David Ansell, MD, MPH

Rush University Medical Center

​I am currently 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. I am a practicing physician and a social epidemiologist who has worked on Chicago’s Westside since 1978. My 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. I have written and lectured widely on the effect of racism, insurance status, neighborhood and income on life expectancy in America. I am 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. I am 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.

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

Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy

I am a clinical pharmacist and associate professor at Midwestern University, Chicago College of Pharmacy. My research and teaching focuses on reducing health inequities through the provision of culturally competent healthcare. I work 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 | lisa_l_barnes@rush.edu

I am a cognitive neuropsychologist with expertise in health disparities of chronic diseases of aging. My 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 | 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 | julia_s_bassett@rush.edu

I am 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

Jessica Bishop-Royse, PhD

Social Science Research Center, DePaul | jbishopr@depaul.edu

I am a demographer and medical sociologist. My research interests include research methods and health disparities across the life course.

Cynthia Boyd, MD, MBA, FACP

Rush Medical College, Rush | cynthia_e_boyd@rush.edu

I am 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. I serve as the dean for admissions and recruitment for Rush Medical College and chief compliance officer for Rush University Medical Center.

Douglas Bruce, PhD, MSW

Department of Health Sciences, DePaul | dbruce1@depaul.edu

I am a public health researcher whose work focuses on social determinants of gay men’s health, in particular the secondary prevention needs of youth living with HIV/AIDS. I have extensive experience working with diverse communities in the areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and substance use treatment and have developed and implemented community-based participatory research partnerships with sexual minority male youth experiencing homelessness and the providers who work with them. Read more

Joanna Buscemi, Ph.D.

Department of Psychology, DePaul | 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.

Suzanne Carlberg-Racich, PhD, MSPH

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

I am an Assistant Professor in the Master of Public Health Program at DePaul. The primary aim of my 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 | jsmithcarter@gmail.com

I am a clinical psychologist who specializes in health promotion and stress reduction in urban children, adolescents, and families. 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 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.

Beth Catlett, PhD

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

I am a feminist scholar who specializes in community-based programs and research involving gendered violence and social movements to create community change. My 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

Fernando De Maio, PhD

DePaul | fdemaio@depaul.edu

I am a sociologist specializing in the social determinants of health. Much of my work has revolved around the “income inequality hypothesis”, an idea that suggests that our health is dependent not just on our own income or our family’s income – but on how income is distributed in our communities. I have also conducted work on the effects of discrimination on the health of immigrants. At DePaul I teach courses on health equity, global health, and statistical analysis. Read more

Tishanna Dillard, MA

College of Communication, DePaul |tishannamdillard@gmail.com

Originally from the Chicago suburbs, I completed my Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication (Public Relations concentration) at Louisiana State University. More recently, I 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. I am graduating this fall 2019 quarter. Additionally, I have 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, I will broaden the center’s reach in the Chicago market.  I will be providing feedback on the health equity blogs developed by the inaugural Center for Community Health Equity Youth Advisory Board members.

Kim Erwin, MDes

Kim is a design strategist and healthcare researcher with expertise is applying human-centered design to healthcare’s frontline problems. Her 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.

Rebecca Feinstein, LCSW, PhD

BMO-Harris Bank Health Disparities Research Fellow | Rebecca_Feinstein@rush.edu

Over the past 15 years, I have worked as an academic researcher, lecturer, public health educator, and clinical social worker with a goal of improving reducing health disparities and increasing access to health care services for vulnerable populations. My research primarily utilizes qualitative methods to examine the impact of stressful events over the life course, such as the social determinants of health, adverse childhood experiences, and illness and disability on health outcomes and access to health care services.

Presently, I am conducting a mixed-methods evaluation of a Collaborative Care for Depression Management program for Medicaid-insured adults living in vulnerable communities in Chicago with high rates of poverty and ethnic diversity

Crystal M. Glover, PhD

Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush | crystal_glover@rush.edu

I belong to the Department of Preventive Medicine Faculty at Rush University Medical Center. I am a social psychologist and mixed-methodologist focused on health disparities related to healthcare utilization and comorbid physical and mental health issues.

