Social Scientist | Expert in Gender-Based Violence

Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

I am a nationally recognized social scientist and licensed master social worker (LMSW) with over 15 years of experience conducting interdisciplinary research on intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, sex trafficking, trauma, and the criminalization of survivors, including work with LGBTQIA+ populations. My work emphasizes trauma-informed, social and behavioral responses to explain survivor behavior, risk trajectories, and decision-making in high-stakes contexts. I have authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and served as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator on over $9 million in funded research. As a social worker by training with advanced interdisciplinary violence research training at Johns Hopkins University, I bring expertise grounded in both empirical research and practice-informed understanding of violence, trauma, and systems response. My approach integrates social science, public health, and trauma-informed frameworks to examine the health, mental health, and criminal legal consequences of violence. Most recently, I served as Director of Research for Fatal Peril, a Stanford Criminal Justice Center–sponsored study examining intimate partner violence and homicide risk among survivors incarcerated for homicide offenses. Findings from this research have been used to inform legal arguments and judicial reasoning in failure-to-protect and criminalized-survivor cases, including matters reviewed at the California Supreme Court level, and have contributed to broader reconsideration of survivor culpability and sentencing in cases involving abuse. I formerly served as a Research Associate at Johns Hopkins University, contributing to federally funded studies on intimate partner violence, sexual violence, sex trafficking, and trauma among diverse populations. I am currently a Faculty Associate with the Danger Assessment Training and Technical Assistance Center (DA-TA Center) at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, where my work aligns with evidence-based approaches to assessing intimate partner homicide risk and informing prevention, intervention, and legal contexts. In legal settings, my expertise is sought to assist courts and counsel in mitigation, sentencing, and post-conviction contexts by evaluating whether behaviors, actions, and risk profiles are consistent with established research on coercive control, cumulative trauma, sex trafficking victimization, and intimate partner violence. I have provided expert opinions on how cumulative abuse shapes perception of threat, decision-making, and risk, and whether case facts align with empirically supported understandings of survivor behavior.