Students

Community Health Science and Policy

PhD Students

Chris Atkins is a PhD candidate for Community Health Science & Policy at the LSU School of Public Health. Chris graduated from Boston University School of Social Work in 2008, with a focus on public health and macro social work practice. Chris also works for the Community Health Workers Institute in the Center for Health Value & Equity. Chris serves on several local HIV/AIDS community initiatives, is currently serving as Chair for the Monitoring and Evaluation group the Get Loud Louisiana – Ending the HIV Epidemic coalition in Louisiana.  Chris has also served as a practice transformation expert providing technical assistance on HIV planning and community level interventions in Louisiana and Texas with South Central AIDS Education & Training Centers (AETC).  Chris’s interests are in community-led program evaluation, mental health of stigmatized populations, mixed methods research, network epidemiology and behavioral economics.

Dorcas Ama Adom, MPH, is a first-year Ph.D. student in Community Health Sciences and Policy at LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She earned her MPH in Community Health from Georgia Southern University and her bachelor’s degree in physician assistant studies from Presbyterian University in Ghana. At LSUHSC School of Public Health, her research focuses on health disparities, HIV/AIDS prevention, and the community drivers of health, with an emphasis on developing evidence-based strategies to promote health equity and improve outcomes in all communities.

 

Ty-Runet Bryant is a PhD student in the Community Health Sciences and Policy Department at LSU Health Sciences Center. A native of New Orleans, she holds a BS in Chemistry from Loyola University New Orleans and an MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. In her current role as Program Manager for the Louisiana Tobacco Control Initiative (TCI), she oversees TCI’s research portfolio, ensuring effective management of projects and compliance with study protocols. Her research interests include HIV/STI prevention, reproductive health, smoking cessation, and translational science.

Alayna Gillespie, MPH is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Behavioral and Community Health Sciences department. Originally from southern Illinois, she received her BA in Sociology from McKendree University and her MPH in International Health and Development from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. After graduating with her MPH, she worked as a researcher with the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) program in New Orleans, LA, and as a supervisor for the Test & Trace COVID-19 Contact Tracing program in New York City. She currently works with NHBS New Orleans under mentor Dr. William Robinson. Her research interests are sexual and reproductive health, HIV/STIs, and conducting research with hidden or hard-to-reach populations.

Almetra Granger, MPH is a third-year Ph.D. student in Community Health Sciences and Policy at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, studying under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Celestin Jr. Ms. Granger earned her Bachelor of Science (2020) and Master of Public Health (2022) with an emphasis in Health Equity from Xavier University of Louisiana. She focuses on increasing women’s access to adequate prenatal and postnatal care and doula services early in motherhood. Her research interests include exploring the intersections of population identity, reproductive health, health equity, and smoking cessation services.  She conducts research using the Louisiana Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) data. Ms. Granger serves on the PRAMS Steering Committee.

Gabrielle Gonzalez’s goal at the School of Public Health is to further her knowledge in her field of interest, childhood obesity. She received a BS from LSU in Biological Sciences in 2019, and recently graduated from the LSU Health Sciences Center School of Public Health in 2021 with an MPH from the BCHS department. She has previous research experience with Pennington Biomedical Research Center in one of their childhood obesity programs, Team Up, under the direction of Dr. Amanda Staiano. This family-centered childhood obesity intervention was delivered in primary care to less fortunate populations. Additionally, she acted as program manager for the Healthier Together program at LSUHSC SPH for her practice experience under the supervision of Dr. Melinda Sothern. Through this program, she implemented a family-based behavioral intervention to improve metabolic function in pre-diabetic children with obesity in a clinical setting. She later transformed this program into a remote learning format during COVID-19’s stay home orders and presented at The Obesity Society conference in 2020. Gabrielle hopes to spend her time furthering her knowledge of childhood obesity during her doctoral studies to positively impact children and adolescents struggling with obesity.

