Harry Adynski, PhD
Assistant Professor
Community Health Systems
School of Nursing

My research program aims to generate evidence to develop and implement interventions that improve mental health outcomes and advance mental health equity.

Through a competitive NIH F31 predoctoral fellowship from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR; 1F31NR020138), my dissertation examined how early life stress and social adversity are related to emotional regulation and educational outcomes across early childhood. Following my PhD, I completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the National Clinician Scholars Program (NCSP) at UCSF, an interdisciplinary program emphasizing community engagement, health policy, leadership, implementation science, and health equity. During this time, I earned a Certificate in Health Data Science from the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics. I also received an NIH Loan Repayment Program Pediatric Research Award (NINR; L40NR021315) to examine how maternal stress exposure relates to infant emotional regulation and telomere length using NICHD-funded data, advancing understanding of how early adversity can become biologically embedded.

In partnership with UCSF Oakland Benioff School-Based Health Clinics, I support the implementation and evaluation of the Youth Empowerment LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Drop-in Center initiative, funded by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Grant (CYBHI). This work has been developed in partnership with youth, including the establishment of a youth advisory board and the training of peer wellness interns to co-facilitate the drop-in space, addressing the social, basic, and mental health needs of LGBTQIA+ youth in Oakland.

Through the NIH Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity (AIM-AHEAD) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) Collaborative Training Program, I am developing interdisciplinary collaborations and technical expertise to integrate machine learning approaches into electronic health record based clinical research.

Across my scholarship, I examine how stress and structural determinants of health shape youth and family mental health across development, evaluate community- and school-based interventions for marginalized youth, and apply data-driven and implementation science approaches to translate evidence into practice and policy. I am committed to developing interdisciplinary, community-engaged, and international collaborations to advance this work and promote mental health equity.

• The role of social adversity on emotional dysregulation during infancy and early childhood.
  Journal of pediatric nursing 2023 Adynski H, Propper C, Beeber L, Gilmore JH, Zou B, Santos HP
• Global implications of Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization for nurses as a historically gendered profession.
  International journal of nursing studies 2022 Adynski GI, Bravo L, Harris M, Adynski HR, Zaragoza S, Ikharo E, Harris LK, Lackey C
• Nurses' attitudes towards their jobs in outpatient human immunodeficiency virus facilities in Namibia: A qualitative descriptive study.
  Journal of nursing management 2021 Adynski G, Leeman J, Adynski H, Ledford A, McQuide P, Bock R, Tjituka F, Jones C
• Does Participation in Food Benefit Programs Reduce the Risk for Depressive Symptoms?
  Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association 2021 Adynski H, Schwartz TA, Santos HP
• Biopsychosocial correlates of psychological distress in Latina mothers.
  Journal of affective disorders 2020 Santos HP, Adynski H, Harris R, Bhattacharya A, Incollingo Rodriguez AC, Cali R, Yabar AT, Nephew BC, Murgatroyd C
• Minimally-invasive methods for examining biological changes in response to chronic stress: A scoping review.
  International journal of nursing studies 2019 Salomon RE, Tan KR, Vaughan A, Adynski H, Muscatell KA
• Predictors of psychological distress in low-income mothers over the first postpartum year.
  Research in nursing & health 2019 Adynski H, Zimmer C, Thorp J, Santos HP