People

Bassey Enun is a Research Project Manager at Emory University. She is a US-trained physician with certified training in Advanced Clinical Research Project Management(ACR-PM), Pharmacovigilance and Drug Safety (PVDS), Advanced Clinical Research Coordination (ACRC), and Advanced Clinical Research Associate(ACRA). She is passionate about  clinical research, destroying barriers to healthcare, and empowering patients to take control of their health. She is dedicated to providing an environment where all are welcome to participate in clinical research.

Nita Kanney is a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at the School of Public Health. Before coming to Michigan, she completed her Master’s in Public Health at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. During this time, she worked on DNA methylation data, including collaborating on an epigenome-wide association study and leading a publication examining the association between gestational diabetes and DNA methylation aging. Currently, she works as a graduate student research assistant working on analysis using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) dataset to explore how self-reported early life exposures may impact DNA methylation in later life. My dissertation seeks to expand on this work by examining how social, structural, and environmental factors are embodied and reflected through differences in DNA methylation. When I’m not conducting research, I enjoy discovering new books to read, painting, spending time with family and friends, and exploring new places.

Amanda Ajrouche is the Study Coordinator, supporting Dr. Margaret Hicken’s Vigilance and Sleep Study. Amanda holds a MSW from the University of Michigan School of Social Work, and was previously a Program Coordinator at ACCESS- the largest Arab American nonprofit in the United States. At ACCESS, she worked on shifting social and cultural norms, as well as fighting to reduce the prevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault through community collaborations. She hopes to pursue a PhD in psychology, where she can develop research practices that can support Arab American communities. In her free time, Amanda enjoys pretending to be a foodie, reading, and consuming large amounts of coffee.

Mike Esposito’s research focuses on understanding the production of disparities in population health.

Dr. Esposito investigates how broad social systems – and their constituent institutions – are configured. His research ultimately seeks to understand how these systematically-distributed privileges and penalties arrive on population health.

This work includes studies that examine how the actions of specific institutions (e.g., law enforcement agencies) contribute to health disparities; research that considers how multiple systems overlap to gate access to generative health contexts; and, projects which demonstrate how social factors enter and distort social processes that are foundational to well-being (e.g., the association among education and health).

Dr. Esposito uses contemporary statistical methods – Bayesian and counterfactual-based mediation approaches at the moment – across his work. Esposito’s research has appeared in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; American Journal of Sociology; American Journal of Public Health and more.

Dr. Dayna A. Johnson, PhD, MPH, MSW, MS is a sleep epidemiologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University in Atlanta GA. She also holds an academic appointment in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory.  Dr. Johnson’s research is aimed at understanding the root causes of sleep health differences and their impact on health outcomes by 1) addressing the social and environmental determinants of sleep disorders and insufficient sleep; and 2) investigating the influence of modifiable factors such as sleep disorders and disturbances on disparities in health outcomes (e.g., hypertension, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, cancer, cognition). She is funded by the National Institutes of Health to investigate associations of contextual factors and psychosocial stress on sleep and blood pressure. Dr. Johnson is also engaged in community partnerships to investigate the effect of environmental exposures and housing on health among residents of Georgia. She has been featured in several magazines, podcasts and news programs including CBS for her expertise in sleep health and sleep disorders. Her mission is to increase awareness around the importance of sleep.

Amy Kate Bailey’s main area of research focuses on historical violence in the United States. This scholarship has focused on factors that predict the intensity of mob violence, the characteristics of its victims, and contemporary consequences. Her current project examines the link between communities’ past experiences with collective violence and rates of infant mortality and other adverse pregnancy outcomes today.

Amy is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Institute for Health Research and Policy fellow at the University of Illinois Chicago, and a research affiliate at the University of Washington’s Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology.  She was previously on faculty at Utah State University, and completed a postdoc at Princeton University’s Office of Population Research. Prof. Bailey earned her PhD and MA in Sociology from the University of Washington. Her work has been published in the American Journal of Sociology, American Sociological Review, and Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, among other outlets.

