An interview with Luciana Assini-Meytin, PhD, MS
Luciana C. Assini-Meytin, PhD, MS is an Associate Scientist at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, affiliated with the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse and the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy. Dr. Assini-Meytin researches strategies to advance the science of child sexual abuse prevention.
How did you get into the field of injury prevention?
LA: I was trained as a clinical psychologist, and I always thought we could do more to prevent people from experiencing the psychological suffering I saw in my clinical practice. Often, this suffering was tied to abuse experienced in childhood. After earning a Master's in Psychology in Brazil, I decided to fully pursue my career in prevention science and came to the US to obtain my PhD training. After completing my program, I started my position at JHU, working full-time in child sexual abuse prevention.
Tell us about an active project that you are currently working on.
LA: I am working on a series of papers based on a national prevalence survey of child sexual abuse by adults and boundary-violating behaviors in youth-serving settings in the US. In our first study, we identified a 20% decline in child sexual abuse victimization in large organizations focused on recreation and culture. This is one of the first pieces of evidence showing a decline in abuse in these settings, which have been implementing various child safeguarding measures for injury prevention over the decades. Other papers are shaping up and offering quite relevant insights to the field.
What do you like to do in your free time?
LA: I like to spend time with my son walking around our neighborhood and riding bikes.
If you could have brunch with any celebrity, who would you meet and what would you talk about?
LA: I would love to meet Maya Gabeira who is a Brazilian surfer of big waves. I would talk about her career trajectory and her role as a woman in a sport dominated by men.
What is your favorite part about being affiliated with the Injury Center?
LA: The people, connections, and learning about different aspects of the field!
How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?
LA: As my own child explains it “my mother works to keep children safe.”
What are you reading right now?
LA: Just finished a book by Jeb Corliss about his experience in base jumping and wingsuit (which are extremely dangerous activities that I wouldn’t recommend!). I enjoy reading about and learning from people that I would likely not meet in my day-to-day life.
If you could make an office rule that everyone had to follow for a day, what would it be?
LA: Every quarter we get to do together as a team an activity that brings joy to one of our team members.