David Ansell, MD, MPH

RUSH University Medical Center | David_Ansell@rush.edu

David Ansell is the Senior Vice President and Associate Provost for Community Health Equity, and the Michael E. Kelly Professor of Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Ansell is a practicing physician and a social epidemiologist who has worked on Chicago’s Westside since 1978. His work as a doctor, researcher and health improver has focused on overcoming the structural forces of racism, poverty and neighborhood and their impact on health outcomes in the United States. Dr. Ansell has written and lectured widely on the effect of racism, insurance status, neighborhood and income on life expectancy in America. He is the co-founder and board president of the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Taskforce a not-for-profit organization dedicated to eliminating racial and ethnic inequity in breast cancer mortality. Dr. David Ansell is the author of two books, County: Life, Death and Politics at Chicago’s Public Hospital, Academy Chicago Press, 2011 and The Death Gap: How Inequality Kills, University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Brad Appelhans, PhD

RUSH University Medical Center | Brad_Appelhans@rush.edu

Bradley M. Appelhans, PhD, is a Professor of Family and Preventive Medicine at the Rush University System for Health. His research incorporates neuropsychological and behavioral economic principles in the design of health behavior interventions to reduce chronic disease and health disparities. Past projects have focused on evaluating weight management interventions in pediatric and adult populations, the behavioral economics of food choice, quantifying the healthfulness of food purchases, and disseminating depression treatment in under-resourced communities. In addition to his research activities, Dr. Appelhans is a practicing health psychologist and an IRB chairperson at RUSH.

Sally A. Arif, PharmD, BCPS (AQ Cardiology)

Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy | sarif@midwestern.edu

Sally A. Arif is a clinical pharmacist and associate professor at Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy. Dr. Arif’s research and teaching focuses on reducing health inequities through the provision of culturally competent healthcare. Dr. Arif works closely with community partners to promote student pharmacist led-health awareness and disease prevention programs to address health disparities in the Arab and refugee communities.

Lisa Barnes, PhD

Departments of Neurological Sciences and Behavioral Sciences, RUSH University | lisa_l_barnes@rush.edu

Lisa Barnes a cognitive neuropsychologist with expertise in health disparities of chronic diseases of aging. Dr. Barnes’ research focuses on understanding the social and environmental factors that lead to poor health among aging persons of color. Read more…

Santosh Basapur, MS

Director of Design, RUSH University | Santosh_Basapur@rush.edu

Santosh Basapur is a Director of Design at Rush University. He is a candidate for PhD in Design at IIT Institute of Design, Chicago (expected graduation of Fall 2020) and has a Master’s degree in Human Factors (Industrial and Systems Engineering) from SUNY Buffalo. His area of expertise is Systems Design incorporating “meanings” as perceived by various stakeholders of a complex system.

Santosh leads projects of process innovation in clinical trials, teaching design thinking to Family Medicine Leadership Program students and created service designs for team based care at primary care clinics and other diagnostic service(s). He drives innovation as a cultural shift using a team based approach. Santosh applies his Human Centered Design practices to systems research, design and development of Health Care. Currently, he is also an Adjunct Faculty at IIT Institute of Design where he helps nourish the next generation of designers tackling complex systems of healthcare. Previously, Santosh was at Motorola Research Labs and Motorola Mobility, a Google company as a Principal Staff Scientist in User Experience Research. In his 10 years of research and development of new technologies, Santosh lead user research and experience design projects for Smart Media Experiences and Connected Homes including Wellness Experiences.

Santosh has 12+ patents and nominations and wins of best paper awards at conferences. His grant and other sponsored research includes ITM work with University of Chicago, CAPriCORN with Northwestern University, Equitable Biking in Chicago with Better-Bikes non-profit, and Design Studios for Equitable Recruitment and Retention in Clinical Trials. Other interesting projects include Future of Operating Room Design, Senior Wellness and multi-generational communication, Parent assistance in a NICU, iTV and Second Screen Apps, Smart Apartment Buildings and Outdoor Embedded Media project. Santosh also has experience in successfully running UX Yantra Inc., a boutique user experiences consulting firm, with clients like Gogo Air, Salesforce and Akta Inc for some years.

Julia Bassett, MBA

Office of Community Engagement, RUSH University | julia_s_bassett@rush.edu

Julia Bassett is the Community Benefit Specialist at Rush University Medical Center with a dedicated interest in coordinating and overseeing community based programs and activities that build partnerships in Chicago communities.

Daniel Bester

Illinois Academy of Family Physicians | danieljbester@gmail.com

Cynthia Boyd, MD, MBA, FACP

Rush Medical College, RUSH University | cynthia_e_boyd@rush.edu

Cynthia Boyd is a general internist and associate professor of medicine on the faculty of Rush Medical College with a specific interest in diversity and inclusion in medical school admissions and across the continuum of academic medicine as a means to address health and health care disparities. Dr. Boyd serves as the dean for admissions and recruitment for Rush Medical College and chief compliance officer for Rush University Medical Center.

Joanna Buscemi, PhD

Department of Psychology, DePaul University | jbuscem2@depaul.edu

Dr. Joanna Buscemi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology of DePaul University’s College of Science and Health. Her research is primarily focused on addressing health inequities by engaging communities in the research process and expanding access to evidence-based interventions for those who need them most. Dr. Buscemi primarily specializes in obesity-related inequities but also works across disease presentations (e.g., cancer, diabetes, substance use disorders). Dr. Buscemi has expertise in technology-delivered interventions, dissemination and implementation science, and community-engaged research and uses these skills across her research projects. She has partnered with Chicago Public School on research projects related to school meals and is conducting research on the efficacy of technology-delivered interventions that target 1) health-related quality of life and health behaviors in Latina breast cancer patients and 2) breastfeeding and mental health among Black women. Additionally, she recently partnered with Brothers Health Collective to conduct a research study investigating health inequities related to COVID-19.

Maureen Benjamins, PhD                    

Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) | maureen.benjamins@sinai.org

Maureen Benjamins, PhD is a Senior Research Fellow at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in Chicago. As a social epidemiologist, she has explored the intersection of structural racism, social determinants of health, and place for over two decades. Dr. Benjamins has led several initiatives to study health equity nationally and in Chicago, including the Sinai Community Health Survey 2.0 and Unequal Cities. She is the co-editor of Unequal Cities: Structural Racism and the Death Gap in America’s Largest Cities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021) and Urban Health: Combatting Disparities with Local Data (Oxford, 2012). At SUHI, Dr. Benjamins directs the internship program, the SUHI Equity Research Fellowship Program for faculty, and the Sinai Population Health Institute. She is an adjunct faculty member at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

Suzanne Carlberg-Racich, PhD, MSPH

Master of Public Health Program, DePaul University | scarlber@depaul.edu

Suzanne Carlberg-Racich is the Program Director of DePaul University’s Master of Public Health Program. The primary aim of Dr. Carlberg-Racich’s scholarly work is to investigate access to quality services to improve the health of disenfranchised populations. Within this aim, populations of particular focus include persons who inject drugs, and persons living with HIV and/or hepatitis C. Read more…

Jocelyn Carter, PhD

Department of Psychology, DePaul University | jsmithcarter@gmail.com

Jocelyn Carter is a clinical psychologist who specializes in health promotion and stress reduction in urban children, adolescents, and families. Read more…

Beth Catlett, PhD

Department of Women’s and Gender Studies; Beck Research Initiative for Women, Gender, and Community, DePaul University | bcatlett@depaul.edu

Beth Catlett is a feminist scholar who specializes in community-based programs and research involving gendered violence and social movements to create community change. Dr. Catlett’s primary areas of interest include violence in interpersonal relationships, youth-led participatory action research, and the uses of contemplative practices to inspire social justice. Read more…

Carrie Chapman

Senior Director of Policy and Advocacy, Legal Council for Health Justice | cchapman@legalcouncil.org

As the Senior Director of Litigation and Advocacy, Carrie Chapman oversees Legal Council’s impact litigation and legislative and administrative advocacy, while assisting program directors in supervising legal work. Carrie has extensive experience serving people in poverty through litigation, both at Legal Council and in her prior work with Legal Aid Chicago. Her practice focuses on advocacy to improve health equity, the Illinois Medicaid program, immigrant access to health care and coverage, and hospital financial assistance programs. She also uses her experience at building and sustaining medical-legal partnerships to initiate and support these inter-professional collaboratives both within Legal Council and throughout Illinois and the country. Currently, she is an adjunct faculty member at the DePaul University School of Law. She received her BA from the University of Michigan, MA in American Studies from Yale, and her JD from the University of Texas.

Princess L. J. Currence

University Chief DEI Officer | Rush University Medical Center| Assistant Professor, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences |Advocate Role Leader, HESJL Program Executive Sponsor/Faculty | Rush Medical College | Assistant Professor, Social Work & Community Health  princess_currence@rush.edu

Princess L.J. Currence’s research areas are inclusive pedagogy in health professions education; the impact of social, cultural, and ethnic factors on the professional identity development of health professional students; student success strategies in higher education; diversity, equity, and inclusion in health professions education; methods in which technology can be leveraged to advance equity in higher education

Melissa M. Crane, PhD

Rush Medical College | melissa_m_crane@rush.edu

Melissa M. Crane, PhD, is an expert in health behavior interventions. Her first line of research focuses on evaluating behavioral interventions for weight management targeting under-engaged populations and critical therapeutic moments for intervention. She designs and evaluates innovative programs that encourage small but sustainable changes in diet and physical activity to produce sustained weight management. She is extending the reach of these programs to men in trade and labor occupations, congregants from black churches, and other populations that are often difficult to engage. Her complementary second line of research focuses on enhancing participation in clinical trials. In this work, she has evaluated how trials can be designed to enhance diverse participation and how recruitment procedures can be modified to increase engagement across populations. 

Sonya Crabtee-Nelson, PhD, LCSW

Department of Social Work, DePaul University | scrabtr3@depaul.edu

​Sonya Crabtree-Nelson, PhD, LCSW received her Doctorate of Philosophy in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago and her MSW from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Jane Addams College of Social Work. Dr. Crabtree-Nelson has fifteen years of direct practice experience working in the areas of child welfare and domestic violence. Her focus is on interdisciplinary and community-engaged teaching, scholarship, and service in the areas of domestic violence, trauma, and social work teaching pedagogy. Dr. Crabtree-Nelson is currently engaged in research that addresses the intersection of intimate partner violence and brain injury and is a co-founder of the Illinois Coalition to Address Intimate Partner Violence – Induced Brain Injury.​​ Read more…

Heide Cygan, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC

Associate Professor, College of Nursing; Director, Advance Public Health Nursing Program & Transformative Leadership: Population Health Program, Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, Rush University Heide_cygan@rush.edu

Dr. Heide Cygan, DNP, RN, PHNA-BC is an Associate Professor at the Rush University College of Nursing, in the Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health where she teaches public health nursing to graduate and doctoral students. She earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing from the University of Michigan and her Doctor of Nursing Practice in Advanced Public Health Nursing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Cygan is a board certified advanced public health nurse. As a public health nurse, a main tenant of Dr. Cygan’s practice is understanding the reciprocal relationship between humans and their environment. Much of Dr. Cygan’s current scholarship is dedicated to advancing planetary health through nurses and other health professionals. She specifically focuses on innovative teaching strategies that develop nursing students as planetary health leaders.

Fernando De Maio, PhD

DePaul University | fdemaio@depaul.edu

Fernando De Maio has research and teaching interests in medical sociology and social epidemiology, with a focus on the concept of structural violence. His work has been guided by the notion of “radical statistics” – the idea that statistical analysis can be used to not just describe the world, but to change it. He is the author of Health & Social Theory (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and Global Health Inequities(Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), and co-editor of Latin American Perspectives on the Sociology of Health and Illness (Routledge, 2018), Community Health Equity: A Chicago Reader (University of Chicago Press, 2019), and most recently, Unequal Cities: Structural Racism and the Death Gap in America’s Largest Cities (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2021).  He was a Commissioner on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation National Commission to Transfer Public Health Data Systems and currently serves on the board of directors of the Institute of Medicine Chicago. Read more…

Tishanna Dillard, MA

College of Communication, DePaul University |tishannamdillard@gmail.com

Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Tishanna Dillard completed a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication (Public Relations concentration) at Louisiana State University. More recently, Tishanna became a research assistant for a professor within DePaul University’s College of Communication, assisting with research pertaining to a variety of women’s health issues (often looking toward minorities) while working on my Master of Arts in Health Communication.

Additionally, Tishanna has taken on a new role of Marketing Operations Specialist at Top of the World Ranch, an addiction treatment center located in the Quad Cities. Working remotely from the Chicago area, Tishanna will broaden the center’s reach in the Chicago market and provide feedback on the health equity blogs developed by the inaugural Center for Community Health Equity Youth Advisory Board members.

Kim Erwin, MDes

Kim Erwin is a design strategist and healthcare researcher with expertise is applying human-centered design to healthcare’s frontline problems. Kim’s work helps align evidence-based medical interventions with human behavior and real-world settings to accelerate adoption by patients and clinical staff. This expertise is the product of years as a funded healthcare researcher, decades of innovation consulting, and as tenured professor of communication design strategy. Most recently, Kim helped found and build the Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design (University of Illinois at Chicago). Her work bridges the fields of design and medicine, using co-design and collaborative methods to envision and refine new solutions fit to the communities who are expected to use them. She has helped health systems improve the human experience of medicine through team-based quality initiatives, care transitions, and tailoring medical information and processes to fit diverse cultures, patient populations and practice models. Since 2013, Kim has been a named investigator in federally-funded research. She is currently the only human-centered designer appointed as a standing member of an AHRQ study section to review its health service grant applications.

Kim is also a writer and strategist, with twenty years’ experience in innovation consulting. Her book, Communicating the New: Methods to Shape and Accelerate Innovation, describes communication methods that help teams create and diffuse critical knowledge inside organizations.

Bonnie Ewald, BS, MA

Rush University | Bonnie_Ewald@rush.edu

Bonnie Ewald (she/her), assistant professor of social work in the Rush University College of Health Sciences, also serves as Managing Director of the Center for Health and Social Care Integration (CHaSCI) in the Rush University Medical Center Social Work and Community Health department. In collaboration with internal and external partners, she leads several program development, training, and policy advocacy initiatives related to integrating health care and social services and investing in the workforce. Bonnie also serves as adjunct faculty in Rush’s Health Systems Management department and supports policy initiatives via Rush’s Center for Excellence in Aging, including coordinating the bimonthly American Society on Aging Chicagoland Roundtable. Bonnie has her master’s degree in public policy studies from the University of Chicago (2018), a post-graduate certificate in Sustainable Urban Design from Archeworks (2013), and a bachelor’s in mathematics and geography from the University of Wisconsin (2011)

Chuka Emezue, PhD, MPH, MPA, CHES

Rebecca Feinstein, PhD, LCSW

Visiting Research Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago | rfeinst@uic.edu

Rebecca Feinstein is the Director of the Health Equity and Innovative Technologies Program for the Center for Health Equity using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (CHEMA). Dr. Feinstein’s primary professional specialization is the administration and implementation of large-scale, multi-site, mixed-methods health care service research studies addressing health disparities and improving systems of health care services for vulnerable populations. Her background in public health practice and clinical social work experience enables her to creatively implement research within real-world clinical settings and community contexts. Read more…

Crystal M. Glover, PhD

Department of Preventive Medicine, RUSH University | crystal_glover@rush.edu

Crystal M. Glover belongs to the Department of Preventive Medicine Faculty at Rush University Medical Center. Dr. Glover is a social psychologist and mixed-methodologist focused on health disparities related to healthcare utilization and comorbid physical and mental health issues.

Cambren Grimmett, MHA

Human Resources Rush Oak Park Hospital | Cambren_C_Grimmett@rush.edu

Cambren Grimmett is the Human Resources Coordinator at Rush Oak Park Hospital. Cambren currently serves on the Policy Committee for the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists, focusing on health equity as it relates to healthy foods, and also Chair the Policy Committee for the National Association of Health Services Executives. Cambren is passionate about health equity, health advocacy, and decreasing health disparities within the Chicago-land area.

