Expert Directory

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Lumkile Mondi is a senior lecturer at the School of Economics and Business Science of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr Mondi is a strategist, an economist and a leader. He has worked extensively on the African continent, undertaking his responsibilities at the Industrial Development Corporation (“IDC”), where he was an executive for 11 years. He is also the chairman of Thelo Rolling Stock Leasing and a non-executive director of Sedibelo Platinum Mines Limited. He previously served on the board of ArcelorMittal South Africa.
Mr Mondi has more than 20 years of postgraduate experience and over eight years working in financial markets in interest rate derivatives and asset and liability management. Mr Mondi is also involved in the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (“BRICS”) think tanks on institutional strengthening and coordination. He has presented at and participated in various conferences worldwide, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the Brazilian Development Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”). Mr Mondi has travelled extensively throughout the world, bringing innovation to his work for a better world for all.
Mr Mondi is a South African citizen.

Has govt caused an 'investment strike' through failing to fix SA's problems?

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Prof John Stremlau is Visiting Professor of International Relations at Wits University and one of our past visiting Bradlow Fellows.
He served from January 2006 until January 2015 as vice president for peace programs at The Carter Centre, where he oversaw the Centre’s programmes to advance human rights, democracy, and conflict resolution globally; regional cooperation in the Americas; and promotion of grassroots democracy, rule of law, and social justice in China.
From 1998 to 2006, he resided in South Africa where he was Jan Smuts Professor, Head of the International Relations Department, and the founding co-director of the Centre for Africa’s International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand.
Previously, he served as senior adviser to the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict in Washington, D.C. (1994-1998), deputy director for policy planning in the office of the U.S. Secretary of State (1989-1994), strategic planning officer for the World Bank (1988-1989), and an officer of the Rockefeller Foundation (1974-1987), directing its international relations division from 1984-1987.
Prof Stremlau publishes extensively on foreign affairs and is a frequent media commentator on international network news programmes. He wrote ‘The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War’ and has edited several books.

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Prof Alex van den Heever presently holds the Chair of Social Security Systems Administration and Management Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and is an adjunct professor in the Wits School of Governance. Alex van den holds a master's in economics from the University of Cape Town and has worked in the areas of health economics and finance, public finance, and social security in various capacities over the past 23 years. This includes participation in the Melamet Commission of Inquiry into medical schemes, the Taylor Committee of Inquiry into Comprehensive Social Security, and the Ministerial Task Team on Social Health Insurance.

Over the period 2000 to 2010, he worked as an advisor to the Council for Medical Schemes, which he was responsible for establishing, and in an advisory capacity to the social security policy processes (including the Department of Social Development, the National Treasury, and the Inter-departmental Task Team on Social Security) taking forward the recommendations of the Taylor Committee.

SA is at a critical juncture: Professor Alex van den Heever

Top 10 Climate Science Insights Unveiled

Professor Imraan Valodia is Professor of Economics, Pro Vice-Chancellor: Climate, Sustainability and Inequality, and Director of the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits). His research interests include inequality, climate justice, competition policy, employment, the informal economy, gender and economic policy, and industrial development. Imraan has led the initiative at Wits to establish the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies - a multi-disciplinary, cross-country initiative to promote research and policy change to promote greater equality in the global South. In addition to his duties as Pro VC, Imraan leads the SCIS. Imraan has led and participated in a number of large national and international studies. He is recognized nationally and internationally for his research expertise in economic development. Imraan is a part-time member of the Competition Tribunal in South Africa. He is also a commissioner of the National Minimum Wage Commission, and a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (Assaf) Standing Committee on Science for the Reduction of Poverty and Inequality. In August 2016, Professor Valodia was appointed by (then) Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to chair the Advisory Panel on the National Minimum Wage. This led to the introduction of a National Minimum Wage in South Africa. In early 2018, he was appointed to a Panel to advise the Minister of Economic Development on amendments to the Competition Act. More recently, he was appointed by the Minister of Finance to a Panel of Experts to advise the Minister on Value-Added Taxes. In late 2019, Professor Valodia was appointed by President Ramaphosa to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) in South Africa.

