Dr. Rachel R. Hardeman is a tenured Associate Professor in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health and the Blue Cross Endowed Professor in Health and Racial Equity. A reproductive health equity researcher, she applies the tools of population health science and health services research to elucidate a critical and complex determinant of health inequity—racism. Her overarching goal is to contribute to a body of knowledge that links structural racism to health in a tangible way, identifies opportunities for intervention, and dismantles the systems, structures, and institutions that allow inequities to persist.

Rebekah is a PhD candidate at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in the Department of Community Health Sciences. Her research involves measuring racism-related social determinants of health. Broadly, she aims to unpack the relationships between racism, neighborhoods, and health. Her dissertation examines how gentrification and racial resegregation impact preterm birth among Black women in Northern California.

Brigette is a PhD Candidate at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, a RWJF Health Policy Research Scholar, and a member of Dr. Hardeman’s MORHELab. Her research focuses on the impact of structural racism on health across the life course, with a particular interest in how structural racism is conceptualized and measured in epidemiologic research. Additionally, she is interested in studying racism as a type of trauma, social justice and community-level resilience as protection against racial trauma, reproductive health outcomes, and neurophysiologic responses to stress. Brigette holds a BA in Biology from Swarthmore College, and an MPH in Social & Behavioral Sciences/Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale School of Public Health.

Brittney Butler is a PhD Candidate in the division of Epidemiology at Ohio State University’s College of Public Health. Her research examines the impact of structural racism at the neighborhood level on pregnancy-induced hypertensive disorders (PIHDs) among Black women. Her dissertation research uses a mixed-methods approach to interrogate the impact of racial discrimination and racialized economic segregation, over the lifecourse, on the risk of developing and management of PIHDs. Brittney is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar and current president of the Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues. Brittney aims to use her research to inform transformative anti-racist policy solutions to improve health for all people.

Bert Chantarat is a Ph.D. Candidate in Health Services Research, Policy, and Administration at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. His research focuses on work as a determinant of structural racism and workers' health. As a multi-method researcher, he uses both traditional regression-based methods and mathematical modeling to conduct his research with two primary foci. First, he’s collaborating with mentor, Dr. Rachel Hardeman, to create a multidimensional measure of structural racism, which can be used in epidemiological studies. Second, he is building a microsimulation model to examine the extent to which labor market policies contribute to the hypertension disparity among Black and White healthcare workers. Prior to starting his doctoral training, Mr. Chantarat was a senior analyst at The New York Academy of Medicine and earned a Master of Public Health degree from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Jennifer M. Gómez, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology and Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child & Family Development (MPSI) at Wayne State University (WSU) and Board Member & Chair of the Research Committee at the Center for Institutional Courage—a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming institutional approaches and responses to abuse and inequality. She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 2017 from University of Oregon. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, scholarly writings, and pieces for the general public. Additionally, she is the lead co-editor of a special issue of Journal of Trauma & Dissociation—Discrimination, Violence, & Healing in Marginalized Communities (anticipated publication date: Spring 2021). Her research has been recognized by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and funded by WSU, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, & Medicine (NASEM)/Ford Foundation Fellowship Programs, and the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR). By focusing on societal inequality’s role on the impact of violence for marginalized youth, young adults, and elders, Dr. Gómez uses her cultural betrayal trauma theory to both document harm and identify avenues of hope and healing for youth, families, communities, institutions, and society.

Web: http://jmgomez.org ; Twitter: @JenniferMGmez1

Lama Hassoun Ayoub, MSPH, is a PhD Candidate in developmental psychology at Wayne State University. She is currently a Rumble Research Fellow and a Fellow at the Merrill Palmer Skillman Institute for Child and Family Development. Her research focuses on presence and impact of institutional, systemic, and structural racism and oppression for children and families. She has published work on the school-to-prison pipeline, racialized mass incarceration, prisoner reentry, and program evaluations. She received her MS in Public Health from Harvard University and her BS from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.

Daeja Marzette, B.A., is a doctoral student in developmental science at Wayne State University. Since graduating Cum Laude from the University of Michigan with the Romance Languages and Literatures Student Achievement Award, Daeja has also received the Dean’s Diversity Fellowship from Wayne State University. As a doctoral student, she is interested in examining racial identity development, trauma outcomes, and mental health outcomes in multiracial adolescents and emerging adults. She is passionate about contributing to an expanding awareness and understanding of the unique experiences of multiracial individuals.

