Dr. Scharnetzki is a Faculty Scientist at CIPHR. She completed her PhD in Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Vermont. Broadly, Dr. Scharnetzki is interested in the psychological, physiological, and behavioral effects of social devaluation mechanisms such as stereotyping, stigmatization and social identity threat. Specifically, her research focuses on understanding how these mechanisms impact the uptake of health-promoting behaviors among patients with stigmatized identities and/or conditions and how these processes may ultimately contribute to health disparities. Dr. Scharnetzki is currently a project lead for MaineHealth’s COBRE in Mesenchymal & Neural Regulation of Metabolic Networks, and is leading a program of work that adapts theoretically-grounded social psychological interventions to mitigate experiences of stigma for patients with diabetes. Prior to working in the health services domain, her research focused primarily on understanding women’s experiences with social identity threat within STEM fields. Dr. Scharnetzki brings to CIPHR extensive training in quantitative research and analysis.