Phoenix Gender-based Violence Lab

Team member spotlight!

meg credit (they/them), is a research assistant at the Phoenix Gender-based Violence lab. meg is a Ph.D. student in counseling psychology at Lehigh University, where they are a member of the Resistance Lab, a research team focused on gender-based violence intervention and prevention efforts.

They are interested in researching a range of topics related to TGNB peoples' experiences of gender-based violence through art-based and community-centered methodologies.

Before moving to Philadelphia, meg completed their master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where they were a therapist and advocate at Voices of Hope, a domestic violence agency.

meg has experience working as an individual and group therapist in college counselling, outpatient, and community mental health settings.
They are passionate about community, healing, mental health, and how our individual and collective narratives can influence more equitable access to care in all areas of our lives.

In their free time, they enjoy paddle boarding, snowboarding, hiking, camping, taking photos, and spending time with their cats and loved ones.

Team member spotlight! meg credit (they/them), is a research assistant at the Phoenix Gender-based Violence lab. meg is a Ph.D. student in counseling psychology at Lehigh University, where they are a member of the Resistance Lab, a research team focused on gender-based violence intervention and prevention efforts. They are interested in researching a range of topics related to TGNB peoples' experiences of gender-based violence through art-based and community-centered methodologies. Before moving to Philadelphia, meg completed their master’s degree in counseling psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where they were a therapist and advocate at Voices of Hope, a domestic violence agency. meg has experience working as an individual and group therapist in college counselling, outpatient, and community mental health settings. They are passionate about community, healing, mental health, and how our individual and collective narratives can influence more equitable access to care in all areas of our lives. In their free time, they enjoy paddle boarding, snowboarding, hiking, camping, taking photos, and spending time with their cats and loved ones.

Meet our lab director, Dr. Laura Sinko!

Laura Sinko, PhD, MSHP, RN (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at Temple University College of Public Health. She is a former child and adolescent mental health nurse and is currently a practicing sexual assault nurse examiner in Philadelphia. Prior to joining Temple, Dr. Sinko completed a postdoctoral research fellowship and Master of Science in health policy through the University of Pennsylvania’s National Clinician Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary fellowship focused on health policy and social change.

Laura received both her bachelor's and doctoral degrees in nursing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor where she was part of the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation, an accelerated BSN-to-PhD program dedicated to making health care more effective, patient-centered and equitable.

Laura's research focuses on promoting healing after gender-based violence (e.g. sexual assault, intimate partner violence, child abuse), with a particular emphasis on social, cultural and structural influences of recovery across the lifespan. She is particularly interested in LGBTQ+ considerations in the survivor care space. She is passionate about creative research translation as well as research that is trauma-informed and healing-centered.

Laura has expertise in both narrative and photography-based qualitative methods and has organized multiple community exhibitions to share her research findings as well as the healing journeys of the survivors she has interviewed. Ultimately, she is interested in leveraging creative, survivor-centered research to bridge the gap between survivor lived experience, the scientific community, and policy makers. By amplifying these perspectives, Laura's goal is to create a more supportive healing world for survivors of violence and abuse.