The National MCH Workforce Development Center Announces the Appointment of the Faculty Fellowship Advisory Committee
The MCH Faculty Development Fellowship Program at Diverse Institutions (Faculty Fellowship) is a new initiative for early and mid-career public health faculty members from Diverse Institutions (including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic serving institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Asian American and Pacific Islander serving institutions, and Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian serving institutions). This Fellowship will support all Fellows in advancing their MCH work and scholarship in public health education, student mentorship, research, and practice/partnership development and engagement.
Click here to learn more about the 10 selected early and mid-career public health faculty members participating in the Faculty Fellowship.
To support the Fellows, The National MCH Workforce Development Center (the Center) is pleased to announce the selection of an Advisory Committee to provide mentorship, coaching, and technical assistance.
Learn more about our exceptional Advisory Committee members and their expertise below.
Allysceaeioun Britt, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor at Meharry Medical College (Nashville, Tennessee). Dr. Britt’s MCH work began in Oklahoma with a focus on the health and wellness of underserved populations, especially in rural areas, where she worked to improve vaccine-preventable disease rates through community collaboration and patient education. She has led efforts targeting implementation and oversight of enrollment assistance programs for eligible pregnant women within rural and metropolitan health departments.
Cheryl Clark, PhD, MPH is an Associate Director at the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs (AMCHP). Dr. Clark has vast work experience as a project manager, leading epidemiologist, data/research consultant, evaluator, and health informatics consultant. She has mentored Fellows at AMCHP and in previous roles, while also training health department personnel in career and leadership development. Her experiences will provide the Faculty Fellows (at the Center) with data skills to bring together scientific rigor and best practices with an overarching equity and inclusion lens.
Rhonda Dixon, MSN, APRN, CNM is a Certified Nurse Midwife with 27 years of experience. She is deeply committed to serving women in Title V-supported community-based programs. Her role encompasses clinical duties, mentoring healthcare students, and peer reviewing for the Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health. Ms. Dixon actively participates in community-based focus groups and health organizations to improve women’s and children’s healthcare. Her current objective is to diversify the nurse-midwifery field, increasing the number of nurse-midwives of color through training and mentorship at her own center, Optimum Women’s Health Center. Currently, she is working on adding birth center services to provide low-risk, underserved women another safe birthing option. Ms. Dixon is a staunch advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in healthcare, focusing on ensuring the highest standard of care for marginalized populations, particularly pregnant women. Her dedication to reducing maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates is unwavering. She aims to reduce health disparities and improve outcomes for women, pregnant and postpartum individuals, children, and families. As a mentor, she emphasizes the delivery of respectful, equitable, high-quality care from preconception to postpartum. Her passion for the nurse-midwifery profession and dedication to improving healthcare for underserved populations fuel her commitment to training future healthcare professionals. Ms. Dixon is also working towards her EdD in Organizational Leadership with a focus on Healthcare Administration.
Arden Handler, DrPH, MPH is a Professor of Community Health Sciences at the University of Illinois School of Public Health (UIC-SPH), where she has been a long-time leader of the Center of Excellence in MCH Education, Science and Practice. Dr. Handler’s research career reflects her long-standing commitment to reducing inequities and improving the health of women, pregnant and postpartum persons, children, and families. She has been a long-standing provider of technical assistance to Title V agencies and has led multiple projects to increase the capacity of the MCH and MCHEPI workforce. She has served as a mentor to multiple MCH faculty and post-doctoral fellows at UIC-SPH and beyond.
Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez, PhD, RDN is a Professor of Epidemiology and Assistant Dean for Research in the College of Population Health at the University of New Mexico’s Health Science Center. Dr. Jimenez’s maternal and child health-related research is focused on developing and testing interventions to improve food security and diet quality and to better integrate community services and medical care for underserved populations. She has over 20 years of experience in public health nutrition and has served on multiple National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committees related to infant and young child feeding. Dr. Jimenez enjoys mentoring early and mid-career faculty in teaching, grantsmanship, research project planning and implementation with communities, and disseminating research findings.
Deneen Long-White, PhD, CHES® is an Associate Professor of Public Health at Salisbury University. Dr. Long-White brings over 30 years of professional experience in public health with specific expertise in MCH. She has worked with local, state, and federal officials to develop and implement public health programs that provide services to youth, infants, children, and women of childbearing age. She served as the Principal Investigator for the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau-funded (MCHB) Pipeline to MCH at Howard University, increasing the number of underrepresented students who pursued careers in public health related to MCH.
Christina Lumpkin, MBA, MHA is the Fellowship Pipeline Manager for Black Mamas Matter Alliance (BMMA), a national network of Black women-led community-based partners centering Black maternal health, rights, and justice. She works collaboratively across departments to support and mentor early to mid-career public health professionals and scholars in Black maternal health career pathways. Prior to this role, she was a Wellness Professor (Spelman College), Wellness Administrator (Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta), and freelance maternal health and perinatal wellness subject matter expert. Ms. Lumpkin received her BA in Sociology from Columbia University and her MBA in Healthcare Administration from South University.
Lois McCloskey, DrPH, MPH is a Clinical Professor at Boston University, where she directs the Center of Excellence in MCH Education, Science and Practice. Her research addresses racial inequities in maternal health and the impact of healthcare policies on pregnant and postpartum people over the life course. She specializes in community-engaged, practice-based teaching and leadership development. Dr. McCloskey has served as a consultant to the Title V MCH Services Block Grant in Massachusetts and in HHS Region I. She has experience developing curricula, education programs, research proposals, and community partnerships and can support others to do the same.
Teresa Wagner, DrPH, MS, RD/LD is an Associate Professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), School of Public Health, and the Director of the UNTHSC State Certified Community Health Worker Training Center. Dr. Wagner’s work promotes public health and health literacy through community health workers and understandable health information. Dr. Wagner’s expertise builds on her focus on improving health equity through health literacy within underrepresented geographic, racial, and ethnic groups.
Teneasha Washington, PhD, MPH, MBA is the Program Director and an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she has worked since 2014. Dr. Washington’s research interests focus on MCH across many sectors including rare diseases, disability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her peer-reviewed published research focuses on the importance of mentorship, and she has served as a mentee in three diverse fellowship programs spanning from research to education. Dr. Washington brings a unique perspective to mentoring and building meaningful relationships.
The MCH Faculty Development Fellowship Program at Diverse Institutions (Faculty Fellowship) is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, (HRSA MCHB). The Faculty Fellowship Program will contribute to building capacity and developing a diverse MCH workforce that is able to build and sustain academic-practice partnerships and address MCH inequities in communities that are historically underserved.