Michele Easter

Michele Easter has a PhD in Sociology (2010, UNC-Chapel Hill), and completed two NIH-funded postdoctoral fellowships at Duke, including one focused on Mental Health/Substance Use Services and Policy Research (2012-2014). Since 2012 she has worked at the Duke School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in close collaboration with members of the Wilson Center’s Behavioral Health Core. She has over 25 years of experience with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods, and has served as co-investigator, analyst, and project director on many grant-funded studies.

At the Wilson Center, Michele’s effort is primarily directed toward studies that improve the lives of people with behavioral health disorders at risk of criminal legal involvement.  She also contributes to study design, implementation, and dissemination of research by other faculty at the Behavioral Health Core. Topics of selected current projects include “Death by Distribution” prosecution, law enforcement assisted diversion (LEAD), involuntary inpatient and outpatient commitment, and how to help people with complex behavioral health and social needs who are also involved in the legal system.

You can read more about Michele, including a list of her publications, on her Duke Scholars page.