WHO WE ARE
Principal Investigators
Monica Schoch-Spana, PhD
Johns Hopkins Center for
Health Security
Expertise in public health emergencies, participatory policymaking, community resilience to disasters, crisis and crisis emergency risk communication. Dr. Schoch-Spana is a medical anthropologist and Senior Scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She co-led development of evidence-informed recommendations to improve public uptake of COVID-19 vaccines and helped to design an ethical framework for the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines.
Contact: mschoch1@jhu.edu
Emily K. Brunson, PhD, MPH
Texas State University
Expertise in vaccination decision making, healthcare access, social inequalities, qualitative data collection and analysis, and public health policy. Dr. Brunson is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Anthropology at Texas State University. She co-led the National Science Foundation-sponsored Working Group on Readying Populations for COVID-19 Vaccines.
Contact: ebrunson@txstate.edu
Ray Bonilla, Jr., MBA
Kaiser Permanente
Expertise in health systems management, business continuity, disaster recovery. Mr. Bonilla is the Executive Director for Resilience and Recovery Services at Kaiser Permanente, the largest nonprofit integrated health care delivery system in the United States. Mr. Bonilla is a healthcare resilience executive, planning commission chairman, board member of the county’s homeless agency, and advocate for equity and community resilience.
Contact: ray.j.bonilla@kp.org
Arrietta Chakos, MPA
Urban Resilience Strategies
Expertise in local government, community engagement, resilience politics, and regional and community risk reduction planning. Ms. Chakos is Principal for Urban Resilience Strategies. A former assistant city manager, she has been senior advisor to the Association of Bay Area Governments on regional resilience planning in 101 cities and 9 counties and supported partnerships with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program.
Contact: arriettachakos@gmail.com
Divya Hosangadi, MSPH
Johns Hopkins Center for
Health Security
Expertise in vaccine science and policy, mass vaccination implementation, infodemic management, and global health. Ms. Hosangadi is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, where she primarily assesses strategies to optimize mass vaccination and to manage misinformation during public health emergencies. Formerly, Ms. Hosangadi worked at the World Health Organization and the Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center where she helped coordinate efforts to update policy on global pneumococcal conjugate vaccine use.
Contact: dhosang1@jhu.edu
Ysabel Duron, BA
The Latino Cancer Institute
Expertise in patient advocacy, journalism, health equity, community engagement. Ms. Duron is President of the Latino Cancer Institute, a nonprofit community and research network dedicated to promoting education, services, research, and policy for Latinos nationwide around issues of cancer. A pioneering, award-winning Latina journalist and cancer survivor, she has been committed to educating, supporting and providing essential services to low-income Spanish speakers suffering from the disease.
Contact: ysabelduron@gmail.com
Richard Krieg, PhD
Texas State University
Expertise in government, healthcare and public health, and policy development and implementation. Dr. Krieg is former Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, Director of Policy Analysis and Planning for the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, Associate Dean of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, and President of the Horizon Foundation, a philanthropy whose mission includes equity in public health outcomes. Contact: rmkrieg@gmail.com
Nancy Kass, ScD
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Expertise in bioethics and health policy, ethics and public health preparedness, ethical guidance for infectious disease outbreaks, and research ethics. Dr. Kass is the Phoebe R. Berman Professor of Bioethics and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, where she is also both the Deputy Director for Public Health for the Berman Institute of Bioethics and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Contact: nkass@jhu.edu
Heidi Larson, PhD
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Expertise in social/political effects upon uptake of health interventions, vaccine hesitancy, vaccine delivery strategies, public health policy. Dr. Larson is Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project and Professor of Anthropology, Risk, and Decision Science at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She formerly headed Global Immunisation Communication at UNICEF, chaired GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance’s Advocacy Task Force, and served on the World Health Organization Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization Working Group on Vaccine Hesitancy. Contact: heidi.larson@lshtm.ac.uk
Meredith Li-Vollmer, Phd
Public Health - Seattle
& King County
Expertise in risk communication, community engagement, and health equity. Dr. Vollmer is a Risk Communication Specialist for Public Health–Seattle & King County, where she leads planning for communications during emergencies, including medical countermeasures, scarce medical resources, and audience research with hardly reached communities. She is a Researcher with the University of Washington Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center.
Contact: meredith.li-vollmer@kingcounty.gov
Rex Long, MA
Texas State University
Expertise in qualitative research design, data collection, and analysis. Mr. Long is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Anthropology at Texas State University. His research interests include the social-emotional impacts of natural hazards, experiences of mental health and disability, and improving the ways individuals interact with healthcare systems.
