“Brittany Brown will one day change how we think about the health outcomes associated with gendered appropriated racial oppression among marginalized populations.”

Brittany Ribeiro Brown is pursuing a joint PhD in Psychology and Social Work with a commitment to promoting equity, justice, and social change by elevating and supporting the mental health of marginalized populations. As a Black, Queer, Mexican-American woman growing up in an immigrant family, Brittany instinctively questioned if there was a connection between the stress of oppression and her mother’s poor mental health, which at times led to involuntary institutional holds and homelessness. Observing this link in her own life shaped Brittany’s fierce commitment to making a difference through both volunteer work and impactful research.

For many years, Brittany was a devoted volunteer at the Berkeley Free Clinic, offering free mental health peer counseling, providing DEI training to other peer counselors, and facilitating the clinic’s role as street medics at Black Lives Matter protests. Among her many service commitments in Michigan, Brittany now serves as Professional Development Chair for the Black Student Psychological Association and a mentor through the Michigan Association of Psychological Scholars.

Brittany’s current research centers on the mental health of Black adolescents and emerging adults with an intersectional lens. She has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters on this topic, several of which draw on her experience as Project Manager for the Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health (YBMen) Project. Brittany has helped to bring culturally sensitive, gender-specific, and age-appropriate programs to Black males at U-M (Wolverine Wellness) and in Toronto, Canada, and also leads the national YBMen writing team, which aims to produce scholarly pieces on the mental health, masculinities, and social support of Black men and boys. Brittany’s advisor remarks, “Brittany Brown will one day change how we think about the health outcomes associated with gendered appropriated racial oppression among marginalized populations.” She is recognized among her collaborators as both an “extraordinary” person and an “exceptional scholar.” 

CEW+ supports Brittany’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and names her a Mary Malcomson Raphael Scholar.