Jessica Faul received a BA in Japanese Language and Literature from the University of Michigan before returning to earn her Masters of Public Health and PhD in Epidemiology from the School of Public Health. She is a Research Associate Professor in the Survey Research Center, Co-Investigator of the Health and Retirement Study, and Co-Director of the ISR Biospecimen Lab. She is affiliated with the BioSocial Methods Collaborative, the Population Studies Center, and the Michigan Center on the Demography of Aging. Dr. Faul’s work focuses on predictors of health across the life course. Her research integrates biological, genetic, and social science data and uses longitudinal modeling and time-varying predictors in examining determinants of health. She is currently leading a grant to identify gene-by-environment interactions and their influence on later life cognitive decline in the Health and Retirement Study and other cohort studies of older adults. She also leads a project to elucidate the biological pathways and networks through which life course social context influences subsequent morbidity and mortality. This work investigates how factors like DNA methylation, gene expression, and mitochondrial exhaustion interact with social factors like psychosocial stressors and neighborhood context to together influence age-related health conditions. She has also led the development of a series of workshops to train social scientists on the use of genomic data. As the Co-Director of the ISR Biospecimen Lab, Dr. Faul routinely advises on and designs biological data collection protocols for other large-scale population-based studies to help ensure high quality and valid assessment of biological data collected in the field.

Ruiling Kang is a graduate of the Program in Survey and Data Science. She came from Tibet and received her bachelor’s degree in engineering of electronic commerce in Beijing. Her research interests lie in combining data science with other academic fields, such as business or society.

Kelly Bakulski, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Data Management and Statistical Core Leader for the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. She is a molecular epidemiologist and an environmental health scientist.

Dr. Bakulski’s research team goal is to understand the environmental chemical and genetic etiologies of neurological disorders. She has particular expertise in life course heavy metals exposure testing with dementia and in analyses across multiple levels of the genome, including the epigenome and the transcriptome. Dr. Bakulski’s research incorporates population approaches and laboratory experiments to develop biomarker and cell type tools informing molecular epidemiology inferences.

Kayla Fike is an Assistant Professor in Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University. She examines how young people navigate and respond to social factors in urban communities, such as community violence and public disinvestment in neighborhoods. Her research program highlights ways that young people navigate interpersonal and systemic challenges and rely on their resources and skills to come to thrive. In her newest line of research, she examines potential contributing factors to urban-residing young adults’ ratings of the quality of their neighborhoods. She is committed to breaking down the divide between academia and communities by developing community-university partnerships and using participatory action methodology in the future. Last but certainly not least, she is a proud Michigan native, born and raised in Detroit and Pontiac, Michigan.

Hedwig (Hedy) Lee is broadly interested in the social determinants and consequences of population health. She received her PhD in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009. After receiving her PhD, she was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholar at the University of Michigan from 2009 to 2011. Her recent work examines the impact of American social structure features, such as family and the carceral system, and population health.

Dr. Kira Birditt is a Research Professor and Director of the Aging and Biopsychosocial Innovations Program. Dr. Birditt’s program of research focuses on negative aspects of relationships, stress, and the implications of relationships and stress for health and well-being over time (using both self-reported and biological indicators of health). She is particularly interested in understanding how relationships differentially influence health and well-being depending on the context of stress. Most of her projects involve examining individuals and dyads either over time and or within families. Results from multiple projects indicate that aspects of relationships that are beneficial or harmful are often very different when individuals are under stress.

Victoria is an epidemiologist and project manager with Dr. Nadia Abuelezam’s PROWESS research group at Boston College. She received her MPH from the University of Michigan, working with Drs. Bakulski and Hicken to investigate residential context and epigenetic aging.

Xinyu Lin is currently pursuing her graduate studies at MPSDS. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Hohai University and has a keen interest in data science. In her free time, she enjoys engaging in volunteer activities related to environmental protection and caring for small animals.

Isabella (Izzy) is a third-year PhD student in the sociology department at Duke University. Her primary interests involve using longitudinal data and quantitative methods to investigate social determinants of health. Her current work is focused on the impacts of social and economic factors, such as neighborhood context, food insecurity, and environmental exposures, on health. Prior to arriving at Duke, Izzy earned her BA in sociology and psychology with minors in philosophy and gender studies from Stony Brook University.

