Experience
Current Role
Communications Associate
Employer: Burness
Dates Employed: March 2022 – Present
Communications Associate: March 2023 – Present
Senior Communications Coordinator: March 2022 – March 2023
Location: Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Projects, Roles, & Responsibilities:
In this role, I primarily work on a variety of projects with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation on issues related to health equity, healthy children and families, and research and evaluation.
Previous Roles
Communications Specialist
Employer: The University of Michigan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Dates Employed: March 2021 – March 2022
Employment Duration: 1 year
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Projects:
Two NIH-funded initiatives to reduce COVID-19 health inequities among minority communities in Michigan
Michigan Community Engagement Alliance (Michigan CEAL)
Community-Centered Interventions For Improved Vaccine Uptake For COVID (CIVIC)
Roles & Responsibilities:
Collaborate with communications team and 20-member steering committee to create project marketing and communication material, advancing project reach and scope.
Recruit and build relationships with community partners to co-sponsor over 90 COVID-19 vaccination sites and liaise with multiple stakeholders to develop communications materials for each site.
Advise on the development of and testing of a new chatbot and lead a state-wide recruitment campaign to enroll users.
Write press releases, develop reports, and prepare PowerPoint presentations.
Serve as the Michigan representative on the National Institutes of Health Community Engagement Alliance Communications Work Group, promoting our team and developing cross-state collaborations to improve communications strategies.
Project Coordinator
Employer: The University of Michigan Injury Prevention Center (U-M IPC)
Dates Employed: June 2019 - March 2021
Employment Duration: 1 year 10 months
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Projects:
The Michigan Safer Opioid Prescribing Toolkit / Post-Overdose Care in the Emergency Department Project
Core State Violence and Injury Prevention Program
Opioid Solutions Network
Certificate in Injury Science
U-M IPC Summer Internship Program
Untitled dating violence prevention intervention
Profiles in Injury Prevention Podcast series
Animated Video PSAs
U-M IPC website and social media
Roles & Responsibilities:
Prioritized needs and liaised with multiple stakeholders and funders to coordinate 9 projects simultaneously, including 2 websites.
Assessed, monitored, and reported on work progression and milestones while adhering to project timelines and budget constraints.
Prepared presentations for senior management detailing project scope, progress, and results.
Developed and managed The Michigan Safer Opioid Prescribing Toolkit - a website with over 600 resources on opioids for providers and patients, including sections on pregnant women, health disparities, and stigma.
Planned and executed 2 professional development conferences for 100 clinical health care providers, researchers, and government officials.
Coordinated the Certificate in Injury Science sponsored by the U-M IPC and the U-M School of Public Health, recruited new students into the certificate and supported existing students.
Managed the U-M IPC Summer Internship program, screened applications, paired students with preceptors, and planned academic summer programing and seminars.
Go-to team member to develop Center marketing materials and campaigns, including: handouts, flyers, animated video PSAs, podcasts, websites, social media posts, and email newsletters in MailChimp.
Research Consultant
Employer: The Joyce Foundation - Freelance
Dates Employed: February 2019 - June 2019
Employment Duration: 5 months
Location: New York, New York, United States
Roles & Responsibilities:
Independently contracted by Ted Alcorn to develop and provide research assistance for an evaluation of published literature on gun violence funded by The Joyce Foundation.
Created and managed a database of over 400 Joyce Foundation funded academic research publications on gun violence, organized by content area and linked to relevant awarded grant(s), identifying over 240 publications that met inclusion criteria.
Drafted 8 research reports evaluating 70 Joyce funded research publications advanced the field of gun violence prevention, drafts of which led to the final sections in the report, "25 Years of Gun Violence Prevention Research Grant Making".
INSIGHT Injury Training Research Program Intern
Employer: Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center
Dates Employed: June 2018 – August 2018
Employment Duration: 3 months
Location: Seattle, Washington, United States
Roles & Responsibilities:
Worked collaboratively as a research assistant on a team of injury researchers from Harborview and the Harvard Injury Control Research Center to study 500+ incidents of legal intervention homicide in the United States.
Qualitatively evaluated 500+ reports of legal intervention homicide cases in the National Violent Death Reporting System, and then quantitatively analyzed victim and incident characteristics in SAS.
Identified potential problems with the codebook and recommended solutions to the research team.
Conducted an individual research investigation titled, “Description of legal intervention homicide by victim mental health and substance abuse problems,” and presented findings to senior researchers, physicians, and surgeons at Harborview, the University of Washington, and at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health.
☆☆☆ Awarded the 2021 Inaugural INSIGHT Alumni scholarship award for Outstanding Leadership! ☆☆☆
Mentors
The following individuals are previous professors, supervisors, and colleagues who I consider to be invaluable mentors and am lucky to have worked with:
Anna V. Eskamani, MPA, MNM - Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 47th district
Chastity Blankenship, PhD - Associate Professor of Social Science, Florida Southern College
Joyce Pressley, PhD - Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management, Columbia University Medical Center
Robert Fullilove, EdD - Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs, Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Medical Center
Ted Alcorn, MA, MHS - Journalist and educator with expertise in gun violence prevention policies and programs
Jessica Roche, MPH - Managing Director of the University of Michigan Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention
Volunteer Work
Sexual and Reproductive Health Action Group at Columbia University School of Public Health
Planned and hosted events to support the group’s mission to promote sexual and reproductive health, including events about the intersection of gun violence and reproductive justice, and sexual violence.
Managed the group’s marketing, social media activities and accounts, including Instagram and Facebook.
Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Florida Southern College
Founded a chapter of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at Florida Southern College after observing stigma toward sexual health among the campus community and a lack of educational, inclusive, and non-stigmatizing spaces for students to get resources and discuss sexual health.
Planned and co-led 3 workshops for students, faculty, and community members on political activism, reproductive justice, and the importance of storytelling and communication in activism.
Advocates for Youth Campus Organizing Team
After noticing a lack of education and stigma-free resources at my college, I worked tirelessly to champion sexual health and reproductive rights on campus. This led me to founding Generation Action at Florida Southern College. For my work, I was selected as 1 of 14 student leaders from across America to join the Advocates for Youth Campus Organizing team, which supports and trains your activists on peer education, advocacy, and policy.
Michigan Water Ski Association Board of Directors
Communications liaison between the Board of Directors and 4 collegiate water ski teams in Michigan, participated in monthly board meeting and regularly advised on administrative matters.
Introduced an injury prevention initiative to improve safety protocols and require AEDs at all Michigan Water Ski Association sanctioned events, measures which were implemented after my tenure.
Organizations I've Been Affiliated With or Collaborated With
