Georgia State University School of Public Health assistant professor Dr. Betty Lai recently received two awards—one from the Natural Hazards Center and another from the Academy on Violence and Abuse.  Her work has included examinations of family responses to Hurricanes Katrina, Ike, Charley, and Andrew, as well as bushfires in Australia. She has examined both the mental and physical health consequences of disasters.

The Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado awarded her the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship. The scholarship recognizes outstanding individuals who share Myers’ commitment to disaster research and practice and have the potential to make a lasting contribution to reducing disaster vulnerability. Read more here: http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/awards/mfmscholarship_winners.html.

Dr. Lai was also selected as a 2014 scholar by the Academy on Violence and Abuse. The AVA Scholars Program is a mentorship program designed to improve the ability of junior researchers to conduct high quality research and to enter into productive careers focused on understanding and minimizing the effects of violence and abuse on people’s health. Read more about the program here: http://www.avahealth.org/ava_scholar_program/.