Meet Dr. Sam Margherio
I am originally from a rural town in Missouri, and my graduate training has taken me all over the US. I earned my MA at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, then moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to work at Western Psychiatric Hospital, followed by pursuing my PhD in Clinical Psychology at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. I completed my clinical internship at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston, South Carolina before coming to Blacksburg as an Assistant Professor.
I care deeply about building community partners to enhance equity and access in mental health research and service. I found this passion reflected in the university's motto - Ut Prosim, That I May Serve - and in the impactful community-based work being conducted among the talented faculty in the Department of Psychology and across the university.
My work focuses on preventing risk-taking behaviors (like substance use) among teens with ADHD and related behavior concerns. I aim to build and disseminate cost-effective interventions in accessible spaces for teens, such as schools. This passion was sparked when working in forensic settings during my master's degree, where I saw many individuals whose early signs of behavior concerns had been missed or treated in a punitive way, leading to an adverse trajectory and, ultimately, justice-system involvement. I thought that perhaps if we could work in schools to better identify and treat youth experiencing behavior concerns, we could alter their trajectories by enhancing access to and equity in evidence-based mental health interventions.
When we hear about kids who have ADHD or teens who use substances, we sometimes think they might grow out of it, or that these are not overly concerning behaviors. I would want people to know that for most youth with ADHD, symptoms and problems in life continue into adulthood, and these problems often include risk-taking behavior (like substance use) that can have severe consequences. It is important for us to understand how these behavior concerns (like ADHD) create risk for dangerous risk-taking behaviors so that we can develop early interventions that improve outcomes for these youth.
I love that my research is centered within the community, and that I get to use voices from community members to guide the development of mental health interventions. Meeting with teens, families, teachers, school counselors, etc. who have experience with ADHD, behavior concerns, and/or adolescent substance use has transformed how I think about building equitable, accessible, and effective interventions.
As an Assistant Professor, I am generally in charge of my own schedule, which can be tricky when I have so much I want to accomplish! I was once told that I should prioritize time awareness and self-management rather than time-management and self-awareness. In other words, I cannot control time, but I can control my actions in the allotted time. This advice has been helpful for prioritizing my goals and keeping me on track to achieve those goals.
Like every young child, I constantly asked, "why?" - "Why do the leaves change colors in the fall?" "Why do they call them 'catfish'?" "Why do fires sometimes turn blue?" Rather than being annoyed or ignoring the question, my dad always responded enthusiastically and brought out the relevant book from the old set of encyclopedias we kept on the shelf. He would turn to "foliage," "fish," or "fire" in the "F" book, and I would answer my own question as I read. By reinforcing my curiosity, my dad created my passion for science and using science to answer my own questions at an early age.
I love hiking with my husband and my dog!
New Zealand is top on my bucket list!
I come from a huge family and I am an aunt to 11 nieces and nephews.