Chelsea Allen

• Priority Area: Health Equity and Race, Racism, and Inequality
• Disciplines: Social Work, Black Women & Communities; Culturally Congruent Care; Digital Healing; Social Media & Emerging Technologies; Mental Health Disparities; Collective Trauma 
• Mentors: Dr. Edward J. Alessi & Dr. Valerie Jones Taylor
• Mentors' Disciplines: Dr. Alessi: LGBTQ+ mental health, trauma and resilience, minority stress, migration, qualitative and community-based research methods | Dr. Valerie Jones Taylor: Intergroup relations, stereotype and identity threat, virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR/XR) methodologies, interracial interactions, racialized spaces
• School: School of Social Work

Chelsea A. Allen, PhD, graduated from Columbia University’s School of Social Work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Growing up as the daughter of a Black social worker in Charleston, South Carolina, the heart of the South, she developed an early understanding of how systemic oppression shapes mental health outcomes. Her scholarship bridges social work, psychology, and digital studies to examine how Black women use emerging technologies, such as social media and virtual reality, to support self-care, wellness, and collective healing.

Her past research has investigated collective trauma as a powerful driver of health inequities in Black communities, offering an interdisciplinary framework for understanding how structural oppression shapes multidimensional health and social outcomes. Building on this foundation, she has explored how Black women define and engage in culturally congruent care across online and offline contexts, highlighting the creative ways Black communities use digital spaces for healing, connection, and collective joy during times of systemic stress. This body of work offers critical insights for designing care approaches that are both culturally responsive and technologically innovative. Chelsea received her MSW and BSW from the University of South Carolina.

As a Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow, Chelsea will investigate Black women’s experiences in virtual reality and examine how emerging technologies can be used to promote their health and well-being. Using a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative and quantitative analyses with speculative design, her work will explore how virtual reality features can enhance culturally congruent care and will conceptualize a digital platform designed by and for Black women to support such care practices. This research aligns with the program’s Health Equity and Race, Racism, and Inequality priority areas by addressing persistent disparities in mental health care access, quality, and cultural responsiveness for Black women. Her project will advance understanding of how structural racism shapes health outcomes and identify technology-driven solutions that center the voices and expertise of historically marginalized communities. The broader impact of this work lies in its potential to inform the design of digital tools and interventions that improve mental health equity, expand culturally relevant care options, and contribute to dismantling systemic barriers within health systems.

Chelsea looks forward to engaging students at the School of Social Work by drawing on her research expertise and clinical experience to teach courses on qualitative research methods, human behavior in the social environment, the intersections of race, technology, and social justice, and the long-term effects of collective trauma. She is committed to supporting emerging scholars working at the intersection of digital technology, mental health, and racial equity through mentorship in the Stereotyping and Social Interactions Virtual Reality Lab in the Department of Psychology.