Department of Public and Community Health

Name: Iris Allen, iallen2@umd.edu
Year in Program: 4th
Iris holds a Masters Degree in Public Health from Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health with a concentration in health education. Her research interests include Health, HIV prevention, African American adolescents, Community Based Participatory Research and Human Sexuality. Iris is a graduate assistant in the department with a dual function position; she teaches Human Sexuality at the Shady Grove campus for University of Maryland College Park students and she is also the faculty site supervisor for MPH students completing their internship requirements for HLTH 785. Iris is currently the Project Coordinator on an HIV prevention project called Aza sisters (NIH Grant #5R21NR010511-02) based out of Georgetown University Medical School's Department of Psychiatry where the principal investigator is Tiffany Townsend, PhD. The purpose of the study is to design a culturally and developmentally appropriate HIV prevention program for African American girls ages 11 to 13 that attend DC public charter schools and pilot test the program. The program has three components ethnic identity enhancement, HIV risk reduction strategies and personal trauma education. I have worked in following capacities so far- serving as the liaison for DC Public Charter School involvement, curriculum integration and development, focus group analysis, IRB submissions, supervising student interns and day to day project logistics.

Name: Susan M. Antol, Antol@son.umaryland.edu
Year in Program: 3rd
Susan earned her Master of Science degree with major in Community Health Nursing, from The University of Maryland, Baltimore. Her doctoral research interests include health services and systems to address vulnerable populations and health disparities, in the context of FQHC's focusing on access to care; School-based health center policy and sustainability, Immigrant Health Rural Health. Susan currently conducts research around the Health issues of female Mexican Crab pickers, a qualitative study which utilized focus groups to ascertain self- described perceptions of their general health and occupational health to plan delivery of health services. Susan also has an interest in patient navigation and continuity of care in school-based and FQHC facilities. She is currently partnering with a Baltimore FQHC and submitted a HRSA grant on this aspect.

Name: Deliya R. Banda, dbanda@umd.edu
Year in Program: 2nd
Deliya holds a B.Sc in Anatomy and Cellular Biology from McGill University and earned her Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology from the George Washington University, School of Public Health. Prior to beginning the doctoral program her research has focused in the area of breast cancer epidemiology and the racial/ ethnic disparities in survivorship of women with ovarian and breast cancers. Her doctoral research interests have developed to include health disparities, minority health, substance use behaviors and associated health outcomes among African Americans. Deliya is currently a graduate assistant within the department; she is the graduate teaching assistant for Dr Beck's HLTH 371: Communicating Safety and Health, course. As part of her assistantship, she is also working on research under the guidance of Dr Kerry Green, exploring the trajectories of adolescent substance use behaviors, substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illness, as well as perceived racial discrimination and its effect on health outcomes within populations of urban African Americans.

Name: Denise Bellows, dbellows@umd.edu
Year in Program: 2nd
Denise holds a bachelor's degree in Community Health from The University of Maryland. Since entering the doctoral program, Denise has been working with Dr. Nancy Atkinson on proposals about how internet technology and social media can be used to inform and enhance health communication practice. Most recently, she has been doing research with Dr. Boekeloo on examining barriers to Partner Counseling and Referral Services for STI/HIV in Prince George's County. She is specifically interested in how the internet plays a role in these barriers to communication about sexual health. Denise is also a TA for Dr. Mia Ko's HLTH140 course, and has done some data management for the Center for Health Behavior Research.
Doctoral Research/ Research Interests : Adolescent Health: Sexual Health, Stress and Wellness, Health Informatics

Name: Christye Brown, christye@umd.edu
Year in Program: 2nd
Christye earned her Master of Public Health degree from the Morehouse School of Medicine and also holds an MBA from The Citadel. Her doctoral research interests include mental health of military families, health status of prisoner reentrants and risky sexual behaviors in African-American women with higher education. Christye recently worked on a health literacy article with Dr Donna Howard.

Name: Katrina J. Debnam, kdebnam@umd.edu
Year in Program: 1st
Katrina earned her Masters in Public Health with a concentration in health behavior and health education, from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests also include STI/HIV prevention and substance abuse in young adults. Katrina is currently a graduate assistant in the department and is working with Dr. Cheryl Holt who is involved with community-based and culturally appropriate interventions with an emphasis on spirituality/religiosity.

Name: Gwendolyn Roberts Francavillo, grober@umd.edu
Year in Program: 5th
Gwendolyn holds a Master of Public Health degree from The George Washington University and is also a certified health education specialist. She is currently working on her dissertation research which focuses on how sexuality education and knowledge, sexual assertiveness and communication, and sexual assault experiences influence rape myth acceptance among deaf college students.

