FSU Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine

06/16/2026

In 2023, we created the Melissa L. Knabe Community Impact Award to honor our wonderful colleague. The award recognizes individuals who make significant contributions to their communities through their time, actions, talents, dedication and resources. These individuals serve as role models for compassion and service and strive to make their communities better places to live and work.

We are pleased to announce that the 2026 recipient of the Melissa L. Knabe Community Impact Award is Chenikka Usher, MSW, CTTS. Usher is the Quality Assurance Director for the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program and a nationally certified to***co treatment specialist with more than 20 years of clinical, medical and academic experience.

Throughout her career, Chenikka has been committed to improving the health and well-being of Floridians by expanding access to health education, supporting to***co cessation initiatives and strengthening community partnerships. Her dedication to service extends beyond her professional work through volunteer efforts across the Tallahassee community, including mentoring students at Griffin Middle School, serving meals at Grace Mission and helping collect food for Thanksgiving baskets for families in need.

Learn More About AHEC: https://med.fsu.edu/ahec/home

06/10/2026

What can history teach us about today's healthcare challenges? 📖

In a new podcast episode, Joseph M. Gabriel, Ph.D., discusses an upcoming volume he co-edited that examines how changing ideas about risk have influenced the development, regulation, and public understanding of drugs.

The episode offers a historical scholarship on contemporary healthcare challenges and invites listeners to consider how historical debates continue to shape the ways we think about medicine today.

Listen to the Full Podcast: https://boydellandbrewer.com/blog/university-of-rochester-press/rethinking-drugs-history-power-and-the-human-stories-behind-medicine/?v=0b3b97fa6688

06/04/2026

What if monitoring HIV treatment could be as simple as collecting a few drops of blood at home?

Youth with HIV often face barriers to routine viral load testing, including transportation challenges, clinic access, and the need for in-person blood draws. Viral load testing measures the amount of HIV in the blood and helps determine how effectively treatment is controlling the virus.

A study by Associate Professor Karen MacDonell, Ph.D., Professor Sylvie Naar, Ph.D., and colleagues explored whether home-based dried blood spot (DBS) biosampling could provide a more accessible option.

Read the Full Article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42070204/

05/29/2026

05/27/2026

The FSU College of Medicine is helping to advance student and faculty well-being through a program called Early Alert, which provides structured, weekly check-ins via text message designed to identify concerns early and ensure access to mental health resources and support.

For the full WCTV.tv news story, visit https://wctv.tv/2026/05/19/fsu-college-medicine-implements-program-designed-check-student-faculty-mental-health/

05/26/2026

As mental health needs continue to rise globally, limited access to care remains a major challenge for health systems and behavioral health providers. Researchers are exploring new ways to better train the next generation of clinicians to provide treatments that are both evidence-based and accessible to more patients. 🎓

In an article led by Mike Drury, PsyD, ABPP, researchers examined how transdiagnostic approaches, which focus on shared features across mental health conditions, could help strengthen graduate training in health service psychology.

Read the Full Article: https://psycnet.apa.org/fulltext/2027-65836-006.html

05/21/2026

Children with Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition that causes tumors along nerves, often experience emotional and behavioral difficulties as they grow and develop. However, these experiences are not one-size-fits-all, as age and co-occurring conditions can influence how symptoms emerge and change over time.

An international study by Assistant Professor Yang Hou, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scholars Dan Liu, Ph.D., Xiaoli Zong, Ph.D., and colleagues analyzed data from more than 1,000 children ages 3 to 18 using two large, harmonized datasets focused on mental health outcomes in NF1.

Read the Full Article: https://rdcu.be/ff0wk

05/13/2026

Feeling a sense of purpose in life can be shaped by the small activities people engage in every day, from spending time with others to staying active and pursuing hobbies. 🌻

Researchers followed 303 middle-aged adults over eight days to explore how daily experiences influence purpose in life. Results showed that people felt more purposeful on days when they socialized in person, exercised, cared for children, worked on hobbies, or completed household tasks. Among these activities, in-person interaction had the strongest association with daily purpose, while digital socializing showed little to no effect.

Overall, the research suggests that active, socially engaging everyday experiences may help strengthen a person’s sense of direction and meaning in life.

Authors: Angelina Sutin, Martina Luchetti, Yannick Stephan and Antonio Terracciano

Read the Full Article: https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/5889