Michele S. Mayne is a Ph.D. candidate in Sociology, with a concentration in Medical Sociology and Community Health and Well-Being. Her research focuses on mental health disparities in African American/Black communities, examining how access to care, substance use, socioeconomic inequality, and systemic discrimination affect mental health outcomes. She draws from medical sociology, public health, and social psychology perspectives to explore how lived experiences and structural conditions shape identity, stigma, and help-seeking behaviors.
Her work addresses barriers such as misdiagnosis, limited culturally humble care, and a lack of early intervention, while also considering the effects of chronic stress, family instability, racism-related trauma, cultural mistrust of healthcare systems, and the criminalization of mental illness and substance use. Through this work, she offers a multi-level perspective that bridges the social, psychological, and structural dimensions of health disparities.
As a Summer Research Fellow at the Center for Global Black Studies (CGBS), Michele will receive support for her dissertation project, Understanding Decision-Making Pathways of Individuals Seeking Treatment for Drug Addiction: A Community-Based Study in Miami-Dade County. Her research employs a phenomenological and community-based philosophy framework to examine how African American/Black individuals navigate addiction treatment systems. The study aims to advance community-centered solutions that address addiction, improve mental health outcomes, and promote racial equity.
