Adjunct Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences

Overview

Dr. Becker (she/her) is a licensed clinical psychologist and implementation scientist dedicated to bridging the gap between research and practice. Dr. Becker studies both patient-focused dissemination (e.g., direct-to-consumer marketing, technology-assisted interventions) and provider-focused implementation (e.g., multi-level implementation approaches, workforce development) strategies. The overarching objective of her work is to increase both the demand for and supply of effective treatments in community settings. 

Dr. Becker is currently Principal Investigator (PI) of several federally-funded dissemination and implementation (D&I) projects. First, with Bryan Garner, she is Multiple PI of a 5-year NIDA-funded R01 hybrid type 3 trial evaluating two multi-level strategies to implement contingency management, an evidence-based behavioral treatment, in 30 opioid treatment centers throughout New England. Second, with Caroline Kuo and Goodman Sibeko, she is Multiple PI of a 5-year NIAAA-funded P01 testing a train-the-trainer strategy to cascade Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment targeting risky alcohol use throughout HIV service organizations in South Africa. Third, she is PI of the New England Addiction Technology Transfer Center, a SAMHSA-funded center which provides training and technical assistance to over 2,100 front-line addiction treatment providers per year. Finally, she is PI of a NIDA funded R37 (awarded as an R01), which is supporting a pragmatic trial of a scalable technology-assisted intervention for parents of adolescents in residential treatment. The R37 mechansim denotes receipt of a Method to Extend Research in Time (MERIT) Award, which provides "long-term grant support to investigators whose research competence and productivity are distinctly superior and who are highly likely to continue to perform in an outstanding manner." Dr. Becker was honored to be the first implementation scientist to receive this award from NIDA. 

To date, Dr. Becker has been PI/MPI or Scientific Lead of nine federally funded projects from NIDA, NIAAA, NIGMS, PEPFAR, SAMHSA, and AHRQ. In addition to leading her own research portfolio, Dr. Becker frequently enjoys serving as a Mentor, Co-Investigator, or Consultant on D&I projects. 

Dr. Becker's work has been honored with two national awards from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT): Early Career Award from the Dissemination and Implementation Science Special Interest Group in 2018 and the Mid-Career Award from the Addictive Behaviors Special Interest Group in 2020. At the Brown School of Public Health, she received the Faculty Innovations Award in 2015 and the Excellence in Research Collaboration Award in 2021. 

Dr. Becker received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University. She completed her residency at Harvard Medical School's McLean Hospital and her postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University's Center for Alcohol and Addictions Studies. Prior to her graduate work, Dr. Becker worked as a strategy consultant with Boston Consulting Group and Mapi Values, where she advised Fortune 100 companies on direct-to-consumer marketing and organizational change strategies.

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas