Dionne Coker-Appiah

Associate Professor

Department of Psychiatry 
Georgetown University School of Medicine

Dionne Smith Coker-Appiah, PhD, MAED, is an Associate Professor in the department of psychiatry at Georgetown University School of Medicine and a member of the Center for Trauma and the Community. Dr. Coker-Appiah has engaged in a focused program of research that has enabled her to build a comprehensive, domestic and international, Adolescent Dating Violence (ADV) Prevention research program, utilizing community-based participatory research approaches. More specifically, her research program is designed to: (a) prevent ADV and the associated health implications (mental, sexual, physical) among rural African-Americans and international youth of color, (b) build effective and sustainable community partnerships that build community capacity to address these issues, and (c) design culturally and geographically appropriate ADV prevention interventions. She directs the Adolescent Dating Violence Prevention Laboratory, which, in addition to conducting research, provides training and mentoring to numerous students (undergraduate, graduate, medical) and fellows. Her research has been funded by both federal and nonfederal grants. Dr. Coker-Appiah’s most recent research has focused on building community partnerships to prevent ADV in rural North Carolina (Project LOVE) and Ghana, West Africa. Dr. Coker-Appiah has dedicated her career to engaging in innovative research designed to prevent ADV in rural communities of color, and is passionate about using her research and prevention efforts to ensure that all adolescents live healthy, violence-free lives.

Degrees

2004: PHD: Psychology (University of Tennessee-Knoxville)
2000: MAED: Counselor Education (Wake Forest University)
1995: BA: Sociology (University of Virginia)

Training

2003-2004: Pre-Doctoral Internship: Psychology (The Ohio State University)
2004-2006: Post-Doctoral Fellowship (Johns Hopkins University)
2006-2008: Kellogg Health Scholars Fellowship (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill)