Ivy Ashe is a third-year journalism doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on media geography, specifically differences in local and national news coverage. She also studies visual journalism, Instagram, community journalism, and stereotyping. Ivy received a Masters degree in photojournalism from the University of Missouri- Columbia and a B.A. in Linguistics and Hispanic Studies from Rice University.
Christopher T. Assaf is currently a doctoral student in the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a highly experienced, award-winning visual storyteller who has worked at publications in Maryland, Chicago, Maine, and California. He was part of The Baltimore Sun team recognized as Pulitzer Prize finalist for Breaking News — contributing as a photojournalist, cinematographer, video editor, producer and editor — for coverage of the death of Freddie Gray and the resulting unrest.
Hari Athreya earned his MPH and MD from the UTHealth McGovern Medical School in Houston. He has interests in chronic disease prevention and global health. In addition to his clinical background, he brings experience with the World Health Organization, Americorps, and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship to the Population Health team. He worked on the Healthy Families project from 2017-2018 and is now a family medicine resident at The University of Chicago.
Sara Barge worked for the Obstetrics subcommittee under the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies. She analyzes risk factors for cesarean deliveries. Barge received her MPH in Epidemiology with a concentration in global health from the University of Texas School of Public Health in the spring of 2016. She received her undergraduate degree in Human Biology from The University of Texas at Austin.
Eun Me Cha was a postdoctoral researcher with UT System Population Health. She received her PhD in Epidemiology, Human Genetics, and Environmental Sciences from the UTHealth School of Public Health in Austin. She is interested in the design, implementation, and evaluation of programs related to diet and obesity prevention especially among adolescents. Eun Me received her MPH from University at Albany School of Public Health with a concentration in epidemiology.
Nabeeha Chaudhary is a doctoral student in the Media Studies program at the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests include development communication, entertainment-education, and television serials in South Asia with a focus on women’s issues. She holds an M.A. in International Studies from the University of Washington and has worked in academic, corporate and non-profit environments in various capacities over the years.
Onyema Greg Chido-Amajuoyi is a master of public health (MPH), Epidemiology, candidate at the University of Texas Health Science Center, School of Public Health (UTHealth SPH). He holds a bachelor of medicine, bachelor of surgery (MBBS) degree and practiced both clinical medicine and public health in his home country, Nigeria, prior to enrolling at the UTHealth SPH. Onyema’s research interests lie predominantly in child and global health; particularly use of vaccines and prevention of chronic diseases. He joined the UT System Population Health team in January 2017 and has been working with Dr. Dorothy Mandell in her efforts to advance child health.
Katherine Corley is pursuing a dual master’s degree in Journalism and Global Policy Studies at UT Austin, focusing on local and global health policy reporting. Katherine graduated from Rice University in 2006 with a B.A. in Philosophy, and later graduated from the University of Rochester in 2012 with a M.S. in Mental Health Counseling. Prior to entering graduate school at UT, Katherine worked as a Licensed Professional Counselor specializing in mental health counseling for trauma survivors. Katherine spent the summer of 2018 interning in Accra, Ghana, as a Communications and Marketing Strategist for two different social impact businesses—a start-up training West African STEM teachers to incorporate hands-on, experimental learning into classrooms, and an incubator working to improve West African health outcomes through entrepreneurship and a diverse offering of health-related programs. In addition to reporting stories for the Texas Health Journal, Katherine works as the Graduate Writing Consultant for the Steve Hicks School of Social Work and also tutors high school and college students in academics, writing, and test preparation. After graduation, Katherine plans to work at the intersection of local and global health policy, healthcare innovation, and solutions journalism.
Caroline Covington received her master's in journalism at UT Austin in December 2017. She is particularly interested in mental health and health care reporting, and plans to go into public radio broadcasting. She brings experience from a variety of fields to her work in communications, including a previous career in marketing for the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, a master's degree in French studies, and work in a marine biotechnology lab as an undergraduate. Through her reporting, she hopes to decrease stigma and broaden the public’s understanding of mental health.
Michelle Delphia joined the Community Health Plan Collaborative in August of 2016 as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) and is under the mentorship of Eileen Nehme and Divya Patel. Michelle earned her BS in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Sam Houston State University in 2013. Her previous research includes substance abuse policies, mental health, disabilities, and health equity. She previously worked with the City of Austin on strategic planning and quality improvement initiatives for the upcoming Strategic Management System Plan. She is currently a graduate student at the UT Health School of Public Health-Austin Regional Campus and is a Masters of Public Health candidate.
Jacqueline Elliott received her MA in the Stan Richards School of Advertising at UT Austin at December 2018. Her interests are graphic design, consumer behavior and creative strategy. She joined the Population Health team to aid communication planning and visual communication strategies. She received her bachelor’s degree in Digital Advertising from Louisiana State University.
John Flynn is pursuing a Master's in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communications. As a freelance photographer, he has photographed protests, firefighters, park rangers, paramedics and politicians. He interned as a writer and web producer with The Texas Standard, a radio show produced by Austin NPR-affiliate KUT. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and History.
Katharina Hathaway, MD, worked with the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) group. She is a non degree student with UTHealth's School of Public Health. She is interested in population health and the intersection between data and improving healthcare delivery. She received a BS in Chemistry from Texas State University, San Marcos and an MD from UT Health Science Center San Antonio.
Nora Greene recently graduated from the BFA Design program at The University of Texas at Austin. She is a founding member of wkrm, a faculty-led, student-run, design agency and is drawn to the complex and growing relationship between social justice and anti-oppression issues within design. She joined the Population Health team to do graphic design projects for various initiatives including Safe Babies, TCHMB, and THIN, and is now working in developing an app for fathers as part of the Texas Safe Babies project.
Heidi Kahle graduated with a Master of Public Affairs candidate at the Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) School of Public Affairs, specializing in social and economic policy. Her policy areas of interest include maternal/child health and well-being, poverty and inequality, and social innovation. Heidi’s recent graduate-level work has been featured in publications including the Austin American Statesman and the Texas Tribune. This past summer, Heidi was a summer research assistant the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C., where she supported the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Policies Database team. Heidi graduated from Rice University in 2015, where she majored in Sociology and minored in Poverty, Justice, and Human Capabilities.
Em Karimifar recently graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with an MFA in design. He now works for UT System Population Health as full-time graphic designer.
Shelby Knowles received her MA in Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Shelby was a photo intern on the Science Desk at NPR in Washington, D.C., and a year-long photo editing fellow at the Texas Tribune. She holds a nutritional science degree from Texas A&M University. She is now a photo editor for the New York Daily News.
Kaulie Lewis received her MA in Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. She previously worked as an editorial assistant and contributing writer for publications including the Missouri Review, The Millions and Texas Music Magazine, and now reports on cultural and political life in Texas. In 2017 she joined the Population Health communications team to produce content for the TCHMB newsletter and the Texas Health Journal. She is now an editor with the Texas House Research Organization.
Kathryn Lundstrom received dual Master’s degrees in Journalism and Global Policy Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She's previously contributed to the Austin Chronicle, the Austin-American Statesman, and Sports Illustrated, where she was a reporting intern. In 2018, she joined the Population Health communications team to write for the Texas Health Journal. She is currently a reporting fellow at the Texas Tribune.
Kyser Lough is a PhD student in the School of Journalism at The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to UT, he worked in health communication at a rural city/county-owned hospital and before that as a photographer/reporter for a daily newspaper. His research focuses on visual communication and solutions journalism. He has an MA in Mass Communication and a BA in Public Relations (Minor in Photography), both from Murray State University in Murray, Ky.
Jenna Ma received her undergraduate degree in BFA Design at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on visual design, as is now a visual designer at Frog. She is most interested in the mechanics of storytelling, whether it be through branding, visual identity systems, or even websites. She joined the Population Health team to better understand a different discipline, and to develop her skillset in bridging the visual design discipline with other areas of study.
