Rashmi Risbud

Rashmi Risbud is Doctoral Candidate in Developmental Psychology at the University of California Davis. Rashmi started to collaborate with Dr. Ranak Trivedi in 2016. She began as an RA, contributing to research on how families manage chronic illnesses together (such as depression and HF), and how culture, social support and mindset impact health management success. Some of her work contributed to the development of a web-based dyadic intervention called Web-SUCCEED, which teaches stress management, improving interpersonal relationships, and maintaining positive behavioral change for chronic illness management. The Web-SUCCEED program will be adapted as a culturally congruent intervention for South Asian women with breast cancer in a more recent study (SAFAD study). It will also include a new Home and Community Based Services resource module in a version for Veterans with chronic illnesses as part of a second study (in partnership with the Elizabeth Dole Center of Excellence for Veteran and Caregiver Research). Rashmi also worked as a project coordinator for these more recent research projects before leaving to pursue a PhD. Going forward, she aims to study environmental, biological, and social risk factors that lead to development of psychological illnesses such as depression, anxiety and substance use in children and adolescents. She is also interested in protective factors that shield against mental illness, such as the positive impact of culture, social support, and mindset. Rashmi's long-term career goal is to harness knowledge about buffering factors to develop effective interventions that prevent mental illnesses before their onset. She hopes to eventually make a career as a researcher and professor. For fun, Rashmi loves ocean swimming, swim races around Alcatraz / SF Bay, and running with her dog, Friday. She also enjoy painting and reading. Rashmi is happy to speak with anyone who is interested in this field or in pursuing graduate psychology programs.