Doctoral students and candidates

Tyler Frank is a fourth-year PhD student in the Public Health Sciences Program. He studies food insecurity in pregnant women in the U.S. with an emphasis on the life course and birth and mental health outcomes. He earned his Master of Science in Applied Health Behavior Research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. 

Mia T. Vogel, MPH, MSW is a T32 Predoctoral Fellow in Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease (T32 HL130357) and a Doctoral Student in the Public Health Sciences Program at the Brown School at Washington University. She comes to the Brown School from the University of Washington, where she earned master’s degrees in social work and public health. At UW, she worked at Health Promotion Research Center, a CDC-funded Prevention Research Center housed in the Department of Health Services, and on the Team Science Module of the Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program Hub. In her time at the Brown School, Vogel has continued her CTSA work with the Washington University Institute for Clinical & Translational Sciences (ICTS) Team Science Module and Tracking and Evaluation Core with the aim of speeding up the translation from discovery to dissemination and ultimately find innovative solutions to the toughest problems facing public health, medicine, and our society.

Olivia is interested in health communication and health promotion. Her research focuses on developing new methods, in addition to fact-checking, to combat health misinformation, especially about primary and secondary disease prevention. She has extensive experience in data analysis and data visualization using various analytic tools. Before joining the PhD program in Public Health Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Olivia obtained a Master of Science Public Health degree in Human Nutrition from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and worked for several years in a cancer prevention and control program at a local health department. 

Jemima Adepehin (she/hers) holds a background in food science and technology from the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria. She has valuable experience as a program officer with two non-governmental organizations, where she coordinated nutritional, emotional, academic, health, and economic support for orphans and vulnerable children. She is particularly driven to address public issues related to maternal-child health and infant malnutrition through interdisciplinary research and health policy. 

Maria Afadapa earned an MD degree in Donetsk, Ukraine, after which she completed a clinical residency in obstetrics & gynecology in Moscow, Russia. She practiced medicine in Moscow, in Kinshasa, and for the last 20 years in Lagos, Nigeria. Her medical practice focused on reproductive health, sexual and domestic violence, prevention and management of HIV and TB, and tropical diseases in children. 

Afadapa’s academic career began while practicing as a clinician in the field of public health, which prompted her to acquire an MPH. Her research is focused on HIV, maternal and child health, and recently HBV. She participated in the PATC3H Implementation Science Network, an NIH-funded project, in the roles of consultant on adolescent health and project manager at local study sites in Nigeria. She is interested in dissemination & implementation study design and qualitative methods. 

Onyekachukwu (Onyeka) Anikamadu, MPH, CPH, is a third-year PhD student in Public Health Sciences at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. She is an NIH F31 predoctoral fellow whose research focuses on increasing HPV vaccination uptake among young girls and women in Nigeria. Onyeka holds a master of public health degree with a dual concentration in maternal and child health and global health from the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University and a bachelor of arts degree in health and human physiology from the University of Iowa. Onyeka’s research interests center on community participatory research and implementation science, fields that allow her to work collaboratively with communities to create impactful, sustainable solutions. Her fervor lies in maternal and child health, particularly maternal mortality, a critical issue she is determined to address through culturally sensitive and evidence-based interventions. Driven by a vision for a brighter and healthier future, Onyeka aspires to empower women and children in Nigeria by championing access to life-saving health interventions and amplifying the voices of those often left unheard. 

Ri’enna Boyd (she/her) is from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She completed her bachelor’s degree in biology at Loyola University in Chicago before pursuing an MPH in maternal and child health at Saint Louis University. Ri’enna’s research interests converge at the intersection of racial and reproductive justice, alternative forms of care & social support, and intervention research, all approached through a community-led and -centered lens to improve the health of Black women, children, and families. Ri’enna is also certified as a Culturally Congruent Community Doula in her commitment to combating Black maternal and infant mortality. 

I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Richmond, Virginia, where I earned a bachelor of arts degree in biology and geography from the University of Richmond, after which I earned an MPH from George Washington University. For the past two years, I have been an epidemiologist at the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS), working in program evaluation, cancer prevention, and maternal/child health. Prior to my role in DHSS, I worked for 6 years in vaccine development and vaccine education. My current research interests are chronic disease prevention, particularly cancer, dissemination and implementation science, food security, and how we can utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to improve public health. 

