Current Team Members:
ALEXIS ROTH, PhD, MPH
​[she/her/hers]
Director, Health Equity Advancement Lab
Director, Minor in Program Monitoring and Evaluation  
Associate Professor, Department of Community Health and Prevention 
 
Alexis' research is focused on understanding how individual, social, and environmental factors influence health disparities. She utilizes mixed methods and community-engaged research approaches, with the goal of working with community members and advocates, to co-create sustainable solutions to public health problems. Two of Alexis' areas of interest are the intersection of gender and drug use on women's health as well as the evaluation of interventions to combat the opioid-related overdose crises.

Alexis worked as a bilingual HIV case manager from 2001 through 2004 prior to obtaining her Masters of Public Health at Tulane University where she focused on HIV program planning and evaluation. From 2005-2008 she worked for the Marion County Health Department and Health and Hospital Cooperation first as an HIV educator and later as a grants writer. From there she joined the staff at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis where she coordinated the Medicaid Medical Advisory Committee. She then joined the Division of Adolescent Medicine as a project manager while simultaneously pursuing her PhD in Health Behavior at Indiana University. Upon completing her PhD, Alexis was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California San Diego until she joined the faculty at Drexel University in 2014. Because of these practice-based experiences prior to becoming an academic, Alexis constantly considers the programmatic and policy implications of her work. ​
SCARLETT BELLAMY, Sc.D.
[she/her/hers]
​Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Director of Graduate Studies in Biostatistics
Associate Dean, Diversity, Inclusion and Faculty Development 
Drexel University, Dornsife School of Public Health

Scarlett is a proud graduate of Hampton (BA mathematics) and Harvard (ScM and ScD biostatistics) Universities and was inspired to become a doctor (MD) when her paternal grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was very young and her desire to ‘fix’ her. Her grandmother passed away before she could fully execute that plan, so she leaned into her love of math and discovered biostatistics during a summer research program as an undergraduate at Hampton. For her it was perfect -- she could be an ‘applied mathematics’ doctor instead by pursuing a graduate degree in biostatistics! 
 
She went straight into her first faculty position after finishing up graduate school at Harvard and spent 15 years at the University of Pennsylvania before moving to Drexel in 2016, where she was excited to launch a new PhD program in biostatistics as Director of Graduate Studies in Biostatistics.  She has worked in a wide range of methodological and applied research settings ranging from evaluating and developing statistical methods related to group and cluster-randomized trials to developing prognostic models of poor clinical outcomes following lung-transplant. She is particularly interested in trials devoted to addressing health disparities for a variety of behavioral and clinical outcomes, including HIV risk reduction trials. Professionally, she has held various leadership roles for data coordinating centers of clinical trials and currently directs the Quantitative Core for the Philadelphia Veteran Affairs Medical Center’s, Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the 2017 President of the Eastern North American Region (ENAR) of the International Biometric Society. Finally, she remains committed to increasing diversity in biostatistics and is the PI of an NIGMS-funded workshop grant entitled “Fostering Diversity in Biostatistics at ENAR”.
AYDEN SCHEIM, PhD
[he/him/his]
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University
 
Ayden Scheim is a social epidemiologist interested in the health impacts of social, policy, and healthcare environments experienced by stigmatized populations. In particular, he conducts community-engaged research with transgender populations and people who use drugs, both domestically and globally. Ayden has over 15 years of experience in the field of transgender health, and currently leads studies with trans populations in the U.S., Canