Beth Molnar

Bouvé College of Health Sciences Associate Professor; Director, PhD Program in Population Health

Beth E. Molnar is a social and psychiatric epidemiologist. Dr. Molnar’s research is grounded in three public health domains: social epidemiology, prevention science, and psychiatric epidemiology.  Studies focus on three major areas: (1) violent, traumatic experiences (e.g. child maltreatment, sexual violence, community violence) and the ways that they affect children, youth and those who serve populations who have experienced trauma; (2) the social context of high-risk behaviors such as youth violence among adolescents (the latter often being sequelae of the first); and (3) development and evaluation of violence prevention and early childhood mental health interventions. Dr. Molnar was the PI of the Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT) project, funded by the Office for Victims of Crime, an evidence-informed web-based resource available for organizations that work with people who have experienced trauma, helping organizations take better care of employees who do this empathic work. Current studies include evaluating the development and roll-out of a model intervention to improve organizations of first responders and victim services professionals exposed to vicarious trauma, and efforts to better serve very young children in the child welfare system and communities with lower resources who need services for social and emotional disorders. In addition to her university roles, she is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (President 2014-2019).