Dr. Harry Adynski, PhD, RN, PMH-BC, is a nurse scientist and board-certified psychiatric mental health nurse whose research is centered on exploring the social and biological drivers of mental health and well-being among minoritized youth and their families. By addressing the unique challenges faced by these populations, Dr. Adynski aims to develop interventions that improve mental health outcomes and promote mental health equity.
NCSP facilitates extensive training in community engagement, health policy, leadership, professional development, research methods, and health equity. In the first year of his fellowship, he completed a Certificate in Health Data Science from the Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, enhancing his statistical expertise and exposure to innovative methods, including machine learning. In collaboration with his mentor Dr. Sandra Weiss, PhD, RN, FAAN, Dr. Adynski was awarded an NIH Loan Repayment Plan (LRP) Pediatric award (L40NR021315) from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). This project examines the relationship between maternal stress exposure and infant emotional regulation and telomere length, utilizing secondary data from a NICHD funded study (PI Weiss, R01HD081188). Dr. Adynski’s current projects focus on marginalized communities, particularly improving mental health and well-being among LGBTQIA+ youth and implementing school-based mental health interventions. His clinical work includes collaboration with Dr. Kelly Edyburn on the Youth Empowerment LGBTQIA+ Mental Health Drop-in Center initiative, funded by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative Grant (CYBHI). This initiative is establishing a community-based, peer-to-peer drop-in youth center, facilitated by a youth advisory board, at school-based health centers in the Oakland Unified School District, addressing the social and health needs of LGBTQIA+ youth. Recently, Dr. Adynski was awarded an Advancing Early Research Opportunities (AERO) grant from the Hillman Scholars Program in Nursing Innovation to support this work and explore the implementation barriers and facilitators of this intervention. During his summer externship, he collaborated with the Children, Health, Intervention, Learning, and Development (CHILD) research group at Jönköping University. He utilized the Regional Youth Public Health Survey, a school-based survey, to explore the impact of social support, social safety, bullying, and exposure to violence on mental health outcomes among Swedish LGBTQIA+ youth. Working alongside organizations like the UCSF Oakland Benioff School-Based Clinics, which are both federally qualified health centers, and the international CHILD research group at Jönköping University in Sweden, has enhanced Dr. Adynski’s collaborations within the community and broadened the impact of his work. With the invaluable support of the NCSP, Dr. Adynski has expanded his research program, developed international and community-based collaborations, and focused on health equity to serve marginalized populations and address youth and family mental health.
Research Interests: Investigating the interactions between social and biological drivers of child health, wellbeing, and developmental outcomes and their families to inform intervention development, clinical care, and policy.