Health Equity Scholars Doctoral Programs
Meet Our Health Equity Scholars
These students are eager to examine and dismantle racist and discriminatory health and wellness structures. Impatient to make a difference in their communities, they are developing equitable public health interventions that will help people thrive both across the United States and around the world.
Vanessa Boadi, MHSA
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Evaluate and improve representation in patient recruitment in clinical trials
Breanna Calhoun, MS
- PhD student
- Department of Population and Family Reproductive Health
- Research Interest: Understand and address U.S. disparities in maternal health
Rashida Callender, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
- Research Interest: Evaluate environmental justice and climate resilience using a health equity lens
Mia Campbell, MHS
- PhD student
- Department of Mental Health
- Research Interest: Evaluate health equity in adolescent mental health and prevention
Aja Clarke, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Population and Family Reproductive Health
- Research Interest: Evaluate adolescent health, sexual and reproductive health, and menstruation using a health equity lens
Ameilia Cobb, MPH
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Evaluate how health equity intersects with Black birth equity and maternal mental health and disparities
Jennifer Farfalla, MPH
- DrPh student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: evaluate proven and innovative ways to create an equitable public health response to drug overdose that accounts for stigma, racism, and other drivers of inequities.
Lillian Funke, MPH, MSN
- DrPH student
- Health Policy and Management
- Research interest: Identify aspects of the midwifery model of care that can address the Black maternal/perinatal health crisis in the U.S.
Sierra Grey-Coker
- PhD candidate
- Department of Biostatistics
- Research Interest: Using statistical methods, evaluate positive public health outcomes to reduce health disparities
Indya Hairston, MPH
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Evaluate and understand the intersection of health equity with Black women's sexual and reproductive health as well as maternal health, using community-based research methods.
Tori Lawson, MPH
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice Concentration
- Research interest: Evaluate the nexus between health inequity, epigenetics, neighborhoods, and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Makenna Lindsay, MA
- PhD student
- Department of Population and Family Reproductive Health
- Research interest: Analyze how sexual stereotypes and messaging impact Black women’s risk for contracting HIV/STIs and impact sexual agency
Oscar Lopez, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Environmental Health and Engineering
- Research Interest: Evaluate the built environment, mental health, and contaminant exposures among disadvantaged populations to address environmental justice
Kenneth Massey, MS, MPH, MLS
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Analyze how social determinants of health increase the incidence and prevalence of communicable and non-communicable disease in minority populations
Kiara Mayhand, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Health, Behavior and Science
- Research Interest: Investigate the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in healthcare, particularly for predictive modeling and clinical decision-making
Maria Moncayo, MPH
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Investigate the social determinants of health and their impact on refugee and other vulnerable populations' health
Taylor Montgomery, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Health Policy and Management
- Research Interests: Evaluate maternal and child health equity in genomic medicine
Kyle Moon
- PhD student
- Department of Mental Health
- Research Interest: Evaluate overdose prevention and harm reduction as well as social epidemiology
Tahmina Parvin, MSc
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Evaluate factors involved in child health, nutrition, and infection diseases vis-à-vis health equity
Alexander Perez, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of International Health
- Research interest: Investigate the role of community leadership in building resilient pandemic response systems through centering equity strategies
Paulo Pontemayor, MPH
- DrPH student
- Department of Health Policy and Management
- Research Interest: Understand and evaluate health care financing and federal health care policy vis-à-vis health equity initiatives
Michael Ramirez, MPH
- PhD student
- Department of Mental Health
- Research Interest: Evaluate harm reduction, the impacts of trauma, opioid use disorder, dual treatment for comorbidities, and socioeconomics as risk factor
Barbara Wong, MPH
- DrPH student
- Health Equity and Social Justice
- Research Interest: Evaluate community health and partnerships, the impact of social determinants of health, and maternal, newborn, and child health