Rutgers doctoral students Nora Sullivan and Yingning Xie have been named the 2025 Howard Leventhal Scholars. This scholarship is awarded annually to two students, providing them with funds to support their dissertation research and help launch their investigative careers.
Sullivan is a doctoral candidate in social work at the Rutgers School of Social Work. Her research focuses on faith-based organizations that provide permanent housing for people experiencing homelessness, utilizing a Housing First approach. She aims to explore the intersections between faith-based initiatives and Housing First strategies to guide future interventions and funding decisions related to homelessness services. Sullivan has previously worked as a graduate research assistant at IFH’s Center for State Health Policy, where she supported research on healthcare and housing, as well as at the Rutgers Center for Prevention Sciences, focusing on opioid use treatment.
Yingning Xie, also known as Ningning, is pursuing his doctorate in planning and public policy from the Rutgers Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. His research centers on car-less immigrants' access to high-quality health-related destinations and examines affordable mobility tools like e-bikes. He will investigate how transportation constraints affect immigrants' access to health-related services and their perceptions of transportation accessibility. Xie has served as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the Rutgers Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center, contributing to studies on healthcare accessibility, food access improvement, transit facilities, and bikeshare programs in New York City.
The Howard Leventhal Scholars are expected to present their work's progress after one year to Institute faculty and staff.
Howard Leventhal was recognized for his contributions to health psychology through theoretical and empirical work in emotion, illness behavior, and illness attribution.
