Assistant Professor
Dr. Brittany Rudd is an Assistant Professor of Public Health in the Charles Steward Mott Department of Public Health at Michigan State University. The central theme of her research program is accelerating research-to-practice implementation in settings that support young people who are marginalized due to race, socioeconomic status, and other factors. She is primarily focused on efforts to transform the current legal system into one that centers wellness and enacts equitable justice.
As a former NIH Mixed Methods Research Training Program scholar and Implementation Science Institute fellow, a cornerstone of Dr. Rudd’s work is developing partnerships with community members from complex service settings and ensuring end-user feedback is integrated into interventions and implementation tools so that they are primed for adoption and implementation within those systems.
Since 2013, she has been continuously funded by the Indiana Supreme Court to engage in research that supports the mental health of families in civil family law cases. This includes developing, evaluating, and implementing digital mental health tools to promote wellness among family members accessing family law services. She is currently funded by the Indiana Supreme Court to develop and evaluate a model of family law navigation that connects low-income parents seeking divorce or legal separation with needed mental health, legal, and social services to promote health equity. Dr. Rudd’s NIMH career award builds upon a 7-year partnership with juvenile legal practitioners across the nation who are concerned about the rising rate of suicide among Black youth. Dr. Rudd is working with an advisory board of Black, formerly detained young people and juvenile legal practitioners from the National Partnership for Juvenile Services to build a Zero Suicide Model for juvenile detention that centers the needs and voices of young Black people.
Dr. Rudd joined MSU in 2025 after spending five years as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Law at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research in the Department of Psychiatry. She completed her doctoral training in clinical science at Indiana University, pre-doctoral clinical internship at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and postdoctoral training in implementation science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rudd is the recipient of many prestigious awards and honors. In 2024, she was named a NIMH Inspirational Change Maker.
Selected Publications:
Rudd, B.N., Davis, M., & Beidas, R.S. (2020). Integrating implementation science in clinical research to maximize public health impact: A call for reporting and alignment of implementation strategy use with implementation outcomes in clinical research. Implementation Science, 15(103), pp 1-11. doi: 10.1186/s13012-020-01060-5
Rudd, B.N., Davis, M., Doupnik, S., Ordorica, C., Marcus, S., & Beidas, R.S. (2022). Implementation Strategies Used and Reported in Brief Suicide Prevention Intervention Studies. JAMA Psychiatry. 79(8):829-831. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2022.1462
Van Deinse, T.B., Zielinski, M.J., Holliday, S.B., Rudd, B.N., & Crable, E.L. (2023). The Application of Implementation Science Methods in Correctional Health Intervention Research: A Systematic Review. Implementation Science Communication. Doi: 10.1186/s43058-023-00521-4
Rudd, B.N., Witzig, J., Goff., C., Potter, E., Snyder, S., Ordorica, C., & Ivankova, N (2024). A state-wide evaluation of the implementation of evidence-based suicide prevention guidelines in juvenile detention centers. Psychiatric Services. Doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.20220490
Rudd, B.N., George, J.M., Snyder, S., Whyte, M., Cliggitt, L., Weyler, R., & Brown, G. (2022). Harnessing quality improvement and implementation science to support the implementation of suicide prevention practices in juvenile detention. Psychotherapy. 59(2). doi: 10.1037/pst0000377
Rudd, B.N., & Beidas, R.S. (2021). Reducing the scientific bench to judicial bench research-to-practice gap: Applications of implementation science to family law research and practice. Family Court Review, 59(4), pp. 741-754. doi: 10.1111/fcre.12606
Doupnik, S.K., Rudd, B.N., Schmutte, T., Worsley, D., Bowden, C., McCarthy, E., Eggan, E., Bridge, J.A., & Marcus, S.C. (2020). Suicide prevention interventions for acute-care settings: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiatry, 77(10), pp 1021-1030. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2020.1586
Research Projects:
Parental divorce and separation are common adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) linked to psychosocial problems. We developed a model of screening parents seeking family law services for need and connecting them to appropriate care (legal and psychosocial services). This model is currently being piloted in one Indiana County, and we hope to scale to the rest of the state and nation. Here is an overview of the program.
This is a community-based participatory research study with the goal of improving mental health equity among youth in the juvenile-legal system by targeting suicide prevention among Black youth in juvenile detention. This study has three aims over 5 years. The first aim is to understand formerly detained Black young adults’ lived experiences with suicidality during detainment. The second aim is to optimize the Zero Suicide Model for juvenile detention contexts using the data from Aim 1 and a Community Advisory Board of juvenile-legal practitioners and impacted youth (this aim will start in 2025, following the completion of Aim 1). The third aim is to pilot the Zero Suicide Model for juvenile detention in two detention centers. All of this work will be conducted in partnership with an advisory board of Black young adults with lived experiences with suicidality and juvenile detention.
High levels of inter-parental conflict after parents divorce/separate put their children at risk for developing psychopathology. Utilizing a user-centered design approach, we are developing an online parent education program that targets inter-parental conflict that is designed with implementation in courts in mind.
A large demand for mental health services nationwide, along with a shortage of providers, has led to long waitlists for children and families. The traditional model of evaluation and a full course of therapy for each family may need to be supplemented with other types of services to move the needle on children’s mental health. We developed and piloted a new model of care in an outpatient mental health clinic. The pilot evaluated the feasibility of providing families with a comprehensive mental health evaluation, recommendations for treatment (including school recommendations and letters in support of a 504 plan or IEP), and a brief consultation regarding their primary concern for treatment. Quality improvement data suggest we are meeting an important need. We hope to conduct a fully powered evaluation of this model in the future.
CV:
To request a comprehensive CV summarizing Dr. Rudd’s achievements, email her at bnrudd@msu.edu.