Facing the climate crisis in a world of inequality: Who should pay? Who will pay?

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I am a Public Policy Specialist focusing on State Owned Entities, Institutional analysis, Development and Scenario Planning, and Local Economic Development. In addition to this one has experience in leading research and consulting projects aimed at producing applied Public Policy outcomes and actions. 

In short, one is a 'professional thinker' and avid policy action practitioner.

Ramaphosa doesn’t have excuses any more – TK Pooe, Wits School of Governance

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Karen Hofman is Research Professor and founding Director of the SAMRC Centre for Health Economics and Decision Science/ PRICELESS SA at the University of Witwatersrand. A qualified paediatrician, she was on faculty at Johns Hopkins and served as Policy Director at the US NIH Fogarty Center. For the past 15 years, Karen has led policy research to evaluate interventions both inside the health system and in other sectors that provide the biggest return on investment for health.
She is widely published in global health with more than 150 peer reviewed publications and has received the Wits Vice Chancellor’s Social Impact Research Award in 2020 and the Science-for-Society Gold Medal from the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2022.

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Overdose Deaths Fall for First Time in Five Years

UC San Diego Health Expert on Dangers of Tianeptine

UC San Diego Health Toxicology Expert Available to Discuss Narcan: Dos and Don’ts

Daniel Lasoff, MD, is a board-certified emergency medicine physician who treats patients of all ages, including those with life-threatening or critical conditions, at UC San Diego Health Emergency Departments in Hillcrest and La Jolla.
As an assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Lasoff trains medical students, residents and fellows in the Department of Emergency Medicine, where he serves as medical director of the medical toxicology fellowship program. His research interests include drugs of abuse and resuscitation.

Opinion: As an emergency physician, I see fentanyl overdoses daily. A new program could help.

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Pam R. Taub, MD, is a board-certified cardiologist who focuses on general and preventive cardiology, as well as women's cardiovascular health. As a general cardiologist, she works with patients to diagnose, treat and prevent heart disease, as well as manage conditions such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and congestive heart failure.
She is the founding director of the Step Family Foundation Cardiac Rehabilitation and Wellness Center at Jacobs Medical Center. Taub was responsible for all aspects of creating the center, which provides a comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation program for patients with established heart disease.
Taub believes that prevention is the new frontier in cardiovascular medicine. She takes an evidence-based approach to care and tailors it to each patient, with the goal of minimizing medications and procedures. She also collaborates closely with other specialists to provide cardiac care for patients with complex, multi-system diseases such as cancer and autoimmune disease.

A condition called POTS rose after covid, but patients can’t find care

New heart syndrome identifies link among obesity, diabetes and kidney disease

Bird Flu Basics: Safety, Symptoms and Risks

Measles: How to Spot it, When to Seek Care and Importance of Vaccination

Innovative COVID-19 Analysis Supports Prevention Protocols in Health Care Settings

UC San Diego Health Infectious Disease Expert on Importance of Annual Influenza Vaccinations

Infectious Disease Expert Available: Flu Season, COVID-19 Variant and other Respiratory Viruses

Tested and Testing: UC San Diego Health Expands COVID-19 Diagnostics

Francesca J. Torriani, MD, is a professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego. She sees patients in the Owen Clinic and the infectious diseases clinic. She also cares for people during hospital stays.
Dr. Torriani is medical director of the UC San Diego Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology and the tuberculosis control units at UC San Diego Health. In collaboration with Atlas Public Health, she has been instrumental in creating an extensive electronic microbiology surveillance and pharmacy utilization program called Guardian that allows for internal data mining, surveillance, unit-specific antibiogram production, and external reporting of contagious infections to San Diego Public Health and to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI).
Since 2010, Dr. Torriani has served on the Metrics Group for CA HAI Reporting, an independent group of experts discussing best standards and methods for HAI reporting in California. 
She is fluent in five languages: Italian, French, German, Spanish and English.

Risk of breakthrough infections remains very rare, 3 studies find

When to wear masks as Covid cases rise, new variants emerge in the U.S.

Few health care workers infected with COVID after full vaccination: Study

Protein p53 regulates learning, memory, sociability in mice

Nien-Pei Tsai is an associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. 
An imbalance in neuronal and synaptic excitability is a common abnormality observed in patients with various psychiatric and neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease. The dysregulation of excitability is thought to exacerbate disease symptoms. Identifying and understanding the mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of excitability could reveal novel therapeutic targets for these diseases. To achieve this goal, we utilize various approaches including molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and mouse genetics to understand the regulation of excitability homeostasis at synaptic, neuronal, network and system levels, and how the deficits of those affect behavior in diseases. 
Research Interests:


Neurobiology


Synaptic transmission


Learning and memory


Neurological and behavioral disorders


 
Current focuses of Tsai's lab include:
1. Studying activity-dependent translational control in fragile X syndrome
2. Exploring novel transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators in neurodevelopment 
3. Determining the role of cellular stress response in neuronal plasticity
4. Characterizing the molecular mechanisms contributing to comorbid seizures in Alzheimer's disease
 
Education


B.S., National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2002


M.Sc., National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2004


Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2009

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Professor Rowell’s research interests revolve around risk regulation, the environment, and human behavior. She has taught courses on environmental law, administrative law, behavioral law and economics, risk and the environment, law and sustainable economic development, and valuation. Her research focuses on integrating scientific and social science insights into risk regulation and on the interactions between law, science, social science, and policy.
Her key interest areas are regulation and risk analysis, environmental law and policy, climate change, cost-benefit analysis, law, and psychology.
Recently, her research has focused on bringing interdisciplinary insights into environmental law. This year she published three books: The Psychology of Environmental Law (with Kenworthey Bilz), which explores the relationship between environmental law and psychology, and two companion volumes – A Guide to U.S. Environmental Law and A Guide to EU Environmental Law (with Josephine van Zeben) – which are designed to make environmental law accessible to non-legal readers and to foreign lawyers. Her past scholarly work has been published in law reviews and interdisciplinary journals including Science, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review. 
Professor Rowell has been a visiting professor at Duke Law School (2018) and Harvard Law School (2015-16) and was a visiting researcher at Oxford University (2015, 2016). In 2015, she also completed a federal detail at the Environmental Protection Agency, and was named a University Scholar through a program at the University of Illinois meant to recognize the university’s “very best teachers and scholars.”
Before joining the Illinois faculty in 2010, Professor Rowell was a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, from which she also received her J.D. After law school, Professor Rowell practiced at Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle. Professor Rowell has a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology/archaeology, which she earned from the University of Washington at the age of 18. Before law school, she worked as an encyclopedia entry writer and as a video game tester.

Workers lack protections when wildfire smoke makes the air dangerous

The tricky business of putting a dollar value on a human life

Using VSLs in State and Local COVID-19 Policy

Lightening the load: Researchers develop autonomous electrochemistry robot

Mix it, test it, create it: NSF funds automated polymer research instrument at the Beckman Institute

Charles M. Schroeder is the James Economy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is Co-Chair of the Molecular Science and Engineering Theme and Leader of the AI for Materials Group in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Professor Schroeder is a faculty member in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology and holds affiliate status in the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Bioengineering, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the Materials Research Lab. He previously served as Associate Head in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois.
Professor Schroeder received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1999, followed by an M.S. in 2001 and Ph.D. in 2005 in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Before joining the University of Illinois in 2008, he was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow and a K99/R00 NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University (2004-2007). 
Professor Schroeder is the recipient of several awards, including a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, an NSF CAREER Award, the Arthur B. Metzner Award from the Society of Rheology, an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research at Illinois, and the Vision and Spirit Award from the Beckman Institute. Professor Schroeder is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS Fellow, 2022) and a Fellow of the Society of Rheology (2023).
Research Statement 
The cutting edge of chemical science research lies in the ability to manipulate and control single molecules. The Schroeder group has pioneered a unique and powerful brand of molecular engineering that allows for the precise design and characterization of single molecules, in problems ranging from polymer physics to molecular electronics. Imagine the ability to design and engineer new soft materials with any desired functional properties (e.g., electrical, optical, mechanical) by controlling chemical structure and composition at the molecular level. The Schroeder group aims to achieve this vision by understanding how form and function arise in soft materials given precise control over molecular synthesis, structure, and processing. Current work is defined by four focus areas:
Single polymer dynamics. A major unsolved problem in soft materials and rheology lies in understanding how the collective behavior of individual molecules gives rise to bulk properties in polymeric materials. To address this challenge, the Schroeder group has extended the field of single polymer dynamics to new materials including architecturally complex polymers such as rings and branched polymers. His work provides a molecular-level understanding of non-equilibrium polymer dynamics, bridging the gap between molecular behavior and bulk properties in polymeric liquids and solids. Recent work has focused on fully recyclable synthetic polymers using metastable chemistries.
Vesicle dynamics, biological membranes, microhydrodynamics & Stokes trap. Schroeder's group studies the non-equilibrium conformational dynamics of lipid vesicles and colloidal clusters using a Stokes trap, which is a new method developed by his group that allows for the precise trapping and manipulation of single molecules or particles using automated flow control. Understanding the dynamics of membrane-bound vesicles is critical for developing new and efficient drug delivery vehicles. His recent work has focused on understanding the non-linear deformation of lipid membranes in flow, including phase separation and dynamics of multi-component lipid membranes under tension. 
Automated synthesis for materials discovery. The Schroeder group uses automated synthesis to drive the discovery of new materials for applications including organic electronics and energy storage. A “Lego-like” building block approach is used to synthesize large libraries of chemically diverse, sequence-defined molecules via automated iterative Suzuki coupling (C-C coupling). Automated synthesis is also used in combination with AI-guided, closed-loop discovery methods for new materials, e.g., organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with improved photostability or new electrochromic molecules.
Molecular electronics & bioelectronics. Electron transport in proteins is essential for fundamental life processes in living cells. Understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level remains an open challenge in the field. Recently, the Schroeder group has studied charge transport mechanisms in sequence-defined polymers, redox-active molecules, and supramolecular assemblies using single molecule techniques. His work is focused on bioelectronics by developing new sustainable materials for next-generation electronic devices, including self-assembled protein circuitry and conductive peptide nanowires. 
Department of Materials Science & Engineering profile
Research Group Website
Illinois Experts profile

Seven Illinois faculty members elected to AAAS

Courtney Gibson, MD, MS, FACS, in honor of Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month

Dr. Gibson (nee Quinn) is an Endocrine Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Her clinical interests are surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal gland, including minimally-invasive laparoscopic and retroperitoneoscopic surgical techniques. In addition, she serves as the Associate Clerkship Director for the Yale School of Medicine General Surgery Clerkship and is the Fellowship Director of the Endocrine Surgery Fellowship Program.
Her research interests include outcomes after minimally-invasive endocrine surgery (thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal), outpatient thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, intraoperative laryngeal nerve monitoring, and endocrine oncology. She obtained her MD from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in In Utero Stem Cell Transplantation at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Philadelphia, PA. She completed her training in General Surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, NJ, and Endocrine Surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, TX.

