Clinical Alumni News

Courtney Peasant, Ph.D., Clinical, 2014

Courtney is a research clinical psychologist at RTI International, headquartered in the Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. At RTI, a nonprofit organization that provides research and technical services, she collaborates with team members in the Substance Use, Gender and Applied Research (SUGAR) program to develop, evaluate and scale-up women-focused HIV prevention interventions for substance-using women.

Her research investigates how the intersection of gender-based violence, mental health and substance use influences HIV-related behaviors among minority populations and explores how to increase the sustainability of HIV prevention interventions.

Courtney currently serves on the Governing Board of the Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues, a special interest group of the American Public Health Association, and is the HIV/AIDS topic chair for the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

Prior to joining RTI, Courtney completed an NIMH-funded T-32 postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University's Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS.

During graduate school, Courtney worked in the Community Outreach Lab to implement and evaluate community-based interventions for vulnerable youth and in the HABIT lab to help implement an NIAAA-funded clinical trial for an intervention to reduce alcohol consumption among heavy-drinking college students. She also worked extensively in the Department of Psychology and in Infectious Diseases at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital as a research assistant.

In the Memphis community, Courtney co-led initiatives to improve mental health services received by individuals living with HIV and mentored young girls in the Westwood community.