Karen Chartier, MSW, Ph.D.

Scientific director (PI), Spit For Science (S4S)

Karen Chartier, MSW, Ph.D. is the Center Director of the Institute for Research on Behavioral and Emotional Health and the Director of the Spit for Science Registry, two university-level initiatives that bring together faculty, trainees, and students from across disciplines and units at VCU to advance the scientific understanding of substance use and mental health. Dr. Chartier is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work and an affiliate faculty in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. She is also on the faculty of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics. Dr. Chartier studies social, genetic and environmental factors that influence alcohol misuse and alcohol use disorder, including how these relationships might operate within and across racial, ethnic, and cultural groups.