services for survivors of violence and trafficking.

Robin Colbert – Associate Director, North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Robin is the Associate Director of the NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault  (NCCASA) where she oversees the Rape Prevention Education Program and manages NCCASA’s Anti Human Trafficking and Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) programmatic internal operations work. Robin serves as the Chair of the NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking, a non- profit coalition of committed members collaborating in knowledge and practice to provide leadership and support across NC to eradicate human trafficking. Robin is a SOAR (Stop, Observe Ask, Respond) Training Consultant for the Office of Trafficking in Persons and a member of the HEAL ( Health,  Education, Advocacy, Linkage ) Training/Education Task Force.

Chris Croft – Prevention Education Program Manager, North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Chris is the Prevention Education Program Manager for the North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA). Before coming to NCCASA, Chris worked in sexual violence prevention and crisis response for a decade, answering hotlines, leading support groups, and providing hospital and legal accompaniment for survivors. Croft’s current work brings together lived experience, years of direct service and community-based consent and prevention education work, and graduate study in social justice, human rights, and gender theory. Croft co-authored the Human Trafficking Commission’s “Standards of Service for Survivors of Human Trafficking” as well as “Expanding Our Reach” – NCCASA’s manual for rape crisis centers to improve services to survivors of trafficking.

Courtney Dunkerton – Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist, North Carolina Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Courtney is the Anti-Human Trafficking Specialist of the NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault (NCCASA) where she develops trainings and provides technical assistance to equip NC rape crisis centers and NCCASA member agencies to serve survivors of human trafficking, and consults with Juvenile Justice facilities on the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Standards. Courtney is the Regional Response Coordinator for the NC Coalition Against Human Trafficking (NCCAHT). She is a CACNC trained child forensic interviewer, a trained NCVAN Victim Practitioner, and sits on the Human Trafficking Commission’s (HTC) ad-hoc sub-committee to develop the HT ”Standards of Service for Survivors of Human Trafficking.”

Hannabeth Franchino-Olsen, PhD, MS, MPH – Research Assistant 

Hannabeth is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on gender-based violence both domestically and abroad and includes projects through the Carolina Population Center, where she was also a predoctoral trainee.

Melissa Jenkins, MSW – Doctoral Research Assistant

Melissa is a doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Meredith College and earned her Master of Social Work with a concentration in Community, Management and Policy Practice from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2018. During her time in the MSW program, she worked with Project NO REST, a statewide project to increase awareness and prevention around human trafficking. She is interested in the complexity of neurodivergent identities in help-seeking behavior and accessibility to resources for commercial sexually exploited youth with disabilities.

Past Team Members

Many thanks to past team members for their invaluable contributions to the project!

Sarah Godoy, MSW – Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Greeshma James – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Erin Meehan – Graduate Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Emma Mairson – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Brooke Lombardi, MSW – Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Alexandria Lesak, MPH – Doctoral Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Lee Doyle – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health and School of Social Work

Hannah Winslow – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health and School of Social Work

Lian Folger – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Brittney Chesworth, MSW, LCSW – Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Social Work

LB Klein, MSW, MPA – Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Melissa Villodas, LMSW – Doctoral Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Colleen Boyle – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Raye Dooley – Graduate Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Marlowe Crews – Graduate Research Assistant, School of Social Work

Lily Stevens – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health

Kate Crissman – Graduate Research Assistant, Gillings School of Global Public Health