Drew Crenshaw (he/him) is a doctoral student in public health sciences and a graduate research assistant at the Prevention Research Center. His research interests primarily focus on community resilience, environmental justice, climate change, and urban studies, and he collaborates closely with the People, Health, and Place Unit. Crenshaw holds an MPH in environmental and occupational health and a bachelor of science degree in public health and urban affairs from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 

Prior to joining Washington University in St. Louis, he served as a program manager at the Center for the Study of Community Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His previous work has included community-engaged research on family systems, social cohesion, collective efficacy, vaccine confidence, substance use, and the concept of livability in urban areas. He also has conducted research highlighting success stories from local health departments seeking accreditation through the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB). 

Debbie “Dada” Dada is a doctoral student in public health sciences with a concentration in dissemination and implementation science. Passionate about global health justice, implementation science and decolonial thought, her research interests are in improving access to infectious disease prevention and care services among marginalized populations in Sub-Saharan Africa using participatory implementation science and addressing epistemic injustices within the field. Dada has conducted equity-focused research in HIV, TB and COVID-19 in Ghana, Senegal, Chad, Uganda, Canada and the USA. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Urban Health, BMJ Open and Journal of the International AIDS Society. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Yale University, double majoring in the History of Science, Medicine & Public Health and African Studies while in the Global Health Scholars Program at the Jackson School of Global Affairs. She completed an MSc in translational health sciences at Oxford University as a fully funded Clarendon Scholar. 

Helen Etya’ale (she/her) is a public health professional from Cameroon and Switzerland. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biochemistry from Calvin College and an MPH from Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health. Prior to joining the doctoral program, she worked with a global civil society organization advocating for access to treatment and health services. In this role, she saw firsthand how community involvement can bring about improvements in both access to and quality of health services. Her research interests include exploring how health-service delivery can be made more people-centered and engage recipients of care and communities as active players in their own health, with a focus on resource-limited settings. 

Milena Franco Silva is a second-year PhD student in public health sciences at the Brown School of Washington University in St. Louis and a research assistant in the People, Health, & Place Unit. Originally from Brazil, she holds a master’s degree in urban management and is an architect and urban planner by training. Milena’s academic journey has enriched her understanding of the critical relationship between urban design and public health, emphasizing how inadequate urban planning can lead to inequitable spatial configurations and exacerbate social and health disparities. Her research interests focus on developing livability indicators, implementing built environment interventions, and enhancing climate resilience to promote active mobility in cities through spatial analysis and urban design policies. 

Raul D. Gierbolini-Rivera is from Carolina, Puerto Rico. He is a third-year PhD student in the public health sciences program. He received his bachelor of science in athletic training and master’s in public health from the University of Southern Maine. Before joining the Brown School, he was trained as a certified athletic trainer and strength and conditioning specialist. He currently conducts research on how physical activity and the built environment contribute to health and climate change outcomes. 

Odalis is an incoming PhD student in public health sciences and AI-ACCESS fellow. Before returning to the Brown School, Odalis was an epidemiologist for the largest health insurance provider in Kansas City. Odalis is passionate about data storytelling, analysis, centering equity and justice into data practices. She has co-authored a published article in “Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.” 

Kate Hoppe’s work focuses on prioritizing social justice and health equity in community resilience building strategies using action research, group model building, and mixed methods.

Izzy Howerton (she/her) is a second-year PhD student in public health sciences, with a passion for investigating systems-level facilitators and barriers to LGBTQ+ health— particularly as it relates to intimate partner violence and minority stress in adolescents. Since graduating with an MPH from the Brown School in 2020, Izzy has worked as an epidemiologist, whose work was dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. As a PhD student and Olin-Chancellor’s Fellow, Izzy hopes to leverage theories from systems dynamics and quantitative methodologies to better understand the multilevel factors influencing physical and mental health for the LGBTQ+ communities. 

Dr. Kabarambi is a medical doctor by training with a bachelor’s degree in medicine and surgery (MBChB) from Makerere University and a master of public health degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She has more than a decade of experience conducting research in areas of HIV epidemiology and intervention studies mainly focused on HIV prevention -Oral PrEP, HIV vaccine trials and microbicides. She previously worked at the MRC/UVRI and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit as a scientist prior to joining the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD) as a research director, a role that involved planning and overseeing the implementation of multiple NIH-funded studies. Her research interests are adolescent health, implementation science, HPV vaccine uptake and HIV prevention and treatment outcomes. Currently, she focuses on HPV vaccine uptake among girls and young women living with HIV in central Uganda. 

Cindy Lixin Kang is a first-year PhD student in public health science at the Brown School, Washington University in St. Louis. She obtained her bachelor of arts degree from New York University in 2022 and her master of public health degree from Yale School of Public Health in 2024. During her past training, she worked as a research assistant and medical assistant at Yale School of Medicine. She has conducted several cancer epidemiology research projects focusing on CNS tumors and hematological cancers with the aim of alleviating health burdens for society. 

Hannah Kinzer graduated from Lawrence University with a bachelor of arts degree in biology and completed her MPH at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Her research interests lie at the intersection of health communication, health disparities, and infectious disease. She applies participatory principles, systems thinking, and health promotion theories to engage communities in disease prevention. Her current work identifies determinants of trust among communities experiencing vaccination disparities. 

Tewodros Liyew is a dedicated medical doctor and public health scholar, currently pursuing a PhD in public health sciences at Washington University in St. Louis as a McDonnell Scholar. He brings extensive experience from both public and private health-care sectors, academic institutions, and NGOs, where he has held leadership roles focused on health-care delivery and quality improvement. 

Tewodros earned his MD from Addis Ababa University and his MPH from Addis Continental Institute of Public Health. In 2023, he completed the prestigious Health Emergencies in Large Populations certificate from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

His professional journey includes working with Jhpiego Ethiopia, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, where he served as a humanitarian assistance team lead and surgical care quality advisor. 

Judith Mwobobia is a passionate health journalist from Nairobi, Kenya, specializing in health communication. With a background in microbiology and a master’s degree in global health from Duke University, she is dedicated to improving the health and well-being of marginalized populations. Judith’s work focuses on developing strategies that bridge the gap between communities and vital health information, promoting inclusivity and equity in health care. 

Lauren Nacke, MSW, LCSW, is deeply committed to the St. Louis community, where she has built her life and successful social work career. As chair of Abortion Action Missouri, she champions reproductive rights in the state. With a decade of experience as a perinatal social worker, Lauren is passionate about increasing access to health care and mental health services for pregnant and parenting individuals. She championed the creation of hospital policies within large health-care systems that combat racial and insurance payor disparities, working toward a more just health-care landscape. Lauren believes strongly in the power of research to address maternal health disparities and inform policy decisions that create lasting and equitable change. 

Anthony J. Nixon Jr. is a PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focuses on Black fathers’ roles in perinatal health. Anthony’s work intersects public health, epidemiology and well-being, specifically understanding the impact of fatherhood on maternal, infant, and family health outcomes. He also examines how race, gender, and socioeconomic status shape fatherhood experiences and health disparities. Anthony holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Morehouse College with honors and a master’s of public health (MPH) in epidemiology from The Ohio State University. 

Alicia Persaud is a second-year PhD student in the public health sciences program and an NIMH T-32 predoctoral fellow. Alicia’s primary research interests are in childhood obesity, eating disorders, the social determinants of health, and implementation science. She conducts research in the Prevention Research Center evaluating the outcomes associated with the HEALTH D&I study. Additionally, she conducts secondary data analyses utilizing large nationally representative datasets to examine eating disorder symptomology among historically marginalized populations.

Before entering the Brown School, Alicia completed a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Rhode Island and a master of public health concentrating in health behavior from Brown University. While she was at Brown University, she conducted research at Massachusetts General Hospital assessing the implementation of a pediatric weight management intervention across the United States.

Lena’s research focuses on the intergenerational and gendered consequences of trauma, violence and conflict. As a NIMH T32 predoctoral fellow in Mental Health Services Research, Lena aims to combine community-based participatory research and dissemination and implementation science to elucidate cultural models of mental health and care-seeking and inform more contextually grounded systems and interventions that are responsive to historically underserved communities. Her recent interests include the complex role of stigma on mental health and implementation outcomes as well as the role of art in collective healing and justice in the aftermath of mass atrocity. 

Karen Skinner is a third-year PhD student in the public health sciences program. She is a graduate of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with a bachelor of science degree in community health and a minor in sociology. She is also an alum of Saint Louis University, where she earned her MPH with a concentration in epidemiology. She began her career in private industry consulting, where she studied chronic disease epidemiology. Her career later transitioned to health economics and outcomes research, where she utilized EMR data to study real-world oncology treatment patterns and survival outcomes. Then, Karen accepted a role with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital where she supported the research operations of the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, which is a longitudinal study of over 38,000 childhood cancer survivors. 

Sarah Stolker (she/hers) is originally from St. Louis and received her master of science degree in physical therapy from Duke University in 1998. Working at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Sarah discovered a passion for cancer rehabilitation. After relocating back to St. Louis, Sarah has continued to work within cancer rehabilitation, both clinically at a Cancer Center and teaching certification courses to fellow clinicians. She has conducted research, contributed to book chapters, and has presented at national meetings on lymphedema. As a leader in her field, Sarah’s drive to improve the experience of those undergoing cancer treatment has led her to public health. Her interests include health communication and disparities in cancer, shared decision-making and implementation science. 

Nicole Strombom is a fifth-year PhD student in public health sciences. Nicole works in the health law and policy space within public health. Her recent work focuses on Family-Friendly Business Policies. Nicole serves as the predoctoral fellow to the Clark-Fox Policy Institute and as a graduate fellow to the Center for Teaching and Learning. Additionally, Nicole is on the incoming Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC), president for the Graduate Student Senate Chamber. Prior to beginning her pursuit of a PhD, Nicole graduated from Saint Louis University with a JD and MPH. She served as Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies’ Health Law and Policy Fellow for the 2019-2020 school year. While pursuing her degrees, she interned with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ACLU of Missouri, the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri’s Medical Legal Partnership. Nicole’s background in health policy stems from her time as a California lobbyist and intern for California Assemblymember Dr. Richard Pan. Nicole is an alumna of the University of California, Davis, and graduated with majors in anthropology, psychology, and communications. 

Jessica Thein is in her first year of the public health sciences doctoral program at the Brown School.  In 2009, she earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and Spanish from Saint Louis University.  After graduating, Jessica worked at Hospital Nacional de Niños in Costa Rica, where she saw the detrimental impact poverty had on health. She returned to St. Louis and received her MSW and MPH from the Brown School in 2014, focusing on social determinants of health and health disparities.  

Jessica has a broad range of health-care experience that allows her to see health care as a large system rather than individual parts. She sees tremendous value in transdisciplinary approaches and enjoys thinking of ways concepts from other disciplines can be used to address health inequity.  She is currently exploring complexity theory and its application to redefining health as an emergent property. Her research interests lie at the intersection of complex dynamical systems, data science and computational methodologies, and the social science conceptual frameworks employed to understand health.

Jordyn Watts spent 10 years in upstate New York before returning to her hometown of St. Louis. In New York, she earned a bachelor of science degree in health and exercise sciences from Skidmore College and a master’s degree in public health from SUNY Albany. Jordyn has had the opportunity to lead and contribute to several multidisciplinary research efforts; she has worked with St. Louis Children’s Hospital/Washington University School of Medicine, multiple primary care groups in upstate New York, the Research Foundation of SUNY Albany, and the New York State Department of Health. Although her interests are vast, Jordyn is most passionate about decreasing minority health disparities in pursuit of equitable health outcomes in populations of color. Her current research interests include health priorities and communications in Black populations. Little known facts: Jordyn played (and coached) college basketball and now spends her extra energy rollerblading, cooking, boxing, and exploring the intricacies of web design.