Research Interests
Mental health equity in carceral systems, participatory research, program evaluation, behavioral health policy.
Education
- Master of Public Health (M.P.H.), University of North Carolina at Charlotte
- Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Biosketch
Ava Peters joined the School of Criminology and Justice Studies as a doctoral student in the fall of 2025. She earned her Master of Public Health degree from University of North Carolina (UNC) Charlotte with a concentration in health policy and community health practice. Her research focuses on advancing mental health equity for incarcerated and justice-involved populations through participatory methods, policy analysis, and applied program evaluation.
Ava’s interdisciplinary background in psychology, public health, and policy informs her systems-oriented approach to research. Her work is grounded in prevention and systems thinking, informed by a public health lens that prioritizes upstream interventions and structural change. Prior to pursuing graduate education in public health, she worked in forensic report writing at a psychology firm, an experience that sparked her interest in the legal system and the intersection of mental health with justice-involved populations.
At UNC Charlotte, Ava contributed to the development of the Core Competency Model for Corrections (CCM-C), a behavioral health training program for clinicians working in correctional settings to better support individuals at risk of self-directed violence. She also led a university-wide suicide prevention taskforce that produced a comprehensive recommendation report for campus leadership. In addition to her research and implementation work, Ava is committed to public scholarship and making research accessible to non-academic audiences, as demonstrated by her authorship of several op-eds aimed at bridging public health, policy, and community impact.