Euan Hague, PhD, MA

School of Public Service, DePaul University | ehague@depaul.edu

Evan Hague is a Professor and Director of the School of Public Service at DePaul University. Dr. Hague has been a Steans Center Fellow for Community-based research and explored issues of urban inequality and sustainable urban development. Read more

Nila Hofman, PhD

Community Service Studies Minor Program, DePaul University | nhofman@depaul.edu

Nila Hofman is a Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Community Service Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, US. Dr. Hofman researches urban populations, focusing specifically on labor and gender. Addressing the impact of changing political economies on work cultures, she has authored articles and books detailing the working lives of communities in Chicago, US; Mérida, Mexico; Pune, India, and Zagreb, Croatia.

LaDawne Jenkins, MSRA

Center for Community Health Equity, RUSH University | LaDawne_Jenkins@rush.edu

LaDawne Jenkins is the Administrator for the Center of Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center. LaDawne’s work in research focuses on reducing health disparities and improving the quality of life in underserved communities in the city of Chicago.

Ansuk Jeong

Department of Psychology, Community Psychology, DePaul University | ajeong@depaul.edu 

Ansuk Jeong is a community psychologist whose research involves looking at how families cope with outside stressors, including migration and such health stressors as cancer and dementia. She has conducted research on immigrant families in the U.S., North Korean defectors in South Korea, and returnees going through re-acculturation in Korea. Read more…

Jessica Jerome, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Health Sciences, DePaul University | jsjerome00@gmail.com

Jessica Jerome is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at DePaul University. Dr. Jerome’s research focuses on how people in disenfranchised communities access health care in urban Brazil and Chicago. She is particularly interested in how the state facilitates this access (at times), and (at other times) creates barriers to health care. Read more…

Rebecca Johnson, MSc, PhD

Research, Partnership & Facilitation | drrejohnsontrcdo@gmail.com

Tricia Johnson, PhD

Department of Health Systems Management, College of Health Sciences, RUSH University | tricia_j_johnson@rush.edu

Tricia Johnson is a health economist with a passion for increasing the value of the healthcare system to ultimately improve health and eliminate health inequities. Read more…

Wrenetha A. Julion, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN

Department of Women, Children and Family Nursing, College of Nursing, RUSH University | wrenetha_a_julion@rush.edu

Wrenetha A. Julion is a nursing professor and researcher committed to the advancement of diversity, cultural competency and social justice through science, education and practice. Dr. Julion’s community-based, collaborative research with families of color saves lives, strengthens the family, stabilizes communities, and challenges health disparities. Read more…

Dorothy Kozlowski, PhD

Department of Neuroscience, DePaul University |
dkozlows@depaul.edu

Dorothy Kozlowski is a Vincent DePaul Professor and Chair in the Department of Neuroscience at DePaul University.  Her research has focused on understanding how the brain recovers from traumatic brain injury and how best to enhance that recovery. In 2016 she began working on the issue of brain injury in survivors of intimate partner violence.  She co-founded and is the director of the Illinois Coalition to Address Intimate Partner Violence-Induced Brain injury whose mission is to bring attention, research, and advocacy to this under-reported and under-treated public health issue.

Brittney Lange-Maia, PhD, MPH

Department of Family & Preventative Medicine, RUSH University | Brittney_Lange-Maia@rush.edu

Brittney Lange-Maia is an epidemiologist and clinical data analyst for the center whose work focuses on health disparities using both clinical and community She also has experience in both aging and physical activity epidemiology, and has a strong interest in promoting health throughout the lifespan. Read more…

Tracey Lewis-Elligan, PhD

Department of Sociology, DePaul University | tlewisel@depaul.edu

Tracey Lewis-Elligan is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at DePaul University. Dr. Lewis-Elligan’s work is driven by a community based participatory research approach with an aim to address social inequalities. She has a special interest in women’s health- from childbirth and aging- and family with a current project investigating Chicago’s birth worker community and their role in promoting reproductive health. Read more…

Chien-Ching Li, PhD, MPH

Department of Health Systems Management, RUSH University | chien-ching_li@rush.edu

Chien-Ching Li is a Health Services Researcher and an Assistant Professor at Rush University in the Department of Health Systems Management. Dr. Li’s primary research interests are in the areas of cancer prevention, health disparity, population health, and health services & outcomes research. He is an expert in analyzing population-based longitudinal data for cross-national health comparison research. Read more…

Julia Lippert, PhD

College of Health & Science, DePaul University | jlipper1@depaul.edu

Julia Lippert is an environmental and occupational health scientist working to reduce health inequities in our communities and workplaces. Read more…

Joshua Longcoy

RUSH University| joshua_longcoy@rush.edu

Joshua Longcoy joined Rush University Medical Center after nearly 5 years at AdventHealth Tampa as a data analyst and one year as a statistician at the Lombardi Cancer Prevention Center in Georgetown University. His statistical knowledge in multilevel modelling and missing data has produced results that have been applied to both the nursing field and community health in terms of the interventions implemented.

Gina Lowell, MD, MPH

Rush University Children’s Hospital & Community Health for Pediatrics, RUSH University | Gina_Lowell@rush.edu

Gina Lowell is a general pediatrician at Rush University Children’s Hospital with specialty interests in childhood injury and child abuse and neglect. Dr. Lowell has worked with families from Chicago’s West and South Side community areas for the past 15 years. As Rush’s Director of Community Health for Pediatrics since 2016 she has worked to develop maternal-child health initiatives directed at improving the health of Chicago’s communities through addressing the intersection of social determinants of health and maternal-child health outcomes. This work has been achieved through multidisciplinary collaboration and partnerships with community, city and state stakeholder institutions. Most recently our maternal-child health team has had the opportunity to work with Chicago’s West Side home visiting and doula programs, the Ounce of Prevention Fund, and the Illinois Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting program to develop a collaborative initiative to connect families affected by childhood adversity to community programs and resources to support the needs demanded by the enduring and generational effects of toxic stress. Prior to this work she conducted research in unintentional injury prevention using both hospital-based and national data systems.