Contact: ral119@txstate.edu
Gregory Poland, MD
Mayo Clinic
Expertise in immunology, infectious diseases, immunogenetics of vaccine response in adults and children, vaccine confidence, and patient education. Dr. Poland is Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic and a Consultant with the Departments of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (Pediatric Infectious Diseases) and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
Contact: poland.gregory@mayo.edu
Walter A. Orenstein, MD
Emory University
Expertise in pediatrics, infectious diseases, immunization, vaccine confidence, and barriers to vaccine access. Dr. Orenstein is a Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, Global Health, and Pediatrics; Associate Director of the Emory Vaccine Center; and Director of Emory Vaccine Policy and Development. Formerly, he directed the United States Immunization Program and chaired the National Vaccine Advisory Committee when it developed a report on building vaccine confidence.
Contact: worenst@emory.edu
Lois Privor-Dumm, IMBA
Johns Hopkins International Vaccine Access Center
Expertise in vaccine hesitancy, vaccine policymaking/ implementation, and new vaccine introduction. Ms. Privor-Dumm is Director, Adult Vaccines, and Senior Advisor, Policy, Advocacy, & Communications at the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry, holding senior roles in regional operations (Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa), global research and development commercial strategy, and US operations.
Contact: lprivor1@jhu.edu
Sandra Crouse Quinn PhD
Maryland Center for
Health Equity
Expertise in vaccine acceptance in emergency situations, racial disparities in vaccine uptake, crisis and emergency risk communication with minorities, and engagement of minorities in research. Dr. Quinn is a Professor of Family Science and Department Chair and Senior Associate Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Contact: scquinn@umd.edu
Sanjana Ravi, MPH
Johns Hopkins Center
for Health Security
Expertise in health systems strengthening, responses to humanitarian crises, infectious disease management, disaster response/recovery, and “last mile” vaccination challenges. Ms. Ravi is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security as well as a Senior Research Associate and Doctoral Candidate in International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Contact: sanjana@jhu.edu
Elisa J. Sobo, PhD
San Diego State University
Expertise in rapid ethnographic assessment, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 conspiracies, vaccine hesitancy (selectivity and refusal), and public distrust of healthcare systems among disadvantaged groups. Dr. Sobo is a Professor and Chair of Anthropology at San Diego State University. As a sociocultural anthropologist, she specializes in health, illness, and medicine, including a focus on risk perception, pediatric vaccination, and healthcare organizational and communication issues.
Contact: esobo@sdsu.edu
Maddie Taylor, BS
Johns Hopkins Center for
Health Security
Expertise in health systems, health financing, and strategic relationship building. Ms. Taylor is a Master’s of Science in Public Health Student at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and is former Fulbright grantee in Malaysia. Her interests are in community health, US health policy, and public health emergency management.
Contact: mtayl131@jhu.edu
Stephen B. Thomas, PhD
Maryland Center for Health Equity
Expertise in racial and ethnic health disparities, translation of science into community-based interventions, health promotion, and disease prevention. Dr. Thomas is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. He is Primary Investigator of the Center of Excellence in Race, Ethnicity, and Health Disparities Research, funded by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Contact: sbt@umd.edu
Marc Trotochaud, MSPH
Johns Hopkins Center
for Health Security
Expertise in health education and health communication, misinformation and disinformation, public health emergency preparedness, and news content analysis. Mr. Trotochaud is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Research Associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He is currently working on projects concerning the COVID-19 “infodemic.”
Contact: mtrotoc1@jhu.edu
Tener Goodwin Veenema,
PhD, MPH, MS, RN
Johns Hopkins Center
for Health Security
Expertise in disaster nursing, public health emergency preparedness, and health services research and policy. Dr. Veenema is a Professor of Nursing in the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing and in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of International Health. She has served on the National Academy of Medicine Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness and the Academy’s Standing Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division of Strategic National Stockpile.
Contact: tveenem1@jhu.edu
Stacey Walker, BA
Linn County (Iowa) Board of Supervisors
Expertise in local/state government, strategies to address systemic poverty, growth and development, and community resilience to disasters. Mr. Walker is a leader elected to the Linn County (Iowa) Board of Supervisors—the first African American to hold the position. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Linn County Public Health Department, the Workforce Development CEO Board, and the National Association of Counties Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee.
