Milken Institute School of Public Health
Dr James Peterson
Assistant Research Professor
Epidemiology
Dr. James Peterson is a dedicated researcher, educator, and advocate at the forefront of HIV/AIDS studies and public health initiatives. With a profound commitment to understanding the intricacies of HIV transmission, prevention, and care, Dr. Peterson's work encompasses a broad spectrum of activities aimed at making meaningful contributions to the field. As an accomplished ethnographic researcher, Dr. Peterson's expertise lies in conducting formative assessments for the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance, providing coordination for the DC Cohort Study, and offering invaluable ethnographic support for key studies within the HIV Prevention Trial Network (HPTN). His focus on understanding the House/Ball scene and the complexities of accessing HIV/AIDS care among young men of color who have sex with men showcases a deep understanding of the diverse contexts influencing health outcomes. Beyond research, Dr. Peterson is a respected educator, sharing his expertise as a faculty member teaching Ethnographic Methods as Applied in Public Health at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. His commitment to fostering the next generation of public health professionals reflects his passion for knowledge dissemination and skill development.
Dr Karina Lora
Teaching Assistant Professor of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Prevention and Community Health
Karina R. Lora, Ph.D., R.D. joined the Department of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences at George Washington University in August of 2018. Dr. Lora is a community/public health nutritionist with a long standing record of working with undeserved multicultural populations. Dr. Lora's research focuses broadly on childhood obesity prevention in minority populations. One of Dr. Lora’s research goals is to understand the individual, behavioral, and home environmental factors that influence the dietary patterns of family members to develop and implement interventions that are culturally relevant for success. Dr. Lora has a strong interest in integrating teaching and research to provide students with pedagogical approaches that enhance their learning outcomes, cultural competence skills, and awareness of social issues while benefiting communities by evaluating community/public health programs to improve their delivery and impact.
Dr Mark Edberg
Professor of Prevention and Community Health
Prevention and Community Health
Dr. Edberg is currently principal investigator (PI) for two research grants from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD, an NIH institute): Development, implementation, and evaluation of a novel youth firearms violence prevention effort in collaboration with a community in Ward 8 of the District of Columbia, and a qualitative-to-quantitative effort to develop an instrument measuring indigenous historical trauma and its potential effects on health disparities among American Indian/Alaska Native communities. The latter project is a collaboration with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Western Carolina University. He also directs the Avance Center for the Advancement of Immigrant/Refugee Health (Avance Center), an exploratory research center on health disparities that has received funding from NIMHD, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) for research efforts focusing on the co-occurrence of substance abuse, youth violence, the prevention of obesity, and most recently on community engagement approaches to address COVID-19 disparities – all in collaboration with DC metro area Latino immigrant communities. He is also the founder and director of the Center on Social Well-Being and Development (CSWD), under which there is currently a contract for social/behavior change communications services with the World Food Program (WFP) and a history of projects with UNICEF in Belize, Ghana, Indonesia, South Africa, and Jamaica, as well as research on transnational social determinants of health affecting recent Latino immigrants.
Sandy Hoar
Visiting Scholar
PubH: ISCOPES
Sandy Hoar's academic Interests include pragmatic public health and appropriate technology, infectious disease and tropical medicine, cultural competency and community-oriented and community-based primary care (COPC, CBPHC), community-based participatory research (CBPR), and community-campus partnerships, service learning, and working with children as change agents. Current community-engaged activities include being a University Coach with the Interdisciplinary Student Community-Oriented Prevention Enhancement Service (ISCOPES), the Community-Based Primary Health Care (CBPHC) workshop planning committee with the American Public Health Association, including supervising a student abstract and breakout session, supporting Mission to Heal (providing surgical operations and training around the world), board member for Health Improvement and Promotion Alliance, HIP-Ghana, and a just completed white paper on the appropriate response to limited-English proficiency patients in an outpatient clinic.
Sara Wilensky
Special Service Faculty for Undergraduate Education
PubH: Health Policy and Health Management
Dr. Wilensky focuses on financing, access and health care needs of the medically underserved, with an emphasis on issues relating to Medicaid. After completing her undergraduate work, Dr. Wilensky served as a fellow at Plan de Salud del Valle Community Health Center, located in rural Colorado, gaining first-hand insights into the needs of these populations. Subsequently, she pursued a law degree, clerked for a federal judge, and worked briefly at a law firm, before becoming a member of the GW health policy faculty in 2002. Dr. Wilensky has taught in both the undergraduate and graduate public health programs and has co-authored a textbook, Essentials of Health Policy and Law, which is used at both levels study. Dr. Wilensky currently serves on two Department committees – Curriculum and Faculty and Staff Affairs -- and on the School's SPH Curriculum Committee, BSPH Curriculum Committee, and Undergraduate Planning and Practice Committee. She also participates in the GW committee for Undergraduate Deans and the Faculty Senate University and Urban Affairs Committee.
Dr Sean Cleary
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Sean D. Cleary is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health.Dr. Cleary's most recent projects focus on health outcomes among autistic adults including Baseline survey of ID/DD adults by housing status and 4 Engaging Autistic Voices in Education and Research (4EAVER): Creating a partnership with a community of autistic adults, with a goal to engage, train and employ autistic adults co-researchers in research endeavors relevant to the autistic community.
Dr Tamara Taggert
Assistant Professor of Prevention and Community Health
Prevention & Community Health
Dr. Tamara Taggart conducts socioepidemiologic studies to examine the social-structural (e.g., structural racism, intersectional stigma, and neighborhoods) and cultural identity factors that influence health behaviors and then uses CBPR approaches to develop and implement interventions to improve HIV-related outcomes and reduce substance use/abuse among racial/ethnic minority and socioeconomically disadvantaged adolescents and emerging adults. Her current work focuses on three areas: (1) Applying a community-engaged framework to examine systems-level factors associated with HIV prevention and treatment; (2) Utilizing activity space assessments and biopsychosocial models of stress to examine the mechanisms connecting discriminatory neighborhood environments and HIV-related behaviors; and (3) Investigating the role of religion, spirituality, and religious institutions on HIV syndemics. Integrating techniques, theories, and concepts from epidemiology, psychology, and sociology, the ultimate goal of Dr. Taggart's program of research is to reduce health disparities and improve the health of adolescents and adults.
Dr Uri Colon-Ramos
Assistant Professor of Global Health and of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Milken Institute School of Public Health
Dr. Uriyoán Colón-Ramos is an investigator in public health nutrition globally, with expertise in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Dr. Colón-Ramos’ research interests are driven by the lived and learned experiences of individuals from underserved communities who have seen their loved ones suffer from diet-related health conditions. This work seeks to make health-promoting behaviors the easy choice so that we can eventually decrease diet-related health disparities. The work from the interdisciplinary teams that she leads has won the Research Into Action Award (New Connections Program, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation); the Faculty Research Excellence Award (Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Service), and is supported by programs in private foundations as well as federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institutes of Health). Dr. Colón-Ramos was born and raised in Puerto Rico; is trilingual (French, Spanish, English) and a proud member of the 2004 cohort of emerging leaders in nutrition in Latin America (LiLANut).