Concurrent with these efforts, Dr. Lowell practices in general pediatrics at the Rush Pediatric Primary Care Center and as consultant for Rush’s Child Protection Team, providing care for children who have suffered maltreatment and those who have entered the foster care system. She received her M.D. from Rush Medical College in 2002, completed her residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Chicago in 2005, and completed her General Academic Pediatrics Fellowship and received my Master’s in Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008. Read more…

Elizabeth Lynch, PhD

Department of Preventive Medicine, RUSH University | elizabeth_lynch@rush.edu

Elizabeth Lynch is a social scientist whose work focuses on community-based behavioral interventions to reduce health disparities. Recent projects include a randomized controlled trial to test a culturally tailored intervention to improve diabetes self-management among low income African Americans with type 2 diabetes and a community-based participatory research project in which researchers partnered with African American pastors to design and test a faith-based intervention to improve diet quality in African American church members. Read more…

Helen Margellos-Anast, DrPH, MPH

President of Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) | helen.margellos@sinai.org

Helen Margellos-Anast is President of Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI), a leading community-engaged health equity research center in Chicago. A dedicated social epidemiologist and health interventionist, she has devoted her career to dismantling health inequities in collaboration with impacted communities. With a focus on developing, researching, and scaling intervention models that center community health workers (CHWs), she has led transformative work in the field. Dr. Margellos-Anast has served as principal investigator (PI) or co‐PI on multiple grants examining the feasibility and effectiveness of CHW models for improving chronic disease management and prevention. Building on this expertise, in 2017, she established CROWD—Center for CHW Research, Outcomes, and Workforce Development an award-winning CHW training and consulting center which supports organizations in implementing and expanding CHW models to improve care delivery. Dr. Margellos-Anast has been integral to landmark studies on racial and ethnic health disparities in Chicago, using data-driven, community-engaged approaches to spark actionable change. Her leadership is recognized for advancing research and real-world impact. Dr. Margellos-Anast served on the Board of the Medical Home Network ACO from 2023-2024, and currently serves as a member of the Loyola Public Health Programs Steering Committee, a member of the Illinois Hospital Association Health Equity Leaders workgroup, site-lead investigator for CAPriCORN, a multi-PI for the Chicagoland Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL), and as co-chair of the Chicago Public Health Workforce Collaborative. Dr. Margellos-Anast received her MPH in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota in 2000 and her DrPH in Leadership from the University of Illinois Chicago in 2025.

Marty Martin, PsyD, MPH

Master of Science in Human Resources, DePaul University | martym@depaul.edu

Marty Martin is a licensed clinical psychologist who serves as a business school faculty member, teaching business, public health, health informatics and entrepreneurship students.

Marty’s applied research focuses on developing, testing, improving and delivering innovative solutions to wicked problems in healthcare, community health, and population health. Read more…

John Mazzeo, PhD

Director, Master of Public Health Program, DePaul University | jmazzeo@depaul.edu

John Mazzeo is a medical anthropologist whose work addresses food insecurity and its relationship to community health. Recent projects include the impacts of COVID-19 on food insecurity in Chicago; and using health system data to improve community assessment activities. Past work in Haiti and Zimbabwe address connections between climate change, HIV, and food insecurity in rural settings. Read more…

Yadira Montoya, MSPH

National Alliance for Caregiving | Yadira@caregiving.org

Community Leader

Yadira Montoya is the Programs Director of the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC). In this role, oversees key organizational initiatives that focus on building health, wealth, and equity for family caregivers living in the US. Prior to joining NAC, Yadira held leadership roles in research, non-profit, and the philanthropic sector. In 2019, she was recognized as a Culture of Health Leader by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for her leadership in community efforts that improve aging equity and the health and wellbeing of Latinx living with dementia and their family caregivers.

Senior Professional Lecturer and the DEI Ambassador for the DePaul Department of Psychology | mmorga10@depaul.edu

Michele Morgan is an institutional evaluator and interventionist. Dr. Morgan specializes in integrative and inquiry-based pedagogical approaches and collaborates with social networks to train community advocates and mental health service providers. She has coordinated studies on the efficacy of culturally adapted interventions in secondary schools and in collaboration with a large urban school district, Dr. Morgan evaluated the implementation of inclusion policy for educating students with diverse abilities. Her current research focuses on evaluating institutional practices associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion in university settings.

Angela Moss, PhD, MSN, APRN-BC, RN, FAAN, FAANP

Associate Dean, Faculty Practice; Department Chairperson, Department of Academic Practice Nursing; Judd and Marjorie Weinberg Presidential Professor; College of Nursing, Rush University| angela_moss@rush.edu

Angela Moss, PhD, MSN, APRN-BC, RN, FAAN is Assistant Dean of Faculty Practice and an associate Professor in the Department of Community Systems and Mental Health Nursing. She has over 20 years’ experience as a nurse, nurse practitioner, educator, and administrator. As Assistant Dean, Moss is responsible for the development, maintenance and financial sustainability of over 20 diverse academic-practice partnerships in alignment with the College’s core teaching mission and social justice vision. Moss is an expert in strategic development of self-sustaining nurse-managed care delivery models within communities and built environments. Her research interests include return on investment (ROI) and cost analysis studies of nurse-managed health centers (NMHCs), patient satisfaction of NMHCs, and the impact of aging on perceptions of health and healthcare utilization.

Charlotte Moss

Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center| charlotte_a_moss@rush.edu

Noufo Nabine

Chicago Scholars | nnabine@chicagoscholars.org

Noufo Nabine serves as the Manager of Career Planning and Exploration for Chicago Scholars. She coordinates and leads professional developments for Chicago Scholars and helps connect scholars to internships and career opportunities.

Christopher Nolan

RUSH University | christopher_nolan@rush.edu

Christopher Nolan is the Manager of Community Benefit and Population Health at Rush University Medical Center and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Health Systems Management at Rush University. Christopher is passionate about decreasing health disparities and improving the overall health of the greater-Chicago community.

Tochi M. Okwuosa, DO, FACC, FAHA, FESC

RUSH University | tochukwu_m_okwuosa@rush.edu

Dr. Okwuosa is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardio-Oncology Program at Rush
University Medical Center in Chicago. She earned her medical degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and completed her Internal Medicine residency and Cardiology fellowship training at the University of Chicago. Okwuosa’s primary research interests center on Cardio-Oncology, Cardiovascular Disease Prevention, and Health Equity. She has led the development of nationally recognized programs, authored landmark scientific statements, and launched multi-institutional initiatives to expand access and research in cardiology and underserved populations. She is the founding chair of the quarterly Chicago Citywide Cardio-Oncology Rounds (CCCR) and the founder and convener of the biennial Chicago Cardio-Oncology Midwest Regional Symposium, both of which have become signature platforms for collaboration and education across the region. Okwuosa is an Associate Editor for the Journal of the American Heart Association. She serves as a faculty advisor for Rush Medical students and leads community health efforts in cardiology through the Rush Community Health Clinic. She sits on the Board of Directors for the Chicago American Heart Association (AHA), serves on multiple AHA committees focused on equity and drug safety, and is Past Chair of the AHA Cardio-Oncology Committee. She also serves on the
Board of Governors for the Illinois chapter of the American College of Cardiology. Okwuosa has mentored numerous trainees and published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and editorials. Her work has been recognized with multiple awards. She is a health leader with over two decades of clinical, academic, and governance experience, she is internationally recognized for advancing innovation and shaping systemic equity frameworks across cardiovascular diseases, cardio-oncology, and healthcare in general.

Paola Susan, MD

RUSH University Medical Group | Paola_Susan@rush.edu

Paola Susan is a family medicine physician and assistant professor at Rush University. Dr. Susan’s career goals have been driven by her passion to improve medical care and eliminate healthcare disparities, she has a special interest in woman’s and elderly health, LGBTQ care and the underserved populations. Dr. Susan describes herself as a determined provider with a strong commitment to patient care who truly believes in excellent care for all. Read more…

Sasha Pena

Chicago Scholars | spena@chicagoscholars.org

As the Director of Career and Leadership Development Sasha Pena oversees all career events and programs for Scholars resulting in full-time positions, and increased Scholar satisfaction with the support of the organization. Additionally, she manages key career programs that help Scholars explore careers, develop as leaders, and expand their networks. Read more…

Janice M. Phillips, PhD, MS, RN, CENP, FAAN

Former Affiliated Faculty | Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, RUSH University | janice.phillips@att.net

Janice Phillips is an experienced clinician, researcher, educator, and public policy advocate in the health care arena who completed service as a 2010-2011 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow, working in the office of Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV). She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 2006 Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award from the University of Chicago Medical Center, the 2007 Nursing Spectrum’s “Advancing and Leading the Profession Award” and the Nursing Outlook’s Excellence in Health Policy Award from the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Phillips is the author of more than 80 publications, four edited textbooks, and a health policy column. Janice holds a BSN from North Park College, an MS in Community Health from St. Xavier College, and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Illinois, College of Nursing. She is a member of the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Dr. Phillips is the Director of Nursing Research and Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center and a Fellow in the Public Voices OpED Project.

Dr. Phillips is the author of more than 80 publications, four edited textbooks, and a health policy column. Janice holds a BSN from North Park College, an MS in Community Health from St. Xavier College, and a PhD in Nursing from the University of Illinois, College of Nursing. She is a member of the American Academy of Nursing and the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Dr. Phillips is the Director of Nursing Research and Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center. Read more…

Laura Maria Pigozzi, PhD

The Cook Family Writing Program, Northwestern University | laura.pigozzi@northwestern.edu

Laura Pigozzi is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. Her research focus lies in the immigrant Latinx community, studying intercultural health communication and issues with clinical and trial consent.  Her work lives in the interdisciplinary field of the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and works toward increased comprehension and accessible, usable communications. Read more…

Jessica Polos, PhD, MPP

Assistant Professor, Master of Public Health Program, DePaul University | jpolos@depaul.edu

Jessica Polos is an Assistant Professor in the Master of Public Health Program at DePaul University in Chicago. She specializes in quantitative and demographic methods and integrates sociological, biosocial, and life course approaches in her work. Her recent research focuses on how structural discrimination and social contextual mechanisms generate health disparities over the life course. Her research interests also include maternal-child health and wellbeing and the intergenerational transmission of health. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.P.P. from the University of Chicago.