Contact: stacey.walker@linncounty.org
Beth Weaver, MS
RESOLVE
Expertise in designing and convening consensus building and interest-based dialogues to help communities and policymakers address complex public health, social, and environmental issues at the local and national level. Through her facilitation, mediation, and strategic planning work, Ms. Weaver, a Senior Mediator at RESOLVE, primarily focuses on issues relating to strengthening public health infrastructure, enhancing emergency preparedness and response efforts, and balancing environmental protections with the social, cultural, and economic interests of communities.
Contact: bweaver@resolve.ngo
Alexandre "Sasha" White, PhD
Johns Hopkins University
Expertise in social effects of outbreaks; racism, colonialism, and public health history; and epidemic governance systems. Dr. White is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University and in the Department of the History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medical. He co-leads the Hopkins Population Center Data Hub, which offers timely US county-level data on social, economic, and health disparities—critical information needed to respond appropriately to the pandemic as local situations change.
Contact: awhite94@jhmi.edu
Local Teams
Elizabeth Cartwright, RN, PhD
Idaho State University
Expertise in structural vulnerability and health among immigrant and ethnic populations in the United States, Bolivia, Mexico, and Peru. Dr. Cartwright has extensive experience in systemic ethnographic methodologies that use text-based narratives and visual data. She is the co-founder of Crescendos Alliance (http://crescendosalliance.com), a non-profit organization that uses community-based participatory research to improve the lives of farmworkers in the United States and South America.
Contact: lizcartwright@isu.edu
Noe Crespo, PhD
San Diego State University
Expertise in preventing chronic disease, reducing health disparities, and improving health behavior and community-based interventions among Latinos. Dr. Crespo is an associate professor of health promotion and behavioral science in the San Diego State University School of Public Health.
Contact: ncrespo@sdsu.edu
Ethlyn Gibson, DNP, MSN, RN-BC
Hampton University
School of Nursing
Expertise in addressing health inequities at the community level; addressing public policy for vulnerable communities particularly communities of color and older adults; and addressing health care access, social inequalities, and qualitative data collection and analysis. Dr. Gibson is an associate professor of nursing at Hampton University and director of Gerontology Center of Excellence in Minority Aging. Currently she serves on the Commonwealth of Virginia's COVID-19 Vaccine Advisory Workgroup.
Contact: ethlyn.gibson@hamptonu.edu
Suzanne M. Grieb, PhD, MSPH
Johns Hopkins Centro SOL
Expertise in infectious disease public health, health inequities, healthcare access, community engagement, and community-based participatory research, and qualitative data collection and analysis. Dr. Grieb is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics and Center for Child and Community Health Research at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Contact: sgrieb1@jhmi.edu
Mónica Guerrero Vázquez, MS, MPH
Johns Hopkins Centro SOL
Expertise in outreach and participant recruitment and retention. Her research interests include community-based participatory research, human-centered programming, and youth and immigrant health/public health. Ms. Vázquez is the executive director of the Center for Health and Opportunities for Latinos (Centro SOL), commissioner for the State’s Commission on Suicide Prevention, and municipal officer on the Baltimore City Trauma Informed Care Task Force.
Contact: mguerre3@jhmi.edu
Susan M. Kiene, PhD
San Diego State University
Expertise in developing and testing community-based public health interventions implemented at individual, group, community, and structural levels. Dr. Kiene’s interventions leverage sustainable resources to address healthcare human resource shortages in resource-limited settings to reduce health disparities and promote equity in access to quality healthcare. Dr. Kiene is a professor of global health at San Diego State University School of Public Health.
contact: skiene@sdsu.edu
Bronwen Lichtenstein, PhD
University of Alabama
Expertise in healthcare access in underserved communities, test-and-treat approaches to HIV and hepatitis C in criminal justice settings, medical ethnography, domestic violence research, and qualitative and longitudinal research design and data collection methods. Dr. Lichtenstein is a professor of medical sociology at the University of Alabama and honorary professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia.
Contact: blichten@ua.edu
Stephanie M. McClure, PhD, MPH
University of Alabama
Expertise in using ethnographic methods to build theory in the area health disparities etiology and manifestation. Dr. McClure is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Alabama. She has designed, helped coordinate, and participated in various projects aimed at eliciting community member insight into the operation and effects of cancer and built environment disparities.