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Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medicine in the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center, is an internationally recognized clinician and clinical researcher with expertise in adult lymphomas and in stem cell transplantation. She has developed and tested therapies that have been used to treat thousands of cancer patients, and her research has substantially impacted the field of stem cell research, benefiting patients at Yale and around the world. Dr. Foss has brought a nationally established clinical trials program to Yale Cancer Center. In her previous position at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, she designed, initiated, and directed multi-center national clinical trials which led to FDA approval of several novel therapies for lymphomas. One of these, Interleukin-2- Diphtheria toxin fusion protein, was the first FDA-approved fusion protein biologic drug and the first drug to be FDA approved for the treatment of T-cell lymphoma. In her laboratory work, she investigated and elucidated the mechanism by which extracorporeal photopheresis modulated antigen presenting cells, leading to a reduction in graft-vs-host disease in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplant. These findings led to the initiation of two National Cancer Institute-sponsored trials to confirm these results in patients with lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome. Dr. Foss is a member of the Stem Cell Therapy clinical program at Smilow Cancer Hospital.
Learn more about Dr. Foss>>
Dr. Foss is a world expert in T cell Lymphomas. She has pioneered several novel therapies for T cell lymphomas and has been a leader in many national studies. She developed and initiated the first national registry for T cell lymphomas in the United States and is a founder and co-chairman of the T CELL Forum, the preeminent international T cell lymphoma research meeting. She is a co-founder of the United States Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium and currently serves as its President. She has been a Director of the international T-cell Project to research treatment and biology of T-cell lymphomas and serves on the NCCN panel of experts for T-cell lymphomas. As a translational researcher in T cell Lymphomas, she currently is collaborating with a number of laboratories and scientists at Yale to identify molecular targets in T Cell Lymphoma and recently was awarded a grant through the PITCH program for the state of Connecticut to develop a promising small molecule therapeutic for a rare form of lymphoma. Dr. Foss currently leads the multi-disciplinary T-cell Lymphoma clinical team at the Smilow Cancer Center and co-directs the Cutaneous Lymphoma Program at Yale with Dr. Michael Girardi. Her clinical practice at Smilow Cancer Hospital attracts patients from around the world.

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Michael E. Karellas, MD, FACS, in honor of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

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Support Grows For No-Strings-Attached Cash For Families To Prevent Foster Care Removals

My research examines the influence of macroeconomic factors, family complexity and fatherhood, and interventions in the promotion of child well-being and the prevention of child maltreatment.



Education


BA in Political Science – University of Michigan
Master’s and PhD in Social Work – Columbia University
Post-Doctoral training –  Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University

Child Poverty Spiked After Pandemic Aid Ended Last Year, Census Shows

Support Grows For No-Strings-Attached Cash For Families To Prevent Foster Care Removals

Schneider Selected for the William T. Grant Scholars Class of 2026

New Study Reveals Social Network, Food Patterns, and Physical Activity Influence Overweight/Obesity in Rural Brazilian Adolescents

My dream is to live in a equitable society where everyone has a fair chance to thrive. To do that, I partner with community members to develop and test health interventions that change individual behaviors, relationships, and communities.



Education


M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work – University of Texas at Austin
B.S. in Education – FCH-FUMEC, Brazil

 



Research

Dr. Windsor’s research focuses on the application of critical consciousness theory to the development of multi-level interventions designed to reduce health inequalities related to substance use disorders, HIV prevention, and criminal justice in marginalized communities. Dr. Windsor follows community based participatory research (CBPR) principles and utilizes a variety of scientific methodologies including ethnography, randomized experimental controlled trials, measurement development, meta-analysis, and online survey. She is the founder and chair of the Newark Community Collaborative Board (www.newarkccb.org), a group of researchers, service providers, and consumers who developed Community Wise, a multilevel intervention designed to reduce substance use frequency, criminal offending, and health risk behaviors. Dr. Windsor has overseen numerous research studies in the United States and in Brazil.
Dr. Windsor is currently the principal investigator of a large randomized controlled trial designed to optimize Community Wise (1R01MD010629). Dr. Windsor is also a co-investigator in in the Social Action in Rural Communities Study where she is developing and testing a participatory action research online training protocol to engage community members from rural communities affected by the opioid epidemic in research and behavioral health services (DPDA048570, PI: Dolores Albarracin).