Willandra Whiting-Green, MPH, REHS, is a doctoral candidate in Community Health Sciences at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans. She holds a BS in Biology from Clark Atlanta University and a Master of Public Health degree in Environmental and Occupational Health from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. As a Registered Environmental Health Specialist at the Southern Nevada Health District, she contributes to critical public health efforts within the Outbreak Response office. Her responsibilities encompass investigating childhood lead exposures, tracing foodborne illness outbreaks, managing food recalls, and addressing both residential and travel-associated Legionella exposures. At LSUHSC, she has gained valuable experience as a graduate assistant with the Center for Evidence to Practice, where she actively supports the implementation of evidence-based behavioral health programs throughout Louisiana.

Makaila Mitchell, MS, is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Community Health Sciences and Policy department at LSU Health Science Center New Orleans School of Public Health. A native of New Iberia, Louisiana, she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at Southern University and A & M College in Baton Rouge, LA. She then went on to obtain her Master of Science in Pharmacology from Tulane University School of Medicine. At LSUHSC, she currently works as graduate research assistant for the Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs (LCP) with areas of interest that include breast & cervical cancer, healthcare inequalities, and community outreach.

Malesa Pereira,MPH is currently a PhD Candidate in Community Health Sciences & Policy at LSU Health School of Public Health – New Orleans. She obtained her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from Binghamton University and her Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from the University of South Florida. Prior to entering the doctoral program, Malesa worked as a clinical research coordinator primarily working on trials focusing on developing and applying biomedical imaging techniques to cancer interventions. Currently, Malesa is the Evaluation Manager for the Louisiana Cancer Prevention and Control Programs (LCP) where her work focuses on reducing the cancer burden through preventative efforts and addressing cancer disparities in Louisiana. Her role focuses on analyzing cancer data in Louisiana including identifying priority populations (i.e. low income, rural, etc.) for tailored evidence-based interventions, and developing and implementing evaluation plans among the practice programs for LCP. Malesa’s dissertation research focuses on exploring and understanding how cancer-related financial hardship (financial toxicity) affects long-term outcomes of AYA cancer survivors and caregiver populations and the coping behaviors they employ when dealing with financial toxicity.

Dana Smiles is a doctoral student in Community Health Sciences at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans.  Dana has 15 years of research experience, beginning with a MPH in Sociomedical Sciences with a focus on Health Promotion from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (2010). She has conducted extensive primary research across a variety of sectors, including academia, non-profit, governmental, international development, and for-profit industries. Dana’s research portfolio includes over 1,000 qualitative interviews conducted across diverse settings, from New Orleans, LA, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and myriad mixed method studies. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Medicine, Health, and Society from Vanderbilt University (2008) and a Master’s in Sociology from Brown University (2014). After completing her doctoral degree, Dana aims to continue researching the intersection of technology and mental health and teach qualitative research methods at the collegiate and graduate levels.

Kelsey Witmeier, MPH, is a third-year Ph.D. student in Community Health Sciences at LSU Health Science Center New Orleans. She earned her MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences and a Bachelor of Public Health from the University of Florida. Witmeier became the first youth-certified Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) trainer and has maintained this certification for over a decade. She has worked as a community health worker in her hometown of St. Augustine, FL, responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, taught public speaking at the University of Florida, and supported nonprofit behavioral health organizations through grant writing. Currently, Witmeier is an evaluation and research assistant for a national technical assistance grant focused on community health workers. At LSUHSC New Orleans, she has also helped research the experience of people with disabilities, behavioral health service access, low-dose CT screening, and the impact of interprofessional education on individual outcomes. Her research interests include suicide prevention, community health workers, behavioral health, and community-based research.

Shawn Verbeten is a first-year Ph.D student in the Community Health Sciences program. Originally from Wisconsin, he received a B.S. in Community Health Education from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. After graduating, he continued his studies at The University of Alabama, where he received an M.A. in Health Studies. Shawn works full-time at the LSU AgCenter, where he manages the Snap-Ed nutrition program in Jefferson Parish. His additional research interests include nutrition security, program evaluation, implementation science, childhood obesity, and vaccine hesitancy.