STEM RESEARCHERS
MODERATOR
Tere Williams earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech after being drafted into the WNBA in 2001, where she joined the Phoenix Mercury organization for one season. She also holds an M.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Immunology. As a Ph.D. student, she is working on a multidisciplinary Immunology/Vaccinology project determining immunomechanisms of protective immunity through a novel vaccine, engineered in her host lab, against Trypanosoma cruzi infection. Ms. Williams continues work in this area on such projects evaluating risks in the national COVID-19 vaccine distribution pipeline for a government public health agency and science advocacy/community outreach focused on the historical perspective of vaccinology, mRNA vaccine technology, and the development of the current COVID-19 vaccine platforms through SIMON|PETRk Co.
PANELIST
Asya Spears is the founder of Rose Data Studio, a data education firm that cultivates a more diverse data workforce by building data literacy skills to enhance collaborations in population health and higher education. Through engaging and inclusive research, training, and coaching services, Asya advances the statistics, data storytelling, and career design skills of people from all backgrounds who desire to advance equity in the sectors they enter. Known as the Chief Encouraging Officer of data, Asya's love for numbers is derived from a childhood passion for math turned into a desire to democratize data access and analysis. A firm believer that data can and should be another language we communicate with, she’s an expert in learning how to use data to creatively approach your career, pivot, and help others easily contextualize complicated concepts by teaching them what to look for in the data.
PANELIST
Dr. Crabtree is a Senior Scientist, Clinical Product Risk at Boston Scientific Her mission is to advance medical device risk/benefit science to improve equitable patient safety and health outcomes on a global scale. In the Boston Scientific Peripheral Interventions business unit, she writes or reviews clinical product risk deliverables for catheter and atherectomy devices that treat peripheral vasculature conditions, such as peripheral artery disease (PAD). All documentation are written in accordance to medical device regulatory standards with the U.S. FDA and European Union. In addition to her career, she aims to improve and sustain cultural, racial, gender, LGBTQ+, age, and disability status diversity in STEM career fields. She does this through her active participation in standing DEI and health equity committees.
PANELIST
Yves is a postdoc at Genentech. He earned a bachelor of science in molecular genetics and a bachelor of art in Anthropology at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2012. He earned a Ph.D. in Biomedical Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. For his Ph.D. thesis, he elucidated a novel bidirectional interaction between the circadian clock and autophagy in the context of aging and neurodegeneration.
PANELIST
Dr. Margie Lee is a Professor and Department Head, Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. Her research interests include molecular epidemiology of food safety pathogens, contribution of extracellular enzymes to microbial virulence, molecular ecology and mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, and molecular ecology of intestinal bacterial communities. Dr. Lee is a Veterinarian and medical microbiologist who served as the diagnostic laboratory director of the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center at the University of Georgia in Athens. She also previously served in a veterinary private practice and conducted postdoctoral research at Washington University in St. Louis.
PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCHERS
MODERATOR
Aika Aluc, MPH, is the Director of State and Community Engagement on the Programmatic Health Equity Initiatives & Strategy team at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO). Ms. Aluc provides direct project management for the Strategies to Repair Equity and Transform Community Health Initiative. In her previous role at ASTHO, she supported the completion of deliverables related to projects under the breastfeeding portfolio, maternal mortality, and risk-appropriate care. Before joining ASTHO, she was a Health Equity Fellow at the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health. Her focus areas are maternal and reproductive health, health disparities and equity, and collaboration and engagement. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in Maternal and Child Health from the George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health and a B.S. in Biology from the University of Hartford.
PANELIST
Sharon Attipoe-Dorcoo, Ph.D., Principal of TERSHA LLC, is first and foremost grounded in her cultural identity as a Ghanaian-American and embraces her other intersectional facets of being a wife and mom in her work. She is a former board member of AcademyHealth, a member of the Education Council, author of a children’s book, poet, and consultant. As a community scholar-activist, she found her path from engineering into public health and her work involves engaging national mobile clinic programs. The vision for her work is rooted in culturally responsive and equitable tools for co-designing research and evaluation initiatives with communities. As a speaker, and facilitator Dr. Attipoe-Dorcoo has also presented at several conferences, published several articles, chairs and serves as an advisor for a number of entities, and facilitated a number of trainings.
PANELIST
Dr. Frazier is the CEO and Founder of Anansi, LLC, a boutique data & research strategy consulting firm focused on improving Black mental health and mental health in other communities of color. She is a research-driven professional dedicated to improving mental and physical health. Dr. Frazier has over a decade of expertise in creative problem-solving, research techniques, and data analysis to provide actionable insights for nonprofits, philanthropic organizations, state health departments, Congress, and the federal government including HHS, VHA, CDC, and HRSA.
