Ernestine Jennings, PhD
Associate Director, STAR T32
Dr. Jennings is an Associate Professor in the DPHB, and a Senior Research Scientist and staff psychologist at CBPM and The Miriam Hospital. Dr. Jennings serves as Associate Director of the Clinical Psychology Predoctoral Internship Program in the DPHB, and as a key Co-I on the Community Collaborative Core of the STAR COBRE Center. She offers extensive experience in community engaged research, including close collaborations with the Lifespan Community Health Institute and the Mental Health Association of Rhode Island. Dr. Jennings has a long history of anti-racism, and DEI work, with a particular focus on mentorship. She has been Co-Chair of the DPHB DEIB Committee for over a decade. The DEIB committee focuses on the experience of trainees and plays a critical role in trainee recruitment, faculty DEI training, facilitating mentoring relationships, and integrating diversity/anti-racism into all aspects of training in the DPHB. Dr. Jennings was also a founding member of the DPHB Anti-Racism Steering Committee and the Lifespan Hospitals Anti-Racism and Health Equity Committee; she also serves on the advisory group to the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs within Brown Medical School. Dr. Jennings’ research develops behavioral interventions to improve physical and mental health in both apparently healthy and known disease populations. She offers extensive research expertise with historically minoritized populations in clinical trials of exercise promotion and smoking cessation, studies leveraging technology to promote smoking cessation, and studies of adolescent mental health.
