Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Visiting Faculty in the School of Public Health, and Director of The EMPOWER Lab at the University of Georgia
About
Dr. Isha Metzger is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Georgia, visiting research faculty at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS' at Yale University, and a licensed clinical psychologist. She earned her PhD in clinical-community psychology from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Metzger completed her pre-doctoral internship at the Medical University of South Carolina, and she received postdoctoral training at the National Crime Victims Center and at Yale.
Current Work:
As director of The EMPOWER Lab, Dr. Isha Metzger focuses on "Engaging Minorities in Prevention, Outreach, Workshops, Evaluation, & Research." Dr. Metzger has developed a systematic research program aimed at elucidating the role of culture in treatment to better inform outcomes for African American youth receiving services in "real world" settings. Specifically, Dr. Metzger's research concerns preventing risky behaviors (e.g., sexual activity, alcohol use, delinquency) and understanding risk and resilience factors (e.g., trauma experiences, racial socialization and racial discrimination, family and peer relationships) that impact the relation between trauma exposure and problematic outcomes (e.g., STI/HIV exposure, unintended pregnancies, revictimization, drunk-driving accidents, legal system involvement). To do so, Dr. Metzger engages in community based and translational research to evaluate community organizations and adapt trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapies to increase cultural sensitivity, therapist self-efficacy, and positive outcomes for trauma exposed African American youth.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Cultural sensitivity; racial socialization; racial stress and trauma; interpersonal trauma; treatment modification
