Rashelle

Jean

Musci

,

PhD

As a prevention scientist and methodologist, Dr. Musci's research focuses on developing novel methods to elucidate the impact of prevention programs on outcomes of interest. Her research includes deciphering how genetics play a role in the differential impact of universal prevention programming. Dr. Musci has demonstrated leadership in this field as a co-editor of a genetics-focused special issue in Prevention Science, the journal of the Society for Prevention Research and one of the field’s top prevention journals. The special issue highlighted and promoted the inclusion of genetics in prevention work and has resulted in a substantial increase in the number of researchers exploring the impact of genetics in prevention work. Identifying the impact of genetics on prevention outcomes has important implications as the field moves toward more personalized prevention programming and attempts to further understand the mechanisms through which universal prevention programs work among different populations and, indeed, different people. Within this special issue, she led a manuscript explaining the novel use of discrete time survival analysis to explore how genetics moderated the relationship between exposure to a school-based universal prevention program (The Good Behavior Game) and age of marijuana initiation. Furthering her contributions to genetics and public health, in the same special issue of Prevention Science, she was a co-author of a manuscript focused on advancing the statistical methods used in the integration of genetics in prevention work. This work has contributed to the literature in terms of personalized intervention programming as well as moving the field of psychology and prevention away from traditional candidate gene work.

Dr. Musci has demonstrated her expertise and enthusiasm for prevention science, public mental health, child development, statistical methods, team collaborations, and education. She is PI and co-investigator on multiple of NIH grants, has played a key role in the Environment and Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Data Analysis Center at Hopkins in the neurodevelopmental disorders area, has taken on leadership roles nationally in the area of prevention science, and has developed a measurement course as well as leading a year-long seminar on methods in mental health. She has excelled in each area, including recognition through our Advising, Mentoring, and Teaching Recognition Award (AMTRA).

Dr. Musci holds a doctoral degree in Human Development, as well as a Master of Science in Child Development and Bachelor of Science in Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior from the University of California, Davis. She completed two post-doctoral fellowships in Prevention Science (NIMH T32) and Adolescent Health (Leadership and Education in Adolescent Health (LEAH) Award) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before joining our faculty.