Ph.D. Candidate Public Health Sciences
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Ebony Rao, PhD, MA, Ed.M., LCMHCS is the Sr. Health Program Manager for the Office of Violence Prevention with Mecklenburg County Public Health. This office includes the Gun Violence Prevention Program and the ReCAST II Program (Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma). ReCAST II is a 4-year SAMHSA funded project). These programs are tasked with with building and sustaining the violence prevention ecosystem, building capacity for community resilience, increased access to trauma informed care, and reducing the rates of community violence. She is currently a Ph.D. student in Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her research interests include trauma and resilience, child and adolescent mental health, maternal mental health, and violence prevention. She is a Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor with a Master of Science Degree in Counseling Psychology and a Master of Education Degree in School Counseling both from Columbia University. She provides training and presentations throughout the community and participates on multiple community committees and boards addressing gaps in service for those experiencing mental illness or issues of childhood trauma.