Our programs are based on trauma-related research and partnerships with researchers who are validating new methods and results. Read below to learn more about our dedicated and brilliant research team

Mariah Rooney, MSW, LICSW | Co-Founder & Director of Research

Mariah Rooney is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in treating the complex challenges that arise as a result of traumatic stress, attachment trauma, intergenerational trauma, and dissociation in children and adults. She is also an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work at Winona State University and a Consultant with the Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders and the American Institutes of Research. As a previous Fellow at the Trauma Center at JRI she received extensive training in trauma and supported various project and research efforts.

Additionally, Mariah has extensive training in trauma-sensitive and culturally-informed movement, yoga and meditation practices through Warriors at Ease, Prison Yoga Project, Insight Prison Project, Mind Body Solutions, and Trauma Sensitive Yoga. Her writing and research has explored posttraumatic outcomes among combat veterans with histories of interpersonal violence, trauma sensitive education, as well as outcomes among traumatized youth in an outpatient setting using a sensory-based intervention. You can see her writing in Bulletproofing the Psyche and in American Military Life in the 21st Century: Social, Cultural, Economic Issues and Trends.

Eva Nowakowski-Sims, PhD, LCSW, MPH, RYT-200 

Eva Nowakowski-Sims is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Barry University. Dr. Nowakowski-Sims graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and went on to get a Masters degree in Public Health from the University of South Florida and a Masters degree and Doctor of Philosophy degree in Social Work from Barry University. She is a licensed clinical social worker and a registered yoga teacher. Dr. Nowakowski-Sims has more than 20 years of clinical experience working with individuals, families, and groups impacted by trauma. Her clinical practice emphasizes the connection between the mind, body, and spirit to transform and grow the higher self and social consciousness through traditional psychotherapy and the practice of yoga.

Dr Nowakowski-Sims’ professional and research interests include youth violence, mind-body-spirit interventions for the treatment of trauma, and program evaluation. Her current research agenda focuses on trauma and the adjunct treatment options that reduce the negative symptoms of trauma. Recent publications include: holistic wellness for women in recovery, soul work in social work, and group exercise as an adjunct treatment for persons in recovery.

Dr Nowakowski-Sims teaches Masters and doctoral courses in the research and trauma sequences and has shared her knowledge in published articles and presented research findings at conferences locally, nationally, and internationally. She offers consultation throughout the community in the areas of trauma-informed organizations and mindful movement as an adjunct healing method for persons who have experienced trauma.

Dana Vigue

Dana Vigue (she/her/hers) was born and raised in rural Maine before moving to the greater Boston area to study biology and chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is currently an MD-PhD candidate at Harvard Medical School where she is pursuing her PhD in Medical Anthropology. At the conclusion of her degree program, she'll begin residency training in Emergency Medicine with emphasis on human trafficking prevention and response.

Dana attended her first bodybuilding competition when she was two weeks old (although she admits she slept through it). She grew up accompanying her mother, a bodybuilder and powerlifter, and her father, a bodybuilder, to the gym and competitions. After becoming a weightlifter herself, Dana began to reflect on the prevalence of trauma among weightlifters, and the pivotal role of weightlifting in her own life and the lives of her parents and family friends. She became particularly interested in how strength training might draw upon trauma-informed principles to make weightlifting a safer, more accessible resource for people who have survived trauma, especially for Queer & Trans Black, Indigenous, People of Color with disabilities.

In her dissertation work, Dana is interested in how trauma-informed approaches to weightlifting can transform gyms into therapeutic sites. By understanding trauma-informed strength coaching as a form of caregiving, she hopes to explore how weightlifting can be integrated holistically with psychological and medical care for people who have survived trauma.

Savannah Woods, MA

Savannah Woods is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at The New School for Social Research in New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree in film studies from Columbia University and a master’s degree in psychology from The New School. She is interested in resilience research, adolescent development, and the ways in which physical activity and sport can aid in healing from trauma. Before graduate school Savannah spent 10 summers leading adolescents on canoe trips in Northern Ontario and saw firsthand the power of land based education and its ability to empower youth and help them grow into confident and resilient adults. Savannah is interested in the ways which sport, weightlifting, and running are able to increase self-efficacy, agency, and improve future outlook for individuals recovering from trauma and substance abuse as well as how physical activity acts as a preventative measure through increasing resilience and positive self concept. In her free time Savannah can be found running, skiing, and being outdoors as much as possible.

Viann N. Nguyen-Feng, PhD, MPH, LP, RYT

Viann Nguyen-Feng [vee-anne win-fang] (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She serves as core faculty in the counseling/clinical masters program and directs the Mind-Body Trauma Care Lab. Viann completed her 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher training in Virginia Beach in 2012 and is participating in the 2023 Trauma Center Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitators cohort. As a short-lived intercollegiate athlete and a recreation center facilities management staff for four years, Viann has spent countless hours in spaces that promoted strengths-focused and body-powered movement, for better or for worse.

Casey Orozco-Poore

Casey Orozco-Poore is a queer, non-binary person raised in the Bay Area, California. They graduated from Brown University with a degree in neurobiology. They are now a Harvard Medical School student, who served as chair of LGBTQIA and Allies at Harvard Medical School, and has been active in medical education on LGBTQ health at a national level. They have been studying the neurobiological risks of “nerve-sparing” clitoral reduction surgeries non-consensually performed on young intersex children and mobilized this research for shifts in hospital and public health policy. As a University of California, Los Angeles, South American Program in HIV Research (SAPHIR) fellow, they are generating research and supporting projects with trans communities in Lima, Peru on the themes of resilience, resistance, and solidarity within the arts, activism and mutual aid. They plan to become a child neurologist, with an emphasis on affirming neurodiversity and non-carceral models of brain and mind healthcare.

Elizabeth Lee (she/her) is a graduate student at the University of Minnesota Duluth in the Master of Arts in Psychological Science (MAPS) program, counseling/clinical track. Elizabeth graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in May 2020 with a Bachelor of Sciences in Psychology and minor in Neuroscience. While at the University of Minnesota, she volunteered at the Aurora Center as a direct service advocate for victim/survivors of sexual assault, relationship violence, sexual harassment, and stalking. After graduating, she started a position at the Avanti Center, a DBT-based youth residential facility, as a Residential Counselor for adolescents experiencing mental health crises. She was then promoted to be a Unit Supervisor at the Avanti Center and coached employees on behavior management techniques before she transitioned into the MAPS program.

With these experiences, she has developed an interest in conceptualizing how mindfulness-based techniques can serve those who have experienced various forms of abuse and trauma. Elizabeth started her journey at the Mind-Body Trauma Care Lab in summer 2021 to expand her research skills and knowledge. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, photography, yoga, and staying active." https://www.mindbodytrauma.care/lab/ElizabethLee

Read more about TIWL Research here.