Research.
My research is motivated by a desire to understand and subsequently intervene on structural determinants of health to improve health equity. For a complete list of research publications, please visit my Google Scholar page.
Community Engagement
My training in social epidemiology prepared me well to study health equity. Yet, I believe that pursuing health equity requires a commitment to community-engaged research:
Mothers Improving Pregnancy and Postpartum Health Outcomes Through stOry Sharing (MI-PHOTOS). I led a project in rural North Carolina, building a community-academic partnership and Community Advisory Board and conducting Photovoice with mothers.
I led Photovoice with Black men who have sex with men in Durham, North Carolina around barriers to PrEP for HIV prevention.
Engaging Black Youth in HIV Prevention
Working with individuals living in Durham Housing Authority communities, I worked with a team to build an Adolescent Health Working Group to engage local stakeholders focused on youth sexual health, conducting participatory youth workshops, and conduct surveys and interviews with youth about PrEP awareness.
Mental Health Epidemiology
As a mental health epidemiologist at The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, I worked to integrate mental health emergency department data into their work.
In collaboration with the Bachpan team, I have worked on understanding the structural determinants of mental health in rural Pakistan.
Social Context of Global Sexual & Reproductive Health
Prior to my work focused on the criminal legal system and health, I was part of various research teams exploring how social and structural exposures affect sexual and reproductive health in low and middle-income countries.
As a fellow at FHI360, I worked to understand the influence of social norms on family planning in Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.