Low and Middle Income Countries

Anna Larsen, MPH, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Behavioral Research in Technology and Engineering (BRiTE) Center in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. She is an epidemiologist focused on highlighting the impact of mental health difficulties throughout the life course and improving access to mental health resources in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. She aims to utilize digital mental health interventions to overcome barriers to care seeking in LMICs, such as stigma and shortages in trained mental health providers. Her research evaluating linkages between maternal mental health and infant social-emotional development in Kenya is supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Postdoctoral National Research Service Award (F32) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

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Prior to joining the BRiTE Center, Anna completed her doctoral program in epidemiology at the University of Washington and her master’s in public health degree in epidemiology at Columbia University. Her dissertation epidemiologically evaluated maternal depression and identified associated adverse infant outcomes among Kenya mother-infant pairs and was funded by a NICHD F31 predoctoral fellowship award. Anna was named the 2022 Outstanding PhD student in Epidemiology (UW), 2020 School of Public Health Endowed Fellow (UW), and the 2015 Bernard Challenor Spirit Awardee (Columbia University) for interdisciplinary collaboration in public health. Over the past 10 years, Anna has been committed to research supporting improved behavioral health, predominantly in sub-Saharan Africa, through positions at UW Global Center for Integrated Health of Women, Adolescents, and Children (Global WACh), Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Columbia University, and PATH. Beyond her research, Anna enjoys teaching epidemiologic methods courses.