Experience

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  D'Youville University

  • United States
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Professor, Chair and Associate Director, Center for Doctoral Studies and Research

    • Aug 2023 - Present

    Formally trained in biological anthropology, I have acquired additional research and evaluation skills through nine years of health disparities research at SUNY Buffalo, four years evaluating health care education and exposure programs as the director of evaluation for NYS AHEC (Area Health Education Center) and three years as a recipient of an NIH Loan Repayment Grant in Minority Health Disparities focused on maternal and child health, specifically breastfeeding. Subsequent to this research and evaluation career, I transitioned to a teaching position wherein I balanced a full course load with continued community-based research and evaluation and assumed the role of Director of the Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health. My research and advocacy foci have consistently been community health, maternal and child health and equitable access and experience of health and well-being. I am integrated into the community here in Buffalo, as a trainer at Community Network for Engagement, Connection, and Transformation (CoNECT), leader of community outreach and engagement at D’Youville University, active engagement in a healthy infant coalition under the United Way and March of Dimes, and involvement in school wellness efforts in our large urban school district. These partnerships resulted in the recent 3M HRSA award for Community Health Worker training in the Buffalo/Niagara region. I serve as a leader within the Community and Stakeholder Engagement core within the University at Buffalo Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSA award). Foundational to my research and evaluation is a philosophy of doing things with community rather than to them or for them.

  • Associate Professor, Chair and Associate Director, Center for Doctoral Studies and Research

    • Jun 2022 - Aug 2023

• 

  University at Buffalo

  • CTSI Special Populations Task Leader

    • May 2016 - Present

    Clinical and Translational Science InstituteAssist with strategies and and activities to include special populations in research.This include helping children and families understand research using tools like our Sofia Learns about Research book, working with older adults to access resources and services and engage in research related to aging, and increasing the representation of black and brown people in services and research through collaboration with medical providers to test culturally responsive engagement approaches.

• 

  Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo

  • Research Associate Professor (Volunteer), Department of Pediatrics

    • Aug 2013 - Present

• 

  D'Youville College

  • United States
  • Higher Education
  • 700 & Above Employee

  • Chair, Associate Professor, Department of Health Administration and Public Health

    • Aug 2018 - Aug 2022

  • Assistant Professor

    • Aug 2012 - Aug 2018

  • Adjunct Professor

    • Jan 2012 - Aug 2012

    Taught Introduction to Community Health in the Health Services Administration department.

• 

  Community Health Worker Network of Buffalo/CoNECT

  • Board Member

    • Nov 2013 - Jun 2022

  • Board Co-Chair

    • Mar 2017 - Dec 2021

• 

  New York State Area Health Education Center System

  • Evaluation Director

    • Jul 2008 - Aug 2012

• 

  State University of New York at Buffalo

  • Department of Family Medicine

  • Research Assistant Professor

    • Sep 2004 - Aug 2012
    • Department of Family Medicine

    As a research assistant until 2008 and assistant professor until 2012, my work involved community-based and medical practice-based research and evaluation addressing health disparities and health care access and quality. I also work closely with a number of school districts to review food and physical activity policy and environment and work towards system-wide change to reduce childhood obesity and chronic disease risk. As evaluation director of NYS AHEC System I oversaw statewide evaluation efforts involving 9 AHEC centers and 3 regional offices to demonstrate how AHEC increases the representation of underrepresented and/or minoritized populations in the health care professions and increases the number of health care professionals practicing in the regions that need them most.