Raynesha Franklin is a Senior Research Interviewer for the ARISE Study at Emory University. She currently holds a master’s degree in physician assistant studies and clinical research from Morehouse School of Medicine. Her interest includes sleep medicine and continuing to promote health in her community. In her free time, Raynesha enjoys traveling, watching football or basketball games, and spending time with her family and friends.

Rosemary is a Senior Research Interviewer at Emory University. She obtained a Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree from Emory University as well and is interested in researching on the impacts of environmental factors on population health. For leisure, she enjoys cooking and surfing the internet.

Dr. Tahlia Bragg (she/her pronouns in English and Spanish) is a Clinical Neuropsychology Postdoctoral Associate at Boston University Chobanian & Avedesian School of Medicine in the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center. She completed her doctoral training in Clinical Psychology at Fielding Graduate University. Most recently, she was a Psychology Intern at The Center for Multicultural Training in Psychology (CMTP) at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine & Boston Medical Center, where her clinical foci were providing behavioral and psychotherapeutic interventions in systems-based care for children and families, and older adults.

Dr. Bragg’s research interests began in her undergraduate studies and consistently emphasizes social factors and the associations between social context and Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias. Her dissertation examined how childhood and adolescent stress exposure influenced the risk for accelerated cognitive aging and poorer physical and mental health outcomes. She is also a scholar in the 2023 Cohort of the Emerging Scholars Program on men’s brain health in partnership with the NFL Alumni Association, Alzheimer’s Association, and the National Institute of Aging. Currently, her projects examine associations between self-identification and health behaviors and barriers to health-seeking on neurocognitive and neurobehavioral dysregulation outcomes. Her current leadership roles include Secretary & Treasurer of the Cultural Neuropsychology Special Interest Group (SIG) and the Annual Program Representative of the Student Liaison Committee for the International Neuropsychological Society (INS).

Jiaqi Gao is a  Ph.D. student in the department of epidemiology. She received her MPH in epidemiology degree at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. Her primary research interests lie in exploring the risk factor of environmental air pollution on various outcomes.

Dr. Courtney L. McCluney (she/her) is an award winning educator, researcher, consultant, and advisor reimagining ways to foster wellness in the workplace. Trained as a social scientist, her work is featured in several peer reviewed academic publications and she is a contributing writer to Forbes and the Harvard Business Review. Dr. McCluney is an assistant professor in the ILR School at Cornell University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia, earned her PhD in Psychology at the University of Michigan and BA in Psychology and Interpersonal/Organizational Communications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a former Research Fellow at Catalyst, Inc. and previously served as an AmeriCorps Social Impact Fellow. Dr. McCluney aims to disrupt organizational processes and norms in society. Learn more about her work at her website.

Ben Culp is a research assistant for Dr. Margaret Hicken’s WorkLife Study. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2023. Ben is particularly interested in understanding health outcomes.

Feiran Ge is a first-year student in the Michigan Program of Survey and Data Science. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Organizational Psychology from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. Her research interests focus on work-related stress and how organizational management practices influence employee behavior in the workplace.

Helen Meier is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Population, Neurodevelopment, and Genetics Program at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. Broadly, her research examines how social vulnerabilities become biological vulnerabilities. She is an epidemiologist and uses a life course framework to understand the molecular pathways by which social and environmental exposures occurring throughout life get “under the skin” to affect adult and later life health. Dr. Meier is specifically interested in the biology of immune aging and immunological dysfunction as key factors in the aging process. Dr. Meier investigates health using a multi-level biosocial approach ranging from biomarkers to structural drivers.

David Cunningham is Professor and Chair of Sociology at Washington University in St. Louis. His research examines the causes and consequences of community conflict, with an emphasis on historical and contemporary violence. An instructor and Executive Board member for Washington University’s Prison Education Project, he has received multiple awards for teaching and mentorship, as well as the American Sociological Association’s 2019 Robin M. Williams Award for Distinguished Contributions to Scholarship, Teaching, and Service.