Euan Hague, PhD, MA

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

I am a Professor and Director of the School of Public Service at DePaul University. I have been a Steans Center Fellow for Community-based research and explored issues of urban inequality and sustainable urban development. Read more

Nila Hofman, PhD

DePaul University 

Professor of Anthropology and the Director of the Community Service Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois, US. She 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 | LaDawne_Jenkins@rush.edu

I am the Administrator for the Center of Community Health Equity at Rush University Medical Center. My work in research focuses on reducing health disparities and improving the quality of life in underserved communities in the city of Chicago.

Jessica Jerome, PhD

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

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at DePaul. My research focuses on how people in disenfranchised communities access health care in urban Brazil and Chicago. I am particularly interested in how the state facilitates this access (at times), and (at other times) creates barriers to health care.

Rebecca Johnson, PhD

Research Assistant Professor of Medical Social Sciences, Center for Community Health, Northwestern University

Dr. Johnson is a social gerontologist whose research focuses on social and economic factors impacting health, well-being and quality of life of older adults. She partnered with the City of Chicago on the age-friendly assessment and is currently evaluating a city-wide initiative to support older adults with dementia and their caregivers. She led the HAPEER project team and provided interview and listening skills training to home-care aides delivering community-based home care services. Dr. Johnson supports faith-based communities interested in engaging with research, providing education about community health assessments and asset mapping. Current work includes a collaborative partnership engaging community media to disseminate research evidence to communities experiencing health disparities.

Tricia Johnson, PhD

Department of Health Systems Management, Rush | tricia_j_johnson@rush.edu

I am 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

Rush | wrenetha_a_julion@rush.edu

I am a nursing professor and researcher committed to the advancement of diversity, cultural competency and social justice through science, education and practice. My community-based, collaborative research with families of color saves lives, strengthens the family, stabilizes communities, and challenges health disparities.

Brittney Lange-Maia, PhD, MPH

Rush | Brittney_Lange-Maia@rush.edu

I am an epidemiologist and clinical data analyst for the center where my work focuses on health disparities using both clinical and community data. I also have experience in both aging and physical activity epidemiology, and I have a strong interest in promoting health throughout the lifespan.

Tracey Lewis-Elligan, PhD

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

I am an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at DePaul University. My work is driven by a community based participatory research approach with an aim to address social inequalities. I have a special interest in women’s health- from childbirth and aging- and family. My current project investigates Chicago’s birth worker community and their role in promoting reproductive health.

Chien-Ching Li, PhD, MPH

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

I am a Health Services Researcher and an Assistant Professor at Rush University in the Department of Health Systems Management. My primary research interests are in the areas of cancer prevention, health disparity, population health, and health services & outcomes research. I am an expert in analyzing population-based longitudinal data for cross-national health comparison research.

Julia Lippert, PhD

Master of Public Health Program, DePaul | jlipper1@depaul.edu

I am an environmental and occupational health scientist working to reduce health inequities in our communities and workplaces.

Joshua Longcoy

Rush| 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 | Gina_Lowell@rush.edu

I am a general pediatrician at Rush University Children’s Hospital with specialty interests in childhood injury and child abuse and neglect. I’ve 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 I have 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 I conducted research in unintentional injury prevention using both hospital-based and national data systems.

Concurrent with these efforts I practice 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. I received my M.D. from Rush Medical College in 2002, completed my residency training in Pediatrics at the University of Chicago in 2005, and completed my General Academic Pediatrics Fellowship and received my Master’s in Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008.

Elizabeth Lynch, PhD

Department of Preventive Medicine, Rush | elizabeth_lynch@rush.edu

I am 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.

Marty Martin, PsyD, MPH

Driehaus College of Business, DePaul | martym@depaul.edu

I am a licensed clinical psychologist who happens to serve as a business school faculty member who teaches business, public health, health informatics and entrepreneurship students.

