News
Dr. Short Featured on the International Academy of Forensic Nursing’s Podcast
May 26th, 2022
Dr. Short spoke on the IAFN’s podcast, discussing pain post-sexual assault. She discussed how PTSD symptoms may contribute and account for the transition from acute to chronic pain, focusing on how these findings will help impact and improve the lives of sexual assault survivors. Congratulations to Dr. Short and check out the podcast here!
Graduating Alumni
May 26th, 2022
A huge congratulations to our graduating alumni— Riya Thomas (BS 2022), Priya Naik (BA 2022), and Mahlon Brady (BA 2022). Mahlon is now currently the ITR-STAR coordinator and Riya is working as a research assistant in the Clinical Addictions Research Laboratory at the University of Chicago with a focus on determining factors that lead to excessive use of alcohol, tobacco and other substances with developing interventions in treatment. Congratulations again!
Research presented at Society of Biological Psychiatry
May 26th, 2022
Shoutout to Riya, a RISE undergraduate research assistant, and Jahnvi, RISE’s coordinator, for presenting research at the Society of Biological Psychiatry. Check out these photos!
Undergraduate Volunteer Research Assistant Featured on UNC Chancellor’s Science Scholars Instagram
February 11th, 2022
Shout-out to one of RISE’s undergraduate volunteer research assistants, Divya Aikat (’25), for being featured on the UNC Chancellor’s Science Scholar Instagram post focusing on her interests, current work with ITR-STAR and the various research opportunities UNC has to offer. We are super proud to have her part of our team!!!
Check out the post here!
RISE RCT Launch Update
December 14th, 2021
We have received approval from UNC IRB to officially start recruitment! Our UNC tele-consenters are trained and ready for participant enrollment! Additionally, our SAFE Austin’s site has launched, as of December 1st! We thank the Nurses and Advocates for training with us and being part of this project! The Tulsa FNE collaboration agreement is in progress and we can’t wait to have them as an Active Site!
Dr. Short and Dr. McLean Awarded a Grant from the Mayday Funday
June 14th, 2021
Congratulations to Dr. Short and Dr. McLean who have been awarded a grant from the Mayday Fund to support the RISE pilot project and Dr. Short’s professional development! RISE is a smartphone-based CBT treatment to prevent PTSD among sexual assault survivors, which we hope may also result in reduced risk for the development of chronic pain. Chronic pain is a common yet often overlooked sequela of sexual assault that currently has no cure or established preventative treatment. We greatly appreciate the continued support of ITR from the Mayday Fund, and are excited to be able to continue exploring ways to improve the lives of trauma survivors and reduce the burden of chronic pain.
Kaathya Kashyap, an ITR-STAR Undergraduate Research Assistant, Accepted to UNC’s SURF this Summer
April 6th, 2021 
A huge congratulations to Kaathya Kashyap, an undergraduate research assistant at ITR-STAR, on her acceptance to UNC’s SURF program this summer for research. The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) is a program at UNC that funds undergraduate research under the mentorship of a faculty member. Kaathya’s project this summer will be part of the larger Women’s Health Study; she will be statistically analyzing the association between pain and physical injury following sexual assault. Congrats Kaathya! This is an astounding achievement!
Jessie Ma, Undergraduate Research Assistant, Accepted into UNC’s Gillings School of Global Public Health
March 8th, 2021
Shout out to Jessie Ma, an undergraduate research assistant at ITR-STAR, on her acceptance into UNC’s prestigious Gillings School of Global Public Health for the Health Policy Management! This is a tremendous achievement! Congrats Jessie!
Drs. Austin and Short Awarded IPRC Exploratory Research Project Program (ERPP) Funding
February 18th, 2021
Recently Dr. Nicole Short and her Co-PI Dr. Anna Austin were awarded the IPRC Exploratory Research Project funding for their injury and violence prevention (IVP) project. Their project will focus on the mental health, treatment needs, and perspectives of pregnant and parenting women with chronic pain at risk for opioid misuse. Goals will be to ultimately improve the comprehensive treatment for women to manage their pain and mental health symptoms, while enabling them to raise their families safely and successfully. Congratulations to both on this spectacular achievement that will allow them to further their vital research!
