Henry Willis is a PhD candidate in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is originally from Jackson, Mississippi, and he received his BS in psychology from Howard University and his MA in clinical psychology from Columbia University. As an undergraduate, Henry examined how social networking use affected the self-esteem of African American college students. For his master’s degree, Henry explored how culture and racial identity might shape the presentation of obsessive-compulsive disorder in African Americans and how current treatments could be adapted to be sensitive to race and culture. His current interests include exploring the relationship between online and offline racial discrimination and mental health outcomes, understanding sociocultural protective factors (i.e., racial identity) and how they impact psychopathology (i.e., obsessive-compulsive disorder) within African Americans, creating cultural adaptations of evidence-based treatments, and utilizing mobile-health technology to increase access to mental health treatments for underserved populations. In 2016, Henry was awarded the Health Policy Research Scholars grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and plans to use his clinical psychology training to influence health policy and build a culture of health. In 2018, Henry was awarded the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and will use the training from this fellowship to enhance diversity in teaching and research at the university level.
