Skip to Main Content

Department of Public Health Education

Current Doctoral Students

Aleksandra Babic, MPH Aleks's work is rooted in passion for community-based experience and organizing. She is greatly invested in translational research and experiential learning in the communities to which she is accountable. Aleks's research is focused in serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities, where she is currently exploring under-researched/advocated issues pertaining to sexual health of this population.	Donna J. Biederman, RN, MN Donna Biederman is a Registered Nurse, a Doctoral Candidate in PHE, and an active member of the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative. She received her Master's in Nursing from the University of Washington Tacoma where she focused her studies on social determinants of health and HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Donna is beginning her dissertation study entitled: "Understanding the Experience of Interacting with Service Providers from the Perspective of Homeless Women". After graduation she'd like to obtain a university faculty position teaching the next generation of health and health care professionals and continue health disparities research. Curriculum Vitae
Virginia Brown, MA My research interests are: youth health issues qualitative research quantitative research policy analysis and evaluation Curriculum Vitae	Michelle L. Cathorall, MPH, MCHES Michelle is interested in worksite health promotion and understanding and preventing unintentional childhood injuries. Her dissertation work is on understanding children's bicycle helmet use to inform intervention development. Curriculum Vitae
Margaret Brown	Sheryl L.Coley, MPH Sheryl's main interest areas are women's health and adolescent health, and she is interested in reducing health disparities in relation these two interest areas. Sheryl wants to research and implement ways to strengthen support and health services within low SES communities through the utilization of community resources. Curriculum Vitae
Deirdre Dingman, MPH, CTTS, CHES, PAPHS Deirdre is interested in reducing the incidence of obesity and tobacco related chronic disease. Her main focus is obesity prevention through informed eating initiatives. Deirdre is also interested in doing research on area Hookah Bars and creating a tobacco cessation registry. Curriculum Vitae	Elise K. Eifert, MS, CHES Elise is interested in healthy aging particularly issues related to caregiving, elder abuse, and Alzheimer's disease. Her primary focus is on creating educational programs for caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer's disease as well as prevention and reduction of the incidence of elder abuse. Curriculum Vitae
Meredith R.Gringle, MPH Meredith's general areas of interest include pregnancy/childbirth, families, and gender dynamics. She is currently exploring issues of erasure. Curriculum Vitae	Adam Hege, MPA, MS, CSCS, PAPHS At this point, my primary research interests pertain to physical activity promotion, obesity prevention, and worksite health promotion. Specifically, I am interested in how workplaces can create a culture and environment which inspires employees to be physically active. I am also interested in how environmental surroundings impact one's access to physical activity. My primary objective is to utilize the socio ecological framework to better understand why physical inactivity persists and how it contributes to the current obesity epidemic.
Amber Johnson, MPH My current research interests are in CVD disparities among racial/ethnic minorities, specifically African American women. I am particularly interested in African American women's physiological responses to stress and how it relates to disparities in CVD incidence. I am also interested in Community-Based Participatory Research within low-income minority communities and establishing effective partnerships with community members. Curriculum Vitae	Tricia Kauffman
Allyson Kelley, MPH, CHES Allyson's current research interests include health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native populations with an emphasis on the relationship between mental health and chronic disease. Allyson is also interested in research ethics and the role of community members and tribal institutional review boards in the research. Curriculum Vitae	Kelley Massengale, MPH Kelley is interested in HIV/AIDS, particularly sexual networks, acute HIV infection, and HIV testing behaviors. Curriculum Vitae
Leigh-Anne Royster, MPA Leigh-Anne's main research interests include violence against women and intersections with women's health, LGBTIQ community health, and sexual/reproductive health in the black community. She hopes to focus on training needs of public health practitioners with respect to addressing intimate partner violence and the social constructions of sexual and gender identity with respect to population health outcomes. Curriculum Vitae	Holly C. Sienkiewicz, MA Holly is interested in the pyschosocial well-being of recently resettled refugees. Her main interests pertain to secondary migration patterns of refugees and subsequent health outcomes. Holly is also interested in community engaged scholarship and qualitative research methodologies. Curriculum Vitae
Christopher M. Seitz, MPH, CHES, MLT-ASCP Chris' current research interests are physical activity promotion within all age groups and issues regarding tobacco control policies. Curriculum Vitae

Graduated Doctoral Student

Louis F. Graham, MPH, DrPH Dr. Louis F Graham is a W.K. Kellogg Postdoctoral Health Scholar at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, and his primary population health interests center on bridging more seamlessly research, policy, and practice in men's health inequities elimination efforts. In particular, Dr. Graham's work focuses on psychosocial health determinants among ethnic and sexual minority men and employing innovative qualitative research methodologies. Dr. Graham's current research looks at mental health and sexually transmitted infections among black and Latino gay and bisexual men, and social and sexual geographies among transgendered youth in Detroit. Further, his scholarship centers on community-based participatory research and centralizing cultural studies theories (e.g., critical race theory, queer theory) as frameworks and analysis tools for population health research. Curriculum Vitae	Jeffrey J. Milroy, DrPH, MPH Dr. Milroy is interested in the overall health and well being of adolescents and young adults. Specifically, Dr. Milroy's research and programming interests include the promotion of physical activity as well as the prevention of alcohol, tobacco and other drug use among elementary, high school and college aged populations. Additionally, he is passionate about the development, implementation and evaluation of innovative evidence-based programs. Curriculum Vitae
Andrew A. Peachey, DrPH Andrew Peachey received his Doctorate in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he is currently teaching. His research interests include: 1) understanding the distribution of physical and social resources in communities in order to develop health promotion strategies within a socio-ecological framework, and 2) increased translation and utilization of research findings through Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR). His dissertation, Barriers to Development Strategies that may Promote Physical Activity: a Mixed-Method Study of the Planning and Development Process in the Triad Region of North Carolina identifies strategies to increase opportunities for physical activity in neighborhoods. Curriculum Vitae	Amit Verma, DrPH, MPH Dr. Verma is particularly interested in researching topics in various clinical disciplines. Read More Curriculum Vitae
Kimberly G. Wagoner, DrPH, MPH Curriculum Vitae	Warner L.McGee, MPH Warner is interested in translational CBPR research that address the interplay between social, behavioral and political determinants of sexual health among minority males. His current work explores masculine and racial socialization on HIV testing practices and sexual behaviors. His work is dedicated to improving the social conditions for Black males that facilitate risk for adverse sexual health outcomes. Curriculum Vitae
Gaurav J. Dave, MD, MPH, DrPH Currently Gaurav is a senior research analyst and lead evaluator at the Center for Social, Community, Health Research and Evaluation (CSCHRE). Much of his interests and research has been in cardiovascular diseases (CVD) aimed at reducing the burden CVD clinical correlates and co-morbidity, hemoglobinopathies related to newborn screening and community-based evaluation. Curriculum Vitae	Huaibo Xin, MD, MPH, DrPH Huaibo is interested in mental health issues among refugee populations; emergency preparedness for improving disaster mental health among refugees; and international/cross-cultural program evaluation. Curriculum Vitae