Gita Rampersad, JD, MHA

Principal, HEALTH Reimagined™ | gita@health-reimagined.com

Gita Rampersad is a passionate population health professional and seasoned healthcare transactional attorney with a successful history of accelerating efforts to tackle health and health care disparities; diversity, equity and inclusion; the social determinants of health and care coordination. A native of Chicago, IL, Gita designs and executes critical strategies, programs and policies to strengthen the US health system and address causes of morbidity, mortality and disease. Currently, she lent her voice and expertise to senior leaders of US healthcare organizations as they strive to generate novel health equity portfolios in an era of rapid demographic change. As affiliate faculty at CCHE, Gita works closely with the co-directors to better understand the national health equity landscape. Read more…

Kumar B. Rajan, PhD

Director, Institute for Aging; The John and Alice Sabl Professor of Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurological Sciences Research, Department of Internal Medicine, Rush Medical College | Kumar_Rajan@rush.edu

Kumar B. Rajan, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Director of the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. His research interests focus on the epidemiology of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). He is the Principal Investigator for a population-based community study, the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP), and the second-generation Parent Offspring Resilience and Cognitive Health (PORCH) study.

Shelly Rauvola, PhD

Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Department of Psychology,  DePaul University | rrauvola@depaul.edu

Shelly Rauvola is an Assistant Professor of Industrial & Organizational Psychology at DePaul University. She conducts research at the intersection between occupational and public health, specializing in how diversity, (in)equity, and adversity shape worker and population well-being. Shelly views the workplace as a key context in which we can address health disparities, particularly for aging, trauma-exposed, and marginalized workers and the communities they serve. Read more…

Monique Reed, PhD, MS, RN, FAAN

Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, RUSH University | monique_reed@rush.edu

Monique Reed is a public health nurse researcher with a special interest in childhood obesity prevention and management, designing interventions with African American mother/ daughter dyads and community engaged/ community based participatory research approaches. Read more…

Andrew Reeder

RUSH University | andrew_reeder@rush.edu

Andrew Reeder is a HIPAA Privacy and Security professional who provides operational leadership to achieve regulatory compliance around information protection. Andrew’s major responsibilities include incident response; coordination of patient privacy rights actions; and policy development of policies. He is a contributor to the Data Workgroup team of the Healthy Chicago Hospital Collaborative. Read more…

Steven K. Rothschild, MD

Departments of Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine, RUSH University | steven_k_rothschild@rush.edu

Steven Rothschild is a family physician and researcher, and since opening my practice in Chicago’s Mexican-American Pilsen neighborhood in 1988, his work has been shaped by first-hand observations of the profound adverse impact of chronic illnesses among Latinos and African Americans. Dr. Rothschild’s research passion is reducing health inequities in diabetes, depression, asthma, and other chronic diseases, by building on community capacity through methods such as community health workers, and enhancing healthcare delivery through primary care redesign and interprofessional team based approaches. Read more…

Follow Dr. Rothschild on Twitter@ComunidadYSalud (Community & Health).

Lisa Sanchez-Johnsen, Ph.D.

Department of Family & Preventative Medicine, RUSH University | Lisa_Sanchez-Johnsen@rush.edu

Dr. Lisa Sánchez-Johnsen (she, her, hers) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Rush University Medical Center and a licensed clinical psychologist. She has over 25 years of experience conducting research and clinical work with Latinxs and other ethnic minorities in the area of culturally competent health behavior change. She has research interests in culturally competent health care, culturally competent obesity (diet, physical activity, and body image) interventions and assessments for Latinxs and Blacks using community-engaged approaches, disparities in weight loss after bariatric surgery across ethnic groups, and cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular risk reduction in Latinxs and other underserved groups. She also has experience in patient and community-based approaches to health research and in training community health workers/ health promoters to conduct obesity interventions. Dr. Sanchez-Johnsen has a strong commitment to training and mentoring faculty, students, and trainees and will play a critical role in helping faculty in the Department of Family Medicine to develop research related to family medicine, community health, and health equity. Read more…

Anne Saw, PhD

Department of Psychology, DePaul University | asaw@depaul.edu

Anne Saw is a clinical-community psychologist whose research focuses on understanding and intervening to reduce health and mental health disparities for Asian immigrants and other underserved individuals and communities. Read more

John Schlichtman, PhD

Department of Sociology, DePaul University | jschlich@depaul.edu

John Schlichtman is an assistant professor of Urban Sociology at DePaul who is invigorated by the potential of healthy, equitable, just, and productive communities. John’s interests relate to housing, community development, gentrification, and urban economies in the context of global economic change. Read more

Dan Schober, PhD

Master of Public Health Program, DePaul University | dschober@depaul.edu

Dan Schober conducts community-based research and evaluation across two areas: 1. The prevention of community violence (child sexual abuse, intimate partner violence, gun violence, and related risk factors such as substance abuse) 2. The prevention of chronic disease (childhood obesity, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease). Read more…

Padraic Stanley, MSW, LCSW

Department of Social Work, College of Health Sciences, Rush University | Padraic_Stanley@rush.edu

Padraic Stanley is a program coordinator for community-based health promotion programs in the Rush University Medical Center Department of Social Work & Community Health. He is also the chair of Rush’s Immigrant Health Working Group, which oversees Rush’s immigrant health and welcoming healthcare initiatives. He is a graduate of the Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work, where he completed the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship and completed clinical practicum at Heartland Human Care Services and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Currently, he is on the associate board for Erie Neighborhood House, and the executive board for the International Association for Social Work with Groups. Read more…