Iris Gomez-Lopez joined SRC-Social Environment and Health as a Geoinformatics Data Analyst in 2018. Iris has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of North Texas. Her work in Computational Epidemiology integrates disciplines such as Geoinformatics, Data Mining, Natural Language Processing, Data Analytics, and Modelling. She held a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Michigan School of Information, working with the Neighborhood Effects research group. She contributed to creating the National Neighborhood Data Archive (NaNDA) hosted at the University of Michigan. And currently, she is working on multiple SEH projects that aim to study the relationship between social factors and various health outcomes such as cognitive decline, chronic diseases, and epigenomic patterns.

Colter Mitchell’s research utilizes a range of biological data types such as epigenetics, neuroimaging, and genetics to better understand how social conditions shape population health. In particular his work uses these biomarkers to elucidate pathways by which social contexts cause different health outcomes. This research uses longitudinal population-based studies where biological data are collected at multiple timepoints. His research also includes the development of new methods for integrating the collection and analysis of biological and social data.

Reed DeAngelis is a population health scientist. He studies how the structuring of human societies allows some groups of people to live longer, healthier lives than others. He’s also interested in understanding how different groups cope with chronic social stress, especially through religious and spiritual beliefs and practices.

Jamie Guyot received her B.S. in Brain, Behavior & Cognitive Sciences from the University of Michigan and her M.S.A. in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.

She currently oversees projects and staff within the ABI program. Her primary responsibilities are administrative oversight of study staff and working with the staff on study recruitment and data collection. She assists the director with grant budgeting, proposals and data presentations. She has worked in research at the University of Michigan for 14 years, all in the medical school until she came to ISR in June 2022.

Paul Mohai’s teaching and research interests are focused on environmental justice, public opinion and the environment, and influences on environmental policy making. He is a founder of the Environmental Justice Program at the University of Michigan and a major contributor to the growing body of quantitative research examining disproportionate environmental burdens on communities. His current research involves national level studies examining the causes of environmental differences and the role environmental factors play in accounting for differences in population health outcomes. Through a grant from the Kresge Foundation, he is also examining pollution burdens around public schools and the links between such burdens and student performance and health.

John Dou is a research analyst in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He is part of the Bakulski research team, which studies the environmental and genetic risk factors of neurological disorders. His work examines multiple levels of omics data, including genetic, epigenetic, and gene transcription with exposure windows including the prenatal period.

Karis Hawkins is a first year graduate student in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health MPH program on the General Epidemiology track. She earned her B.S. in May 2024 from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Public Health Sciences. She is interested in social epidemiology, examining the effects of social factors on health and research related to the intersection of social contexts and health. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes. Her specialty is baking.

Neil J. Nakkash is a research assistant on Dr. Margaret Hicken’s WorkLife Study. A graduate of the University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy, Neil is interested in how national and global policies impact population health. His long-term goals include pursuing a career that engages his interests in medicine and public health. In his free time, Neil enjoys hiking and writing book reviews on Goodreads.

Jennifer D’Souza has been working as a data manager and research analyst with the Adar research group since 2012. She grew up in the Northeast and came to Ann Arbor for college, where she’s remained ever since – earning a BA, MPH and PhD all from the University of Michigan. She started out interested in medicine, but realized that her true calling was public health. Following graduate school, she worked in aging research before moving to her current position with the Adar group, where she feels lucky to be able to do data analysis to address important public health issues. Outside of “work”, she enjoys spending time with her husband and their 3 sons, staying active, and checking out the downtown Ann Arbor scene!

Through her entire research program, Margaret Hicken is committed to clarifying the social causes and biological mechanisms underlying population patterns in health. The major hallmark of her research is the integration of scientific knowledge from across disciplines, as this transdisciplinary approach allows for creative and innovative insights into the root drivers of these patterns. She has built, from the ground up, a research program around her conceptual framework that integrates humanist and social science scholarship on US society to the biological literature on stress biology, molecular mechanisms, and health. For example, her research suggests that social exposures amplify the health impact of environmental exposures, providing important evidence that multiple features of American society operate together to drive population health patterns.

Rachel Oeffner is a Research Administrator Lead in the Landscapes of Population Health. In her role she assists with managing all pre-award research activities, financials, HR transactions, restricted project data contracts, IRB’s, and other program needs. She received her BS from Bowling Green State University and MBA from Spring Arbor University.