Collaborative Themes and Purpose
In early February 2021, Dr. DoVeanna Fulton, NSU’s Provost, convened a multi-disciplinary group of NSU faculty and charged them with recommending public health curriculum for NSU, starting with a Master of Public Health degree program.
The resulting NSU Public Health Collaborative (the Collaborative) met weekly throughout the spring 2021 semester to discuss a vision for growth, current and needed resources, accreditation requirements and more. On April 19, 2021, Dr. Mebane (who facilitated the group with Dr. Khadijah Miller and Dr. Cynthia Burwell) presented an overview of the Collaborative’s recommendations with the following themes:
- Reducing health disparities and promoting health equity will be core elements of all of NSU’s public health programs. Whether we are providing continuing education for community health workers or training public health leaders in a doctoral program, students will develop related knowledge, understanding and skills.
- Our public health programs will empower NSU faculty, students and staff and partners in local communities.
- Similarly, new Centers and Institutes will serve as catalysts for groups of NSU and other faculty, staff and students to build community around public health issues (e.g., behavioral health, mental health and obesity) and approaches. Programs will also help us better understand issues facing our communities and other, specific populations (e.g., pregnant women or black men) and help them build solutions to address them.
- A critical charge of schools of public health is to help build public health leaders. Programs range from continuing education to academic degree programs. NSU will serve as a leader and coordinator of this focus.
- Diversity, equity and inclusion in access and engagement related to academic programs, research, advocacy, policymaking will also be core elements of NSU’s public health initiatives. Also, college and workforce diversity programs will boost success graduation and career pursuits for a wider range of students.
Starting in fall 2021, the Collaborative evolved into a working group of faculty across campus who are passionate about academic public health and supporting health in the region. These faculty work together to establish and conduct public health initiatives that address the needs of underserved communities to provide equitable healthcare support and transformational public health practices and community engagement. The Collaborative supports these goals by providing a forum for engagement, information sharing, training and links to resources.
[sponsored by CPHI]
Collaborative Members (Fall 2023)
NSU faculty members are welcome to join the Collaborative at any time by sending an email request to publichealth@nsu.edu.
Facilitator
Felicia Mebane, Ph.D, MSPH
Executive Director, Center for Public Health Initiatives at NSU
NOTE: To contact a member of the Collaborative, please send a message to publichealth@nsu.edu.
College of Liberal Arts
Scott Debb, LPC, Ed.D., COI
Associate Professor and MS CyberPsychology Research & Program Coordinator, Department of Psychology
Interests: Cyberpsychology, quality of life, reslience, conflict analysis, translation science (linguistic cross-cultural assessment)
Willie Marsh, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communications and Journalism
Interests: Health communications
Khadijah Miller, Ph.D
Professor, Department of History & Interdisciplinary Studies
Dean, Robert C. Nusbaum Honors College
Robert K. Perkins, Ph.D
Associate Professor and Graduate Programs Coordinator, Department of Sociology
Interests: Urban studies, inequality, social organizations, socio-cybersecurity
Yuying Shen, Ph.D, MA
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Interests: Disparities in Health & Health Care; Social Data Analytics; Socio-Cybersecurity; Community Studies; Environmental Sociology.
Carlene Buchanan Turner, Ph.D
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology
Interests: Sociology of aging, race, quantitative methodology, immigration, GIS mapping & socio-cybersecurity
College of Science, Engineering & Technology
Malikah Abdullah-Israel, PhD
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Biology
Melody Armstrong, MPA, RN, CNOR
Nursing Instructor
Rajeev Chandra, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Jill Comess, DHSc, MS, RD
FSN Program Director, Allied Health
Felicia Doswell, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
Audrey Douglas-Cook, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor, Allied Health
Rhonda Fitzgerald, PhD, MS
Professor, Department of Mathematics
Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
Mildred Fuller, PhD, MT (ASCP)
Professor, Allied Health
Rosalyn Gardiner, PhD, RN, NE-BC, WHNP-BC
Lab Instructor, Nursing Program
Thorna Humphries, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science
Batrina Martin, PhD
Assistant Professor, Allied Health
Aliecia McClain, PhD, MS
Professor, Chemistry
Associate Dean and Director, DNIMAS
Alicia Moore, PhD
Assistant Professor, Allied Health
Stephen Nkansah-Amankra, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Public Health
MPH Program Director
Hedieh Sirjani, PhD, MD
Assistant Professor, Allied Health
Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work
Sharon Alston, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor
Elizabeth Dungee-Anderson, Ph.D, MSW
Professor
Kirsten Eriksen, PhD
Associate Professor and Associate Dean
Stephenie Howard, PhD, LCSW
Assistant Professor
Interests: Intersectionality between domestic violence and child welfare
Viola Vaughan-Eden, PhD, MJ, LCSW
Professor and PhD Program Director
Liyun Wu, PhD, MSW, MS, MA
Associate Professor
Interests: Social determinants of health, health disparities, mental health and substance use and their impact on children and families
School of Business
Josephine Stanley-Brown
Instructor
School of Education
Cynthia Burwell, EdD, MCHES, RKT
Professor
Director, NSU Center of Excellence in Minority Health Disparities
Interests: Health disparities
Kathleen Thomas, PhD, MS
Professor and Associate Dean
Interests: Clinical and translational outcomes of a tailored exercise intervention in obese African American women, EVMS/NSU Health Disparities Research Grant, Spartan Employee Lifestyle Focused (SELF) Wellness project
Kianga Thomas, EdD, EdS, MA
Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Early Childhood, Elementary and Special Education
Sheila Ward, PhD, MEd, MPH
Professor
NOTE: To contact a member of the Collaborative, please send a message to publichealth@nsu.edu.