IHD Team

Dana Hussein (she/her) coordinates various IHD projects, including fellowships, working groups, and the colloquiua. She is also a research assistant at the BLOCK Lab, where she is involved in studies examining assessment context and executive function skills in children with diverse backgrounds. Dana received her B.A. in Cognitive Science, with a concentration in Psychology, from Pitzer College in 2025, and plans to pursue a PhD in Developmental Psychology. Her research interests center on interdisciplinary and community-centered approaches to understanding how culture shapes cognitive, social...

Margaret Bridges is a developmental psychologist and leads IHD's Early Childhood Program, a transdisciplinary effort focused on advancing child-thriving from the prenatal period to age eight through collaborative research and academic programs. Her research examines how family relationships and interactions, as well as preschool environments, can foster young children’s social-emotional development and early academic skills. Dr. Bridges directs an interdisciplinary, undergraduate summer minor, The Developing Child, and the Early Learning Science & Child Policy Graduate Certificate Program–both...

Dr. Marieka Schotland is a Community Psychologist. She has a wide range of substantive expertise in positive school climate and connection, restorative justice, youth program evaluation and health promotion among diverse adolescents. She brings her outstanding strategy and operations skills to her position at IHD where she is responsible for managing the day-to-day functioning of the Institute as well as the strategic direction and impact of the work. Her engagement spans from community and academic partners, to the student trainees. Her work with IHD is in partnership with her role as...

Luvy Vanegas-Grimaud is the ED&LS Research and Program Coordinator in the IHD and ECEP. She is actively involved in developing academic training and professional development opportunties for both pre-service and in-service educators. She is dedicated to helping early childhood educators become teacher researchers and in the translation and implementation of research to practice. She is an adjunct lecturer for San Francisco State University and a summer lecturer for The Developing Child Summer Minor at Berkeley.

School of Public Health, Community Health Sciences

Emily Ozer is a clinical and community psychologist and Professor at the UC-Berkeley School of Public Health whose multi-method research focuses on the role of school climate in adolescent development and mental health; psychological resilience; school-based interventions; and youth participatory action research (YPAR), an equity-focused approach in which youth generate systematic research evidence to address problems they want to improve in their schools and communities. A Berkeley and UCSF-trained psychologist, Dr. Ozer brings leadership at...

Brian Villa (he/him) is a Postdoctoral Scholar with IHD and UC Berkeley's School of Public Health. He received his B.A. in South and Southeast Asian Studies, an MPH in Health and Social Behavior, an MSW in Strengthening Organizations and Communities, and a Doctor of Public Health degree from UC Berkeley. He is the Research Projects Director for Professor Emily Ozer’s research lab and serves as a core member of the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) and UC Berkeley Research-Practice Partnership. One of the projects he supports explores the impact of youth-led participatory action...