Matthew Myers received his MPH in Epidemiology from The University of Texas School of Public Health Austin Regional Campus. His interests lie within clinical epidemiology and infectious disease. He received his bachelor’s degree in Biology from Albion College in 2016. He is now at the Injury Prevention Center at Michigan with their opioid overdose prevention group.
Molly O’Neil earned her MS in Epidemiology at The University of Texas School of Public Health and her BS in Biology at The University of Texas in Austin. Her research interests focus in spatial epidemiology and understanding disparities in access to care in Texas. She joined Population Health to assist with geospatial and visualization projects, including community health indicator mapping. She currently works as a data analyst with the Safe Babies initiative, which includes multiple projects investigating and informing prevention efforts aimed at improving infant health, safety, and wellbeing.
Ana Navarro received her MPH in Epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus. Her research interest include post-partum depression, prenatal care interventions, infectious disease, and molecular epidemiology. In 2013, she graduated from the University of Texas-Pan American with a BS in Biology and BA in History.
Paromita (Paro) Pain worked with the communications team in 2017 under the mentorship of Daniel Oppenheimer. Paro has two Masters Degrees, both in journalism, from the University of Madras (India) and the University of Southern California (USC). A Phd candidate in the Department of Journalism, The University of Texas at Austin, her research focuses on alternative media and its potential to empower resource poor communities. In the fall of 2018 she will join The University of Nevada at Reno as an tenure-track assistant professor of communications.
Alejandro Palacios specializes in graphic design and animation. He received a BFA in Arts and Entertainment Technologies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Emilie Potter is a graduate student in the Landscape Architecture program at The University of Texas School of Architecture. She is interested in how design can be a solution to the challenges that communities face around physical, mental, and social well-being. She worked with Population Health on various mapping and visualization projects. She received her bachelor’s degree in Geography from The University of British Columbia in 2014.
Rachel Rana received her MPH from The University of Texas School of Public Health in 2018. Her research interests land at the intersection of crime and health, focusing on the health impacts of persistent interaction with the criminal justice system, both at the individual and the community level. Rachel received her B.A. in Political Science from North Carolina State University, and worked as a lobbyist and political advocate prior to enrolling in graduate coursework at UT Health. She worked on the Safe Babies project with UT System population health.
Meliha Salahuddin is a trained epidemiologist with a clinical background. She earned her Ph. D. in Epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Public Health in Austin in 2016. Prior to that, after completing medical school and internship (M.B.B.S., 2009, Bangladesh), she earned her M.P.H. from the same institution in 2013. Her research interests focus on maternal and child health and chronic diseases, including understanding risk factors of maternal morbidity and childhood obesity. She joined the Population Health group as a PhD candidate in June 2016. She now works for UT System Population Health as a Faculty Associate/Instructor with the Texas Collaborative for Healthy Mothers and Babies and Healthy Families initiatives.
Sanchit Singhal is a graduate student in the School of Information at The University of Texas Austin. His specializations include data engineering, data analytics, and data visualization. He has previously received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University and worked in the information technology industry across several domains. As a GRA with UT System Population Health, Sanchit worked under the mentorship of Jon Gibson to facilitate the research team’s data requirements.
Amelia Sosnowski is a doctoral student in the Department of Geography and the Environment at UT Austin. Her focus is applied work with spatial data that has the potential to identify and monitor local and regional drivers of change within communities. Her academic research has focused on environmental land use and water resource changes and how these may influence civil conflict distributions in South Sudan; flooding distributions and risk perception in the Okavango Delta, Botswana; and environmental perception and translation of concepts at the community level. Amelia has previously worked with Holland Consulting Planners in coastal North Carolina as a GIS Technician on health analyses, zoning, and hazard mitigation plans. As a Population Health Scholar, she applied knowledge of geographic data and modeling to the challenges of understanding spatial distributions of health and risk factors in Texas.
Michelle Tran received her MPH in Epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health, Austin Regional Campus. Her interests include preventive medicine and clinical epidemiology. She received her BS in Human Biology with a minor in Psychology from The University of California, San Diego in 2014. She worked on the Texas Health Improvement Network (THIN) from 2017-2018.
