Nicole Beaulieu Perez

Nicole Beaulieu Perez, PhD, RN, PMHNP-BC, is an Assistant Professor of Nursing at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, committed to advancing precision mental health care. Her research examines the social and biological roots of depression in women with chronic conditions, particularly women living with HIV. When concurrent with HIV, depression’s lack of biomarkers and heterogeneous presentations make it easy to overlook, leading to lower quality of life and premature mortality. Prof. Perez’s interdisciplinary work integrates her expertise in clinical psychiatry, ‘omics’ (such as epigenetics and gut microbiome), and advanced statistical methods to parse distinct depression phenotypes, ultimately improving early clinical detection and developing more effective, personalized treatments.  

Currently, Perez is the principal investigator of the ReDiMMH Study, a K08 award funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, where she investigates the biology (epigenetic aging, gut microbiome, neurobiology) underlying the connections between poverty, depression, and metabolic health among women with or at risk for HIV. She received the NYU P20 Center pilot award funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, through which she identified different depressive symptom phenotypes and examined inflammatory and epigenetic biomarkers associated with depressive symptoms in women with and without HIV with type 2 diabetes. She has published extensively on the intersection of depression and chronic illnesses, issues in depression assessment, and disparities in mental health care. Her research has been featured in HuffPost, Fortune, and The Independent. 

Before joining the NYU faculty, Perez completed postdoctoral training at NYU Meyers Center for Precision Health in Diverse Populations and a TL1-funded predoctoral fellowship through NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute. For over a decade, Perez has worked as a psychiatric nurse and nurse practitioner in various settings, including inpatient, outpatient, residential, and telehealth environments—experiences that fuel her ongoing dedication to transforming mental health care.