My applied research focuses on developing, testing, improving and delivering innovative solutions to wicked problems in healthcare, community health, and population health.

John Mazzeo, PhD

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

I am a medical anthropologist by training, and work primarily in Haiti on issues of community health, livelihood systems, and food security. I serve as the Director of the Master of Public Health Program and have an appointment in the Department of Anthropology at DePaul University.

Paola Susan, MD

Rush | Paola_Susan@rush.edu

I am a family medicine physician and assistant professor at Rush University. My career goals have been driven by my passion to improve medical care and eliminate healthcare disparities, I have a special interest in woman’s and elderly health, LGBTQ care and the underserved populations. I am a determined provider with a strong commitment to patient care who truly believes in excellent care for all.

Sasha Pena

Chicago Scholars | spena@chicagoscholars.org

As the Director of Career and Leadership Development I oversee all career events and programs for Scholars resulting in full-time positions, and increased Scholar satisfaction with the support of the organization. Additionally, I manage key career programs that help Scholars explore careers, develop as leaders, and expand their networks.

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

Rush | Janice_Phillips@rush.edu

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.

Laura Maria Pigozzi, PhD

Visiting Assistant Professor, Northwestern University | laura.pigozzi@northwestern.edu

I am a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northwestern University. I research in the immigrant Latinx community studying intercultural health communication and issues with clinical and trial consent.  My work lives in the interdisciplinary field of the Rhetoric of Health and Medicine and works toward increased comprehension and accessible, usable communications.

Gita Rampersad, JD, MHA

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

I am 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, I design and execute critical strategies, programs and policies to strengthen the US health system and address causes of morbidity, mortality and disease. Currently, I lend my 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, I work closely with the co-directors to better understand the national health equity landscape.

Shelly Rauvola, PhD

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

I am an Assistant Professor of Industrial & Organizational Psychology at DePaul University. I conduct research at the intersection between occupational and public health, specializing in how diversity, (in)equity, and adversity shape worker and population well-being. I view 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.

Monique Reed, PhD, RN

Department of Community Systems and Mental Health Nursing, Rush | monique_reed@rush.edu

I am 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 | andrew_reeder@rush.edu

I am a HIPAA Privacy and Security professional who provides operational leadership to achieve regulatory compliance around information protection. My major responsibilities include incident response; coordination of patient privacy rights actions; and policy development of policies. I am a contributor to the Data Workgroup team of the Healthy Chicago Hospital Collaborative.

Steven K. Rothschild, MD

Departments of Preventive Medicine and Family Medicine, Rush

I am a family physician and researcher, and since opening my practice in Chicago’s Mexican-American Pilsen neighborhood in 1988, my work has been shaped by first-hand observations of the profound adverse impact of chronic illnesses among Latinos and African Americans. My 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. Follow me on Twitter@ComunidadYSalud (Community & Health).

Lisa Sanchez-Johnsen, Ph.D.

Rush | 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.

Anne Saw, PhD

Department of Psychology, DePaul | asaw@depaul.edu

I am 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 | jschlich@depaul.edu

I am an assistant professor of Urban Sociology at DePaul who is invigorated by the potential of healthy, equitable, just, and productive communities. My 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 | dschober@depaul.edu

I conduct 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).

Padraic Stanley, MSW, LCSW

Rush University Medical Center | 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.

Colleen Stiles-Shields, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Rush

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.

Margaret Storey, PhD

Professor and Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, DePaul | 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.

Michelle Stuhlmacher, PhD

Assistant Professor, Geography, DePaul | 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. 

Susan Swider, PhD, APHN-BC, FAAN

Professor, Community, Systems and Mental Health Nursing, Rush | susan_m_swider@rush.edu

I have practiced nursing in acute care, home health care and public health settings. My research has focused on program development and evaluation of community health worker interventions, and engaging urban communities in health promotion efforts. In 2011, I 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

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.

Christine Young, PhD, MPH

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

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