Name: Jessica Jordan, jjordan@umd.edu
Year in Program: 2nd
Jessica earned her Master of Public Health, in Community Health Education from the University of Maryland, School of Public Health. Her research interests include adolescent and college sexual health behavior and health communication. For her dissertation research, Jessica intends to examine the effects of two date rape and sexual assault interventions in a population of college freshman compared to a control group. One intervention involves the use of an educational video followed by peer processing and the second intervention is entirely peer education. She has worked with Dr Robin Sawyer and Dr Donna Howard on studying the sexual health behavior vocabulary used on national surveys and the lack of consistency of these terms and the need for clear definitions to be used. Additional research areas include studying adolescent dating relationships and resiliency in college students. Jessica serves as a faculty advisor for HLTH 491, the undergraduate community health education internship course and she also teaches HLTH 140: Personal and Community Health.

Name: Tanya Geiger, tgeiger@umd.edu
Year in Program: 3rd
Tanya received her Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her doctoral research interests include health disparities that exist among minority drug users, motivational factors that cause individuals to become involved in drug use as well as the unique role that drug abuse plays in HIV/AIDS. She is currently working with Dr. Stacey Daughters to evaluate the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention on treating depression, increasing HIV medication adherence, and improving health outcomes among minority HIV infected inner city illicit drug users.

Name: Eric G. Jamison II , ejamison@umd.edu
Year in Program: 1st
Eric holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Chemistry from Delaware State University Eric's doctoral research interests include health disparities, disease prevention, intervention, promotion as it relates to underserved populations in a community health involvement environment and the magnification of research to enforce programs, health communication, and literacy. He has particular interest in adolescent violence, gang violence, and the environmental and health behavioral factors involved.

Name: Mariano Kanamori, mkanamor@umd.edu
Year in Program: 2nd
Mariano is originally from Peru and has more than fourteen years of experience working in the areas of health, nutrition, micro-finance, family planning and HIV prevention. Winner of the Peruvian National Competition for young researchers organized by the Ford Foundation, the Cayetano Heredia University and the Canadian Government, he was given a fellowship to develop an adolescent social network model. He completed his pre-doctoral training at the Lombardi Cancer Control Center - Georgetown Hospital in cancer prevention and control focused on Latinos. With a fellowship from the National Council of Urban Indian Health, Mr. Kanamori performed research addressing their native cultural values, health beliefs and practices as well as distinct health disparities and their policy implications. Mr. Kanamori is currently a PhD student in Public and Community Health at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health and is working in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. As a part of this training, he is being mentored on health disparities in tobacco use by a group of eight faculty members lead by Dr. Carter-Pokras. He is a part of a team developing the logic model for the State of Maryland tobacco program and is doing research addressing the need for identifying and addressing factors influencing a relatively higher tobacco use among certain youth minority populations and youth of low socio-economic status. As a part of his PhD coursework and under Dr. Desmond's mentorship, he adapted a Hispanic Latino acculturation theory for colorectal cancer prevention and control. This model was awarded first prize at the UMD graduate research interaction day in the exploring identities category. Mariano also presented this model in a nationwide graduate competition and was selected as one of ten research winners of the 2008 American Public Health Association (APHA) student research award. Mariano is also a recipient of the 2008 Eta Sigma Gamma scholarship.

Name: Sylvette A. La Touche-Howard, latouche@umd.edu
Year in Program: 4th
Sylvette holds a Bachelors degree in psychology from McGill University and earned her Master of Arts Degree in Community Counseling from Andrews University. Her doctoral research interests include Women's Health Issues, Health Disparities and Health Communication. Sylvette has a graduate assistantship and is currently working with Dr. Stacey Daughters on the (1) Let's ACT project using behavioral interventions to assist substance users in adopting healthier lifestyle behaviors to replace former substance use; & (2) ACT HEALTHY project integrating treatment to increase HIV medication adherence and decrease depression and sexual risk taking behavior among depressed, HIV positive minority substance users. For her independent study, she is also working with Dr. Nancy Atkinson and fellow student Ina Jones, to explore the issues surrounding HIV and African American women between the ages of 50-65, to create an awareness campaign and preventative intervention to eliminate the health disparity that exists in this area. She has formerly worked with Dr. Nancy Atkinson on the Eat Smart, Be Fit! Maryland project (www.eatsmart.umd.edu)- a statewide campaign to increase the intake of fruits and vegetables, physical activity and overall healthy behaviors with lower income women and their children. Sylvette also passionately loves teaching HLTH 140:Personal Health and HLTH471: Women's Health.

Name: Genevieve Martíez-García, gmartin4@umd.edu
Year in Program: 4th
Genevieve holds a Master of Art degree in International Development from the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. Her doctoral research interests include women's and adolescents health, Latino health, sexual and reproductive health. Genevieve's doctoral dissertation will address factors that place young Hispanics in the Washington Metro area at risk for unintended pregnancies. Her project is being done in consultation with community leaders who expressed the need for more research in this area in order to design effective programs.

Name: Kimberly (Kim) Mitchell, kmitch72@verizon.net
Year in Program: 3rd
Kim earned her Master of Public Health from Yale University, School of Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. Her doctoral research interests include emerging infectious diseases, Maternal and Child Health, Health Disparities and Risk communication. Kim expects to develop dissertation research that focuses on the application of health education/promotion techniques to prevention of selected infectious diseases. Kim also currently works full-time as an epidemiologist at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH).

Name: LCDR Raquel Peat, rpeat@umd.edu
Year in Program: 4th
Raquel holds a Master of Public Health Degree from The George Washington University School of Public Health and a Master of Science from The John Hopkins University. As an officer in the United States Public Health Service and a PhD student in the Department of Public and Community Health, her research interests are in the field of elderly and adolescent health, health inequalities, and emergency preparedness.

Name: Ina Ananda Ramos, ijones@umd.edu
Year in Program: 3rd
MPH, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences. Ina's doctoral research interests include HIV Prevention, African American Women, African American communities, Women, Health Disparities and Minority Populations. Ina's dissertation will investigate an aspect of HIV Prevention. Ina has been working with Dr. Nancy Atkinson and fellow student Sylvette LaTouche-Howard on research on the HIV prevention needs of African American women 50 to 65 years of age. We have conducted focus groups with the target population along with expert interviews. Our research initiated from a project in Dr. Atkinson's Public Health Informatics course where our group topic was on HIV Prevention in women 50 to 65 years of age. Ina has been also working on with Dr. Atkinson could actually fall in this section as well because our research is not funded (as I suspect the above question alludes to). However, Dr. Atkinson is very supportive of our passion as students to pursue our research interests.

Name: Eva Sharma , esharmaa@umd.edu
Year in Program: 1st
Eva earned her Masters in Public Health from University of Maryland, College park and Bachelors in Pharmacy from Kathmandu University, Nepal. Her doctoral interests include Nicotine and Tobacco Research and Clinical Trials. She is currently working as a research/medical assistant in the Center for Health Behavior Research, Department of Public and Community under the direction of Dr. E.D Glover. Eva is involved in grant application, data collection, data analysis for several grants on tobacco research. Currently she is involved in RO-1 grants that involve products such as smokeless tobacco and hookah. Eva has also been involved in Phase 2 and Phase 3 clinical trials for smoking cessation products such as nicotine vaccine, Selegiline and Dianicline. Her other research interests include menthol cigarettes, and international tobacco control policies.

Name: Sandra L. Saperstein , ssaperst@umd.edu
Year in Program: 7th
Sandra holds a Master of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from Boston University. Her doctoral research interests include Public health informatics, health and risk communication. Sandra currently has an ORISE Fellowship with the FDA working in the area of food safety communication. She is working on a project to examine and improve listeriosis prevention messages for pregnant women.

Name: Peggie A. Smith, peggie@umd.edu
Year in Program: Doctoral Candidate
Peggie earned her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from The Medical College of Virginia. She has a Bachelors of Science (Cum Laude) in Biology with a Chemistry Minor from Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University. Peggie's doctoral research interests include Health Disparities, youth violence prevention, social determinants of health. Her dissertation will be examining the influence of collective efficacy and social capital on minority adolescent physical activity. She previously worked as a graduate assistant in the Department of Public & Community Health for HLTH 140 Personal & Community Health, HLTH 491 Community Health Internship, and Death Education. She also held positions at the American Heart Association, Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, National Foundation for Alternative Medicine, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Center for Substance Abuse Research. She currently works as a Public Health Analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration. Peggie is responsible for monitoring over $42 million dollars in grants to Community Health Centers in Texas and New Mexico.

Name: K. Shakira Washington, k.shakira.washington@gmail.com
Year in Program: 1st
Shakira earned her Masters of Public Administration (MPA) from New York University: Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. Her doctoral research interests include health disparities especially in relation to social, economic and political inequities. She has a particular interest in research surrounding Black women/women and the intersection of violence on health outcomes (individual and community). Currently, she is the Research Director for a public relations firm that has been contracted by the DC HIV/AIDS Administration to develop and implement a five year social marketing campaign to address the epidemic in the District of Columbia. Her responsibilities on the project are to design and implement the formative research phase of the project (e.g. community focus groups, community intercept interviews, internet survey, face-to-face surveys, and a communications audit of materials used by D.C. based CBOs) that will ultimately inform the development of the campaign scheduled for Spring 2009. As a doctoral student Shakira's goal is to focus on the intersection of violence in its various forms and its impact on health outcomes. Her dissertation will focus specifically on Black women living in the U.S. and their experiences with and definitions of "violence" and how these experiences and perceptions inform individual and group health behaviors and health outcomes.

Name: Peggy Wrobleski, downeast2@verizon.net
Year in Program: 7th
Peggy earned her Master of Public Health Degree in Nutrition from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC. Her doctoral research Interests include adolescent nutrition and quality of diet. Her dissertation proposal is entitled, The Challenge of Teen Nutrition: An ecological view of socio-cognitive influences on diet quality in urban, African-American adolescents). This examines how the routine food choices that adolescents make impact their nutritional status, health, and their risk of developing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and osteoporosis in the future. A myriad of personal, social, and environmental factors influence adolescents in shaping their nutritional intake and quality of diet. This study proposes to examine some of the unique personal, social, and environmental influences on diet quality affecting low-income, urban African-American adolescents in Baltimore, Maryland, in an effort to provide an improved understanding of the factors that help to shape the food choices and diet quality of inner-city, young adults.