About Abigail Batchelder, PhD, MPH

Dr. Batchelder is a clinical health psychologist with a background in public health and focus on health disparities. Her research aims to understand and intervene on social and psychological barriers to physical and mental healthcare among underserved people (e.g., stigma, untreated or undertreated mental health needs, inequitable access to social determinant of health, etc.). She laterally collaborates with community-based organizations and communities impacted by the disparities her work aims to address, including people with substance use disorders, people with and vulnerable to HIV, and sexual and gender minority people. Dr. Batchelder’s clinical interests include improving health-related self-care, affective disorders, trauma, and substance use. At Mass General, Dr. Batchelder is the Assistant Director of the Behavioral Medicine Program, where she leads the stigma and substance use research initiatives, a member of the intern selection committee, and provides clinical and research supervision to Behavioral Medicine pre- and postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Batchelder is also the Director of the Substance Use Scientific Working Group and the Interim Director of the Community Engagement Research Program for the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research. She is also an Affiliated Investigator at the Fenway Institute.

Clinical Interests:

Treats:

Locations

Mass General Psychiatry: Behavioral Medicine Program
One Bowdoin Square
9th Floor
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: 617-643-0387

Medical Education

  • PhD, Yeshiva University
  • Fellowship, Massachusetts General Hospital

Accepted Insurance Plans

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Research

Dr. Batchelder's research agenda focuses on understanding and intervening on social and psychological barriers to physical and mental healthcare that perpetuate health disparities and inequities (e.g., stigma, untreated or undertreated mental health needs, inequitable access to social determinant of health, etc.). She laterally collaborates with community-based organizations and communities including people who use drugs, people with and vulnerable to HIV, and sexual and gender minority people to adapt evidence-based interventions to be accessible, acceptable, and feasible. Through NIH, SAMHSA, Harvard Center for AIDS Research, Fenway Health, and other internal supported research projects, Dr. Batchelder and her team aim to advance public health psychology by increasing access to community-adapted evidence-based interventions. The ultimate goal is to produce evidence to facilitate increased access to scalable efforts to improve public mental health among those who are systematically underserved.

Publications

  • Batchelder AW, Hagan M. The clinical relevance of a socioecological conceptualization of self-worth. Review of General Psychology. 2023; 27(1): 62-79.

    Batchelder AW, Foley JD, Kim J, Thiim A, Kelly J, Mayer K, & O?Cleirigh C. Intersecting internalized stigmas and HIV self-care among men who have sex with men who use substances. Social Science & Medicine. 2021;275:113824. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2021.113824. Epub 2021 Mar 6.

    Burgess C, Batchelder AW. Improving clinical research to inform advocacy initiatives with underserved individuals. The Behavior Therapist, 2020;43(7):235-241.

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