Colleen Stiles-Shields, PhD

Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Section of Community Behavioral Health, RUSH University | colleen_stiles-shields@rush.edu

Dr. Colleen Stiles-Shields is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor in the Section of Population Behavioral Health and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her research is centered around harnessing digital mental health and telehealth as delivery mechanisms to reach and improve behavioral health targets for pediatric populations. Within this work, she specifically aims to design/adapt, evaluate, and disseminate technologies to better meet the needs of underserved pediatric populations and their families. Read more…

Margaret Storey, PhD

Professor and Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, DePaul University | mstorey@depaul.edu

Margaret Storey is Professor of History and Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul University. She is also a parent advocate for children with medical complexity and disability. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Danny Did Foundation and as a parent representative on the Family Partnership Council and the Policy and Advocacy Advisory Committee of The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and on the Pediatric Epilepsy Learning Health Systems Community Core of Weill-Cornell Medicine in New York. She is the author of opinion pieces about medical marijuana, special education, disability rights, and Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy for The Guardian online, the Motherlode Blog at The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, and CNN Online. Read more…

Michelle Stuhlmacher, PhD

Geography & GIS Department, DePaul University | michelle.stuhlmacher@depaul.edu

Dr. Michelle Stuhlmacher is an assistant professor and researcher at DePaul University’s Geography department. She studies how green space affects environmental and social urban systems using satellite imagery. The aerial and satellite imagery provides a detailed overview of historical and present-day distributions of green space–essential information for designing sustainable and equitable cities. The most recent work of Dr. Stuhlmacher includes: examining how green spaces affect social processes like health and gentrification, quantifying how green space configuration impacts urban systems around the world and a Pilsen-based community green space project. Read more…

Barbara A. Swanson, PhD, RN, FAAN, ACRN

Professor, Department of Adult Health and Gerontological Nursing; Associate Dean for Research; College of Nursing, Rush University| Barbara_a_swanson@rush.edu

Barbara Swanson, PhD, RN, FAAN is Associate Dean for Research and the Nurses Alumni Association Professor of Health and Aging at Rush University. She conducts equity-focused research on the use of volatile organic compound sensor devices for point of care screening for medically-underserved communities.  Dr. Swanson has published over 100 articles and book chapters, edited an HIV nursing core curriculum, and was previously associate editor of the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care.

Susan Swider, PhD, APHN-BC, FAAN

Department of Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, College of Nursing, RUSH University | susan_m_swider@rush.edu

Susan Swider has practiced nursing in acute care, home health care and public health settings. Her research has focused on program development and evaluation of community health worker interventions, and engaging urban communities in health promotion efforts. In 2011, she was appointed by President Obama to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion and Integrative and Public Health, a group designed to advise on the development and implementation of the National Prevention Strategy. Read more…

Roselyne Tchoua, PhD

Assistant Professor, College of Computing and Digital Media, DePaul University | rtchoua@depaul.edu

Roselyne Tchoua is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computing, DePaul University. She joined the DePaul Center for Data Science to continue working in the fascinating space between data science and other science fields (e.g., medicine and healthcare), extracting insight from data using machine learning and natural language processing techniques. She is particularly interested in Interdisciplinary/Transdisciplinary and Human-Centered Machine Learning.  Dr. Tchoua was the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) Equity Research Fellow in 2022. With SUHI partners, she analyzed logs from their Community Healthcare Workers Program and Social Determinants of Health survey data to document the impact of the program on specific health outcomes. She works on other collaborative medical and healthcare informatics projects involving different partners and types of medical data. Read more…

Lauren Turich, MPH, MS

Illinois Academy of Family Physicians| laurenturich@gmail.com

Lauren Turich, MPH, MS is a Chief Public Health Committee Extern for the Illinois Academy of Family Physicians, health education specialist, and fourth-year medical student. She studied public health at George Washington University and will be applying for a family medicine residency in 2021. Her research interests include developing evidence-based solutions to increase access to quality care among vulnerable populations. She looks forward to becoming a future leader in family medicine and public health upon completion of medical school.

Xinrui Xu

Office of Design, Rush| Xinrui_Xu@rush.edu

Xinrui Xu is a human-center designer working in the Office of Design at Rush. With a background in industrial design, she graduated from the IIT Institute of Design for her Master of Design degree in 2019. Currently, her focus at Rush is to apply her knowledge of design thinking and method to optimize the healthcare system for users and companies. She thrives on exploring the healthcare challenges and ensuring solutions are developed through the lenses of ethics, sustainability, and inclusivity.

Christine Young, PhD, MPH

Consultant, HEALTH Reimagined™ | research@health-reimagined.com

Christine Young is an experienced researcher and analyst with a history of conducting quantitative analyses and compiling data into detailed summaries and reports. Currently, Christine provides research support to HEALTH Reimagined™ for numerous national health equity projects. Her primary interest is enhancing policy development to improve health equity, healthcare access for the underprivileged, and preventive health. Christine holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Pittsburgh and is a recent graduate of the MPH program in health policy at George Washington University. As affiliate faculty at CCHE, her work focuses on better understanding the national health equity landscape.

Siqi Zhang

RUSH University | zhangsiqi.1991@gmail.com

Siqi Zhang is a human-centered designer at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center (RADC). She helps research teams within the RADC and also across Rush University Medical Center understanding their barriers and needs and creates personalized solutions. She also co-designs innovative clinical trial processes with research teams to accelerate their studies. Before joining Rush, Zhang earned her Master of Design from the Illinois Tech Institute of Design, where she developed her interest in human-centered design for healthcare.