PANELIST
Dr. Rachel Logan is a public health researcher focused on improving sexual and reproductive health care for historically marginalized and excluded communities using structurally informed perspectives, such as reproductive justice. Her aim is to help create a more equitable world in which people can exercise complete sexual and reproductive autonomy. Currently, she is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She also offers research consulting services, assisting fellow researchers and organizations in quantitative and qualitative data collection and dissemination using her knowledge and expertise in equity-based approaches.
TRAUMA-INFORMED RESEARCHERS
MODERATOR
Araba is a public health researcher, evaluator, and health equity advocate with a collective of five years of experience working in higher education institutions and non-profit organizations. Araba received both her Master of Public Health and B.S. in Public Health degrees from Montclair State University and is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES). She currently works in cancer research in a university setting. Ms. Assan has always been passionate about public health, and has been a fierce advocate on issues related to health equity and racial justice. She is the current Advocacy Chair for NJSOPHE. Araba chose public health as a career to help eliminate health disparities and inequities among vulnerable populations. Her research interests include, but not limited: HIV/AIDS and health equity, health disparities, improving maternal child health outcomes for Black women and women of color, and mental illness in communities of color. Ms. Assan hopes to disrupt patterns of systemic inequities in health institutions through research and eventually health policy.
PANELIST
Lisa Collins is an educational professional with over 25 years of experience. She holds degrees in psychology and education and works as an Assistant Professor at Lewis and Clark College and the Director of her small business, Education Through Engagement, LLC. As a learning and development professional, Lisa supports talent management and business partners to solve workforce challenges. Lisa is a professional who provides healing frameworks to a world in need. Dr. Collins specializes in racial healing for people of color and non-people of color. She utilizes her life coaching from Conscious Freedom and spirituality to provide acceptance and space for connectedness and oneness in a world that needs it. Lisa is a medium, spiritual writer, playwright, and film producer. She uses her podcast, Love and Light with Dr. Lisa, Living Every Day in Peace, to promote positivity and spiritual connection. Her short film, Be Careful What You Ask For, serves as a discussion platform for racial healing discussions has been accepted into several film festivals.
PANELIST
Dr. Brooksie B. Sturdivant currently serves as an Intervention Coordinator for Wake County Public School System in Raleigh, NC. Having served in public schools for 20+ years as a teacher, literacy coach, curriculum facilitator, and equity specialist, Dr. Sturdivant loves developing and facilitating professional development to inspire fellow educators, coaching teachers in equitable instructional practices, volunteering in the community, and designing and facilitating mentoring opportunities for underserved students. She researched trauma and resilience to better serve marginalized youth. In addition, she is an author of two books, Somebody Told You A Lie and My Heart Leaks Ink, an adjunct professor at NC A&T, and an associate editor for the Journal of Trauma Studies in Education. Additional information can be found on her website at www.3ellc.org
RESEARCHERS IN EDUCATION
MODERATOR
Nikita Boston-Fisher worked in non-profit, government, contractual and academic settings on a wide range of topics, including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Tuberculosis (TB) and is an active volunteer in professional organizations. She is particularly passionate about compassionate and quality healthcare, health promotion and health literacy. Ms. Boston-Fisher is a patient advocate with a passion for plain language and clear explanations.
Through personal experience and the stories of others, she understands how complicated and frustrating it can be to understand health and healthcare. She explores these issues with her guests on her podcast, The Good Health Cafe. Ms. Boston-Fisher contribute to the improvement of population health through social and behavior change communication, knowledge translation, health systems improvement, increasing health literacy and fostering inclusive environments.
PANELIST
Dr. Callie Edwards is an experienced educational researcher and program evaluator. For a decade, she has studied, partnered with, and advocated for historically underrepresented and underserved populations in health, education, and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, such as women, communities of color, individuals who experience low-income backgrounds, and those who are the first in their family to graduate from college. She has also served in the areas of college assessment, academic coaching, pre-college and new student programs, underrepresented student recruitment and retention, and student wellness. Dr. Edwards currently serves as the Associate Director of Research and Evaluation at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, where she provides leadership for highly specialized and multifaceted research programs. She also directs and manages the work of Research Assistants, Graduate Research Assistants, and Undergraduate Interns, leads the submission of proposals for external sponsored funding, and serves as principal investigator on sponsored projects.
