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About Dr. Childers

Writer, Researcher, Parent Coach

Welcome!


I’m so glad you’re here.

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As a researcher who loves learning and a human making her way through this life, I’m excited to share what I’m discovering about health, healing, and collective wellbeing.

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I write about race, culture, identity, equity, and relationships—with a lens shaped by lived experience, curiosity, and care.

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My perspective has been shaped by navigating different social landscapes through education, travel, and community-based research. Moving through unfamiliar spaces has taught me the value of discomfort, the power of authentic connection, and the joy that comes from building bridges across difference. Along the way, I’ve learned how essential it is to build coalitions, care for community, and uplift voices too often left out.

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Motherhood deepened that lens. I’m Mama to three beautiful Black boys who remind me every day to live with intention and to leave a legacy rooted in love, joy, and ancestral strength. Through writing, research, bridge-building, and parenting, I’m committed to helping shape a more equitable world—one where they, and all of us, can thrive.

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​Education

  • Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Sheps Center for Health Services Research, UNC-Chapel Hill, 2018

  • PhD, Sociology, Duke University, 2017

  • MA, Sociology, Duke University, 2013 

  • BA, Sociology (with honors), Ethnic Studies Concentration, Davidson College, 2005

  • Study Abroad Program, University of Wollongong, Australia, 2004

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​Honors & Awards

  • Past President, The Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (2022-2023)

  • Finalist for the 2020 C. Wright Mills Award, The Society for the Study of Social Problems, "In Someone Else's Country: Anti-Haitian Racism and Citizenship in the Dominican Republic"

  • Loan Repayment Program Award, National Institutes of Health (NIMHD), 2018-2020

  • National Research Service Award (NIMH), Mental Health Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, 2017–2018

  • Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship, 2016

  • Katherine Goodman Stern Fellowship, Duke University, 2015

  • National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2014

  • Fulbright Scholarship - U.S. Student Program, United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, 2014

  • James B. Duke International Research Travel Fellowship, Duke University, 2014

  • Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (Haitian Creole), Duke University, 2013

  • Volunteer Activities Support and Training Grant, U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Peace Corps, 2009

  • Hearst Teaching Fellowship, Charlotte Country Day School, 2005

  • Alpha Kappa Delta Sociology Honor Society, Davidson College, 2005

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