Beth E. Molnar SM, ScD

Dr. Beth E. Molnar is a social and psychiatric epidemiologist and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at Northeastern University. She is also the Director of the Population Health Ph.D. Program and the Associate Director of the Institute for Urban Health Research and Practice (IUHRP) at Northeastern University.  Dr. Molnar’s research is grounded in three public health domains: social epidemiology, prevention science, and psychiatric epidemiology. Studies focus on two major areas: (1) violent, traumatic experiences (such as child maltreatment, sexual violence, and community violence) and the ways that they affect children, youth, and those who respond to those who experience violence, i.e. vicarious trauma; and (2) the social context of high-risk behaviors among adolescents (the latter often being sequelae of the first.)

One main area of Dr. Molnar’s expertise is multilevel methods, where she utilizes neighborhood-level analyses for insight into both etiology and prevention strategies.  Another main area of expertise is a community-based participatory research methodology, from systematic needs assessments to multilevel research designs, to survey/measures development, to evaluation research, to implementation, to analyses, and to dissemination.  Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, Dr. Molnar’s work, strongly influenced by Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory of Human Development, has focused on identifying neighborhood-level resources that can be mobilized to decrease levels of violence both in families and in communities. Current projects on which she is the Principal Investigator include the Vicarious Trauma Toolkit project funded by the Office for Victims of Crime; the evaluation of three different federally funded interventions to prevent social-emotional and behavioral disorders among young children; an NIH-funded evaluation study of Start Strong Boston, a middle school age dating violence preventive intervention delivered in after school programs; and a Tier 1 study of the role of justice in healing from sexual assault.

Prior to joining Northeastern, Dr. Molnar was an Associate Professor of Society, Human Development and Health at the Harvard School of Public Health where she co-founded the Boston Data Project at the Harvard Youth Violence Prevention Center, where ongoing surveillance of youth violence and its risk and protective factors has been done since 2004. These efforts have involved active collaborations with the Boston Public Health Commission, the MA Department of Public Health, Boston Public Schools, national organizations representing first responders and victim services providers, and the Boston Police Department, among others. Outside of Northeastern, Dr. Molnar is the Board President of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, a non-profit with a mission to end sexual violence through healing and social justice.