Selected Publications


Windsor, L., Pinto, R., & Lee, C. (2020). Interprofessional collaboration associated with frequency of life-saving links to HIV continuum of care services in the urban environment of Newark, New Jersey. Manuscript under review. BMC Health Services Research.
Windsor, L.; Benoit, E.,Smith, D., Pinto, R. M., & Kugler, K. (2018) Optimizing a community-engaged multi-level group intervention to reduce substance use: An application of the multiphase optimization strategy. Trials, 19 (255). DOI: 10.1186/s13063-018-2624-5. PMC5921441
Jessell, Smith, Jemal & Windsor,L. (2016). Using online learning communities to facilitate collaboration in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Journal of Technology in Human Services. 34(3), 241-255. DOI:10.1080/15228835.2016.1186581. PMC5646695
Windsor, L., Jemal, A. & Alessi, E. (2015). Cognitive behavioral therapy: A meta-analysis of race and substance use outcomes. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21 (2), 300-310. DOI: 10.1037/a0037929
Windsor,L., Jessell, L., Lassiter, T., & Benoit, E. (2015). Community Wise: A formative evaluation of a community based health intervention. International Public Health Journal, 7(1), 79-90. PMC4653082
Windsor, L.; Pinto, R.; Benoit, E.; Jessell, L., & Jemal, A. (2014). Community Wise:Addressing oppression to promote individual and community health. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 14(4), 402-420
Windsor, L., Benoit, E., & Jemal, A. (2014). Community Wise: Paving the Way for Empowerment in Community Reentry. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. DOI 10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.023. NIHMS576112
Windsor, L. (2013). Using Concept Mapping for community-based participatory research: Paving the way for community-based health interventions for oppressed populations. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 7(3), 274-293. DOI:10.1177/1558689813479175

Use of research electronic data capture (REDCap) in a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART): a practical example of automating double randomization

Project Helps East St. Louis Residents Overcome Barriers to COVID-19 Testing, Vaccination

SSW Hires First Associate Dean for Research

Providing Hope—and Health—for Children

 

I am committed to supporting disaster-affected individuals, families, and communities.  My hope is that all people affected by collective traumas have the necessary tangible, emotional, and institutional support to recover from these events. To do that, I partner with schools, non-profits, and community-based organizations to develop and test interventions designed to increase protective factors (e.g., social support, healthy coping) and reduce risk for those impacted by all forms of humanitarian crises.
Education


BA – University of Iowa
MSW and MPH – Tulane University
PhD in Social Work – University of Texas, Austin
Peace Corps volunteer – Mali, West Africa




Research

Dr. Tara Powell is a researcher and advocate for behavioral health interventions in disaster-affected communities. With a dual master’s in social work and public health from Tulane University and a PhD from the University of Texas, she explores the impact of behavioral health interventions in the US and abroad.
Drawing from her experience living in and working with disaster-affected communities, Dr. Powell has actively collaborated with local communities and global humanitarian organizations to develop, research, and distribute behavioral health interventions for individuals, families, and communities affected by collective traumas. Following Hurricane Katrina, she co-developed the "Journey of Hope" intervention with Save the Children, which has since been adopted as one of the organization's hallmark programs, reaching over 80,000 children worldwide.  Her experience spans a range of contexts, from communities impacted by conflicts like the Syrian Crisis to those who have experienced pandemics and climate-induced disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes.
Dr. Powell is currently the principal investigator of a multi-state randomized control trial to examine the impact and implementation of the Journey of Hope intervention (1R01MH131248).  Dr. Powell is also a co-investigator on the “Reducing Disparities in Disaster-Related Mental Health Burden” study that uses a community-based participatory research approach to adapt and test the efficacy of a community-based mental health intervention in the Gulf Coast (NASEM 2000013444; PI: Jennifer Scott).
Selected Publications
Powell, T., Qushua, N.(2023). A community-based mental health intervention to improve well-being among Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan: A qualitative analysis.  International Journal of Social Psychiatry. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640221074808
Powell, T., Scott, J., Yuma, P., Hsaio, Y. (2022). Surviving the Storm: Intervening to reduce psychological distress for health and social care providers post-disaster. Health and Social Care in the Community. DOI: 10.1111/hsc.14059
Powell, T., Wegmann, K., Backode, E. (2021). Coping and Post-Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents After an Acute Onset Disaster: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Public Health.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094865
Powell, T., Li, S.J., Hsiao, Y., Thompson, M., Farraj, A., Abdoh, M., Rarraj, R. (2021). An integrated physical and mental health awareness education intervention to reduce non-communicable diseases among Syrian refugees and Jordanians in host communities: A natural experiment study. Preventive Medicine Reports. 21, 101310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101310
Powell, T., Wegmann, K., & Shin, O.J. (2019). Stress and coping in frontline mental health providers after Superstorm Sandy:  An examination of a post-disaster psycho-educational intervention. 25(2), 96 Traumatology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000189
Powell, T., Davis, J. (2018). Addressing the social emotional needs of children in chronic poverty: A pilot of the Journey of Hope. Children and Youth Services Review. 98, 319-327. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.010
Powell, T. & Bui, T. (2016).  Supporting social and emotional skills after a disaster:  Findings from a mixed methods study.  School Mental Health 8 (1) 106-119.