PANELIST
Amber M. Brown, MPH, CHES is the Coordinator for the Office of Public Health Practice and Community Engagement and Instructor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. Ms. Brown is pursuing her PhD at Louisiana State University in the College of Human Sciences and Education’s Educational Leadership and Research program, specializing in Higher Education Administration. She has specific research interest in viewing microaggressive experiences of students of color in graduate degree programs and the impact on their mental health and degree progression. She regularly volunteers her time at Health Care for the Homeless and various community organizations.
PANELIST
Dr. Jemilia Davis is currently a faculty member in the UNC School of Education and directs the undergraduate program in Human and Organizational Leadership Development. She enjoys learning alongside current and future leaders through courageous conversations and meaningful experiences that develop critical leadership skills. Dr. Davis is an active scholar practitioner who examines the role of senior leadership in organizations, mainly higher education, and the influence executive leader perspectives, practices, and policies have on promoting equitable success for historically excluded communities.
CAREER DEVELOPMENT PANELISTS
MODERATOR
Dr. Jason Ottley's dossier personifies a progressive leadership style focused on race conscious pedagogy, policy reform, equitable recruitment and hiring practices, program assessment and equity audits & training. He is a race scholar positioned to change the way schools and organizations function by revising policies and practices entrenched in white supremacy. He has experience leading teams of talented strategists and researchers, to partner with the world’s leading brands and transform their employee and customer experiences through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens. Dr. Ottley is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University. He is also the Executive Director for The Bond Educational Group; a non-profit organization that invests in the lives of underserved communities through education and entrepreneurship.
PANELIST
LaTonya Bynum is the CEO / Founder of URA Resource Center, LLC, a public health consulting firm established 2017. Bynum has established herself as a public health industry leader and has trained 1,000s of emerging students, new graduates professionals and business owners on successfully navigating workforce diversity, policy / procedures and upskill training. To support business and career development / training, the firm offers 20+ revenue generating academic, business, career and diversity (ABCD) programs. Signature ABCD programs include Resume Building Templates, CHES / MCHES Exam Preparation, Business Consulting, Career Mentorship, Book Authorship, Contracting and more. Bynum is a MCHES® certificate holder and is currently working towards earning the Project Management Professional (PMP) credential.
PANELIST
Olivia Umoren is the Founder & CEO of LIV Consulting & Career Services, a business that primarily supports aspiring and current public health and health policy professionals in achieving their career goals. Olivia is also a Federal Affairs Manager at the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) where she develops and maintains relationships with Congressional offices on Capitol Hill to support efforts to influence health reform policy. She has a decade of health care experience ranging from supporting Alzheimer's Disease research at Harvard Medical School/Mass General Hospital to managing federal maternal health policy efforts at the Association for Maternal & Child Health Programs. Olivia received her Bachelor of Science in Nutrition from Penn State and her Master of Public Health from the George Washington Milken Institute School of Public Health.
PANELIST
Dr. Des is a Florida native who currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a public health professional on the senior level, with expertise in chronic disease prevention, childhood obesity prevention, health policy and project management. She is also an adjunct professor, who teaches courses in Health Disparities & Minority Health. Dr. Des has served as the hiring manager in different areas of her field since 2018. She has also managed a multitude of interns and public health professionals. She has always enjoyed managing and teaching interns and noticed the lack of professional development education students receive in their educational careers. By developing Young Black & Professional Desiree hopes to continue to serve young black professionals by offering insight into the professional world and assistance with how to navigate that world while being a young black college graduate.
SPECIAL SESSION SPEAKERS
Dr. Joyee Washington is the CEO and owner of Joyee Washington Consulting, LLC, a community health education and research consulting firm. Dr. Joyee helps early career public health professionals to serve, educate, and build healthier communities. She believes that by bridging the gap between conducting effective research and building, we can transform our skills, education, and research into life-changing public health programs bringing joy to the communities we serve. With over 16 years of research experience and 8 years of public health experience including a background in biology, biomedical sciences, health education, and education research, she is currently an instructor of public health at The University of Southern Mississippi.
Dr. Shernita Lee is the Assistant Dean and Director of the Graduate School's Office of Recruitment, Diversity, and Inclusion. Dr. Lee’s training is in discrete computational biology but she also specializes in student engagement, programming, and outreach. She holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Alabama State University and a doctorate from Virginia Tech in genetics, bioinformatics, and computational biology. Lee is passionate about creating a diverse and inclusive environment for graduate students, improving graduate student retention, aiding in the navigation of challenges graduate students encounter, and directing students to university/departmental resources and advocates to help them successfully complete their degree.
© 2021 Copyrights by Association of Black Researchers. All Rights Reserved.