January 26, 2007
She is just 28 years old, but St. John’s University clinical
psychology graduate Caryn Rodgers, Ph.D. 2005, already has been
named an academic fellow twice and last year was appointed to the
American Psychological Association’s eight-member Task Force on
Resiliency and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents.
Rodgers, who studies the prevention and intervention of problem
behavior among inner-city minority adolescents, was selected to the
APA task force in May 2006 and this year will co-produce a research
report investigating African-American youth who excel through
adversity. The report will be disseminated among APA members and
the academic community and likely will be used to influence public
legislation.
A native of Windsor, CT, Rodgers graduated from St. John’s
University’s high-profile clinical
psychology program and immediately assumed a post-doctoral
fellowship run by Harvard University Medical School faculty members
through Children’s
Hospital Boston. Titled “Leadership Education in Adolescent
Health,” the fellowships allowed Rodgers to counsel patients three
days a week and instruct Harvard medical students on clinical
psychology and youth depression.
Immediately following her year in Boston, Rodgers accepted a
two-year position as a W.K. Kellogg Community Health Scholar at
Johns Hopkins University, one of six selected from an applicant
pool of hundreds. She is now engaged in community-based
participatory research on parental intervention strategies to
combat youth violence. (As opposed to learning about at-risk groups
through traditional literature-based research, community-based
participatory research allows scholars to learn about certain
groups through direct collaboration with their members.)
Rodgers is currently working to develop effective strategies to
combat problem behaviors such as fighting, school suspension and
substance abuse. Later this year, she and other researchers under
the leadership of Dr. Tina Cheng will begin to implement a
violence-prevention program for parents in the Baltimore
community.
“Plenty of research has focused on direct intervention of
troubled adolescents, but there is not much research out there that
targets the parents of these youth,” says Rodgers. “In Baltimore
city youth violence is a community concern. It is important to
solicit information from the parents to provide effective
interventions.”
Though her work at Johns Hopkins takes up the majority of her
time, Rodgers currently is in the process of completing three
manuscripts: one on the difference between adolescent girls who did
and did not experiment with drugs while in middle school; a second
on the gender differences between adolescent boys and girls who
abstain from violent behavior; and a third on the relationships
between depression, substance abuse and violence and the way they
affect the professional lives of inner-city African-American
youth.
During her time at St. John’s, Rodgers completed clinical
rotations with Long Island Jewish Hillside Hospital, Queens
Children Psychiatric Center and mercyFirst residential treatment
and foster care agency (Brooklyn campus), where she worked with
pregnant adolescents and counseled juvenile delinquents before and
after court hearings.
“The clinical experience and exposure at St. John’s is
phenomenal,” says Rodgers, who aspires for a long-term career in
academia or a teaching hospital. “Most of my colleagues I’ve met
along the way were not exposed to the combination of community clinics,
internships and externships in school. St. John’s has given me a
doorway into a situation where I can make a positive contribution
to the lives of adolescents, and now, although it’s intimidating, I
kind of feel like it’s my time.”