Advisory Committee and Staff

Harolyn Belcher is the inaugural director of the Office for Health, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity. Founding director of the Center for Diversity in Public Health Leadership Training, she leads clinical, research, advocacy programs in public health and MCH fields for diverse undergraduate to graduate school scholars. Belcher is the director of the MCH Careers/Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement-Undergraduate Program (MCHC/RISE-UP), MCH-Leadership Education Advocacy Research Network (MCH-LEARN), and the Dr. James A. Ferguson-RISE Fellowship. She was Principal Investigator on two National Child Traumatic Stress Network grants. Belcher serves on the National Academy of Sciences Board on the Children, Youth, and Families and Forum on Child Well-Being.

Mary LaCasse has over 30 years of experience in early childhood for profit, private non-profit and community-based organizations, and state reach with a focus on maternal and child health, and adult learning. Ms. LaCasse provides operational leadership to the Maternal, Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting Project supporting maternal and child health in Maryland. She is also responsible for providing technical expertise to key stakeholders; oversees directly funded evidence-based home visiting organizations; and supervises staff to support multiple home visiting initiatives. She holds a Bachelor's degree from the Salisbury University and Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins.

Lawrence Reid's research interests are in the areas of sociology, MCH, and social determinants of health. His current work at AHRQ focuses on maternal morbidity and mortality, obstetric care quality, and related social determinants. Previously, Reid was the Director of the Office of MCH Epidemiology at the Maryland Department of Health. In 2015, he received a doctorate in Population Health from the PFRH Department at JHSPH and was the recipient of the C. Esther and Paul A. Harper Award for outstanding dissertation research for his analysis of the relation between birth characteristics and school readiness in an urban kindergarten population. Reid earned an MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Michigan SPH in 2007.

Barry Solomon is Professor of Pediatrics and Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics. He holds a joint appointment in the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where he conducts research with faculty in the Center for Injury Research and Policy. Barry’s clinical work, research, and teaching relate to addressing the social determinants of health for children and families through innovations in pediatric primary care. He is engaged with several community-based organizations that work to support children and families in Baltimore City.

Marie Elizabeth Thoma is Assistant Professor at the Dept. of Family Science, SPH, UMD and proud PFRH alum (’09). Thoma has held fellowships at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and National Center for Health Statistics. Her research focuses broadly on reproductive and perinatal epidemiology with specific expertise in maternal and infant health, infertility, and gynecologic conditions. Additionally, she is interested in the development of population-based methodologies to further enhance and refine our understanding of these areas.

Jennifer White is a social justice and racial equity advocate with experience in advocacy campaigns, program implementation, program evaluation and research. In 2011, through the MCH Center of Excellence, White supported the Practices to Reduce Infant Mortality through Equity (PRIME) Project at the Michigan Department of Community Health in the Bureau of Family, Maternal and Child Health. This project fueled her interest in exploring the role of institutional racism and maternal and child health disparities. Jennifer is a leader committed to building community power and driving policy change rooted in racial equity.