Contact: smcclur1@ua.edu
Corinne McDaniels-Davidson, PhD
San Diego State University
Expertise in community engagement, health communication, workforce development, and contact tracing. Dr. McDaniels-Davidson is an epidemiologist with a passion for equity who serves as director of the San Diego State University Institute for Public Health. She co-leads Communities Fighting COVID!, a community health worker-led approach to culturally appropriate and linguistically concordant contact tracing in the nation’s fifth largest county.
Contact: cmcdaniels@sdsu.edu
Kathryn Oths, PhD
University of Alabama
Expertise in mixed methods, study design, data management and analysis, treatment choice, and gender, ethnic, and health inequalities. Now a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Alabama, Dr. Oths has conducted funded research on job strain and reproduction, health outcomes in highland Peru, and social aspects of food in Brazil and the United States. As a biocultural medical anthropologist, she has been active in local public health assessment and promotion activities for 30 years.
Contact: koths@ua.edu
Pamela Payne-Foster, MD, MPH
University of Alabama
Expertise in preventive medicine and public health, community-based participatory research in HIV, diabetes and lupus, and violence prevention health disparities. Dr. Payne-Foster is the deputy director of the Institute for Rural Health Research at the University of Alabama School of Medicine. She is an advocate for health equity in the rural Deep South, having built strong ties with community organizations and faith communities throughout the Black Belt through her role as the primary investigator for Project FAITHH.
Contact: pfoster@ua.edu
Andrew Plunk, PhD, MPH
Eastern Virginia Medical School
Expertise in the ethics and methods of community engagement, policy implementation and adaptation, drug policy, and the impact of housing on health. Dr. Plunk is director of community outreach and partnership and associate professor of pediatrics at Eastern Virginia Medical School. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Contact: plunkad@evms.edu
Sarah Polk, MD, ScM, MHS
Johns Hopkins Centro SOL
Expertise in optimizing primary care as a means of addressing racial/ethnic health disparities, with a particular focus on early childhood obesity prevention and mental health care. Her work as a clinician has familiarized her with the challenges of providing high-quality healthcare to Latino children of immigrants with limited English proficiency who comprise the majority of the patient population at the Children’s Medical Practice that she leads as the medical director. Dr. Polk is also co-director of the Center for Health and Opportunities for Latinos (Centro SOL).
Contact: spolk@jhmi.edu
Sandra Quinn, PhD
University of Maryland
Expertise in vaccine acceptance in emergency situations, racial disparities in vaccine uptake, crisis and emergency risk communication with minorities, and engagement of minorities in research. Dr. Quinn is a Professor of Family Science and Department Chair and Senior Associate Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.
Contact: scquinn@umd.edu
Daniela Rodriguez, DrPH
Johns Hopkins Centro SOL
Expertise in the intersection of politics and public health, especially for vulnerable populations. Dr. Rodríguez is a health policy and systems researcher primarily working in low- and middle-income countries. Her research areas include evidence-informed decision making, analysis of health policy development and implementation, and understanding political will and commitment for health programs.
Contact: drodri17@jhu.edu
Levi Ross, PhD, MPH, CHES
University of Alabama
Expertise in men’s health, rural health promotion, and engagement of individuals and communities of color in research. Dr. Ross is an associate professor of public health in the Department of Health Science at the University of Alabama.
Contact: lross2@ches.ua.edu
Diana Schow, PhD, MA, MHE
Idaho State University
Expertise in action research, focusing on rural and underserved populations in the western United States, Europe, and Peru. Dr. Schow is a visiting assistant professor at Idaho State University and the executive director of the Southeast Idaho Area Health Education Center. Contact: schodian@isu.edu
Elisa Sobo, PhD
San Diego State University
Expertise in rapid ethnographic assessment, COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 conspiracies, vaccine hesitancy (selectivity and refusal), and public distrust of healthcare systems among disadvantaged groups. Dr. Sobo is a Professor and Chair of Anthropology at San Diego State University. As a sociocultural anthropologist, she specializes in health, illness, and medicine, including a focus on risk perception, pediatric vaccination, and healthcare organizational and communication issues.
Contact: esobo@sdsu.edu
Stephen B. Thomas, PhD
University of Maryland
Expertise in racial and ethnic health disparities, translation of science into community-based interventions, health promotion, and disease prevention. Dr. Thomas is a Professor of Health Policy and Management and Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. He is Primary Investigator of the Center of Excellence in Race, Ethnicity, and Health Disparities Research, funded by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities.
Contact: sbt@umd.edu