Study examines pandemic’s impact on volunteer health care workers

How can we identify, respond to pandemic-triggered mental health crises?

We’re Living One Disaster to the Next

A role for social and emotional learning after a disaster

Who’s Taking Care of Your Therapist?

Comic: A kids' guide to coping with the pandemic

Advice For Coping With Isolation During The Coronavirus Crisis

What we know and don’t know about long COVID

For scientists studying ‘disaster fatigue,' this has been a year like no other

New Study Reveals Social Network, Food Patterns, and Physical Activity Influence Overweight/Obesity in Rural Brazilian Adolescents

Flavia Andrade is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also holds appointments in the departments of Sociology and Kinesiology and Community Health. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.
What I Do

I am committed to advancing our understanding of health disparities at older ages. My hope is that everyone should age well and with good social support. My work aims to uncover factors that can help societies be more equitable and for individuals to reach better health outcomes. To do so, I use several datasets from many countries around the world, particularly Latin America and the United States.
Flavia Andrade is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. Prior to coming to UI, she was a postdoc at the University of Chicago at the Harris School of Public Policy.






Research Interests


Demography, Sociology, Public Health




Research Description


Dr. Andrade is exploring how transitions at the population level, such as demographic, socioeconomic, nutritional, and epidemiological, are influencing health across the life course. Currently, her work has been focusing on the health of adults and older adults in Latin America and the Caribbean and Latinos in the US. Her current research focuses on several outcomes: chronic conditions (e.g., diabetes and hypertension), quality of life, disability, cognition, mental health, oral health, and life expectancy.
Currently, she is involved in several international projects aimed at understanding the determinants of health disparities. The ultimate goal is to identify factors that are more malleable to changes through interventions and policies.




Education


PhD Sociology - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MS Population Health - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA - Demography - Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Ba Economics - Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil




Additional Campus Affiliations


Professor, School of Social Work
Acting Director, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Professor, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Professor, Women & Gender in Global Perspectives
Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Science
Selected Publications


Guimaraes, R., Andrade, F. C. D. (2020). Healthy life-expectancy and multimorbidity among older adults: do inequality and poverty matter? Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 104157.
Andrade, F. C. D., Corona, L. P., Duarte, Y. A. O. (2019) Educational differences in cognitive life expectancy among older adults in Brazil. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 1-8.
Andrade, F. C. D. (2010). Measuring the impact of diabetes on life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy among older adults in Mexico. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65B(3): 381-389.

Doctors' recommendations associated with healthy behaviors among Brazilians with hypertension

Latinos' beliefs about social status may affect their cardiovascular health, study finds

Study Reveals Social Network, Food Patterns, and Physical Activity Influence Obesity in Brazilian Adolescents

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Dr. R. Benjamin Saldaña, DO, FACEP
Medical Director, Houston Methodist Emergency Care Centers
 Dr. R. Benjamin Saldaña is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He completed his medical training at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, completing a residency in emergency medicine at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center. He serves as assistant professor of clinical medicine with the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine and assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine with Weill Cornell Medicine, Texas A&M School of Medicine and Houston Methodist Hospital Emergency Department.
 

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