JaNiene Peoples is a Social Work Ph.D. student at Washington University in St. Louis and a National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) T32 Predoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on examining risk and protective factors associated with mental health and high-risk substance use among adolescents and emerging adults through an intersectional lens. Her work is also driven by building evidence that informs tailored interventions for populations disproportionately affected by mental health and substance use problems, particularly Black Americans. As a Certified Health Education Specialist and Certified Personal and Executive Coach, she has years of training in providing culturally informed and strengths-based support to underserved groups. She specializes in the areas of health behavior change, mental health, substance misuse prevention, and stress and crisis management. JaNiene received a BS in Health and Human Performance from the University of Memphis and M.S. in Health Education from Texas A&M University.