Dr. Short Awarded the UNC School of Medicine Departments of Allied Health Sciences and Neurology’s 2020-2021 Sleep Innovative Research Grant
January 26th, 2021
The Departments of Allied Health Sciences Office and Research and Scholarship and Neurology have announced ITR’s very own Dr. Short as the recipient of their competitive Sleep Innovative Research grant. Dr. Short’s project, titled “Mechanisms underlying sleep and substance use risk among women trauma survivors: A multimodal intensive longitudinal pilot study,” aims to research the intersection of poor sleep and its contributions to negative outcomes following trauma exposure, particularly among women. An enormous congratulations to Dr. Short for her amazing work and achievement!! Click here for the full story.
Undergraduate Volunteer Research Assistant Featured on UNC Admissions Instagram
October 26th, 2020
Shout-out to one of RISE’s undergraduate volunteer research ass
istants, Kaathya Kashyap (’23), for being featured on the UNC Admissions Instagram post promoting this year’s annual University Research Week. We are so
glad she is a part of RISE and are still able to continue fostering undergraduate research during COVID-19! Check out the post here!
Dr. Short Receives American Psychological Foundation’s 2020 Trauma Psychology Grant
October 15th, 2020
A huge congratulations to Dr. Short for being selected as a recipient of the American Psychological Foundation’s 2020 Trauma Psychology Grant! As a recipient of this $5000 grant Dr. Short will be able to continue expanding her work in the RISE Study. ITR-STAR is so excited and grateful for this grant to continue our work in promoting recovery in women after sexual assault. We are so proud of Dr. Short and all her hard work, this grant is well deserved!
RISE Lab Welcomes Two Undergraduate Volunteer Research Assistants
August 28th, 2020
The RISE Lab is excited to welcome two new undergraduate volunteer research assistants, Grace Burud and Riya Thomas. They both previously volunteered at WHS and we are glad to have them both work with us now! Grace is a Senior at UNC (’21) and when she’s not in the lab or classes she enjoys working as an EMT at Orange County Emergency Services and riding for the UNC equestrian team! Riya, a Junior at UNC (’22), spends her spare time on the executive board of two clubs at UNC: GlobeMed UNC and UNC Sangam (South Asian-American Affinity) and is passionate about traveling. Both Grace and Riya are pursuing the pre-med track. We are so excited to work with both of them!
Dr. Short Publishes Review and Meta-Analysis in Depression and Anxiety
July 5th, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Short and her colleagues from FSU and GSU for recently publishing a review and meta-analysis in Depression and Anxiety!(ePub ahead of print here) This review shows promising evidence that PTSD and related outcomes common among women recently experiencing sexual assault can be effectively mitigated after sexual assault using cognitive behavioral interventions. This finding is terrific news! Many women who experience sexual assault present to emergency care could benefit from receiving a secondary prevention to reduce the burden of suffering after sexual assault.
Mariah Evans, ITR-STAR Undergraduate Research Assistant Graduating May 2020
May 4th, 2020
ITR-STAR undergraduate research assistant Mariah Evans is graduating this May as an Honors Laureate in philosophy and neuroscience. Mariah has been a fantastic addition to ITR-STAR and will continue to volunteer on a part-time basis until she starts her full-time postbaccalaureate research assistant position. Her eventual goal is to apply to PhD programs in clinical psychology. Congratulations, Mariah!
Dr. Short selected for junior faculty development award
December 18, 2019
Congratulations to Dr. Short for being awarded a UNC-Chapel Hill Junior Faculty Development Award of $10,000 for use during the 2020 fiscal year!
The award is sponsored by the UNC Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost and administered by the provost’s committee on faculty research and scholarly leaves.
This junior faculty development award will be used along with funds from the ITR to help launch the RISE Study which will begin to understand the feasibility and acceptability of delivering a novel smart phone-based cognitive-behavioral prevention for posttraumatic stress to women presenting to emergency care after sexual assault. We at ITR-STAR are grateful for this valuable funding from UNC-Chapel Hill and are excited to start helping to promote recovery for women after sexual assault!