Alana J. Keller, B.A., is a clinical psychology doctoral student at Wayne State University. She graduated from Hampton University Summa Cum Laude with the Freddye T. Davy Honors College. Currently, her research explores the mental and behavioral health outcomes in individuals with multiple marginalized identities using Cultural Betrayal Trauma Theory (Gómez, 2019). She is committed to trauma-informed and culturally relevant research that leads to healing and welfare in marginalized communities.

Drew Wiggins, B.S., is a doctoral student in clinical psychology at Wayne State University. Following graduating with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with the Chancellor’s Service Award, Drew joined Teach For America as a secondary science teacher in New Haven, Connecticut, where he later became a finalist for the Teach For America Sue Lehman National Teaching Fellowship Award. Drew went on to deepen his work pursuing educational equity through coaching first-year teachers in anti-racist praxis and pedagogy and leading Teach For America’s talent and operations strategy throughout the state of Connecticut. As a doctoral student, Drew focuses his clinical work and research on racial and sexual gender minorities, with an emphasis on male-identifying survivors of sexual victimization. Drew takes an intersectional, gender justice, and systemic equity lens in the hopes of contributing culturally relevant work that can inform future empirical research and interventions for populations historically marginalized and disenfranchised throughout the United States.

Dr. India Ornelas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Services and Director of the MPH Core at the University of Washington School of Public Health. She currently teaches and mentors graduate students in public health in the areas of social determinants of health, health promotion and community engagement. Her research focuses on understanding how structural racism impacts the health of Latino and American Indian communities. She collaborates with communities to develop and test culturally relevant interventions in the areas of mental health, substance use and cancer prevention. She lives in Seattle and received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, a MPH from the University of Washington and PhD in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Paul Fleming is an Assistant Professor in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He received his PhD in Health Behavior with a graduate minor in Sociology from the University of North Carolina and his MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory University. He has previously worked as a Community Health Peace Corps Volunteer in Nicaragua developing and implementing health programs and also as a consultant on issues related to the social determinants of health for the World Bank and U.S. Agency for International Development. Currently, his mixed-methods research focuses on the root causes of health inequities, with a particular focus on developing and evaluating interventions in poor and marginalized communities in Michigan and abroad. In his work in Michigan, he uses a community-based participatory approach with Latino immigrants to examine how policies and discrimination contribute to poor physical and mental health outcomes. He also helps to coordinate the Michigan Chapter of Public Health Awakened, and advocacy group focused on the intersection of social justice and public health.

Maria Militzer is the 2019-2021 Paul B. Cornely Scholar at the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture and Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health. After migrating from Mexico, where she earned a B.S. degree in veterinary medicine, Maria earned a M.A. in international trade and language (Spanish) from Eastern Michigan University. She obtained her doctoral degree from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Built upon her experience as a Mexican immigrant and as a Spanish healthcare interpreter, María’s research addresses the influence of socioeconomic inequities on health outcomes of Latinx immigrants and their families in the United States. Her dissertation research examined psychosocial, cultural, and environmental factors influencing physical activity patterns of pregnant women of Mexican origin in economically-deprived neighborhoods in Detroit, MI. Currently, María’s research focuses on health outcomes of primarily Spanish-speaking immigrants with limited access to healthcare, educational, social, and legal services due to socioeconomic and immigration-related barriers in the US.

Emily Lemon is a doctoral student at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health in the Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences department. She is expected to graduate in 2023. Her research interests are focused on how racialized immigration policies affect Latinx mental health, and how communities mobilize for action and healing.

As the current Chief Programs and Community Services at La Clínica del Pueblo, I am responsible for overseeing the design, implementation and evaluation of programs that are culturally and linguistically grounded. My portfolio includes oversight over the Community Health Action Department and the Health Equity and Language Access Initiatives; oversight over La Clinica’s monitoring, evaluation, and reporting systems, and program development to reduce health disparities affecting the local Latinx community. I have an extensive background in public health, and community-based participatory research. I have worked to address health disparities for Latino sexual minorities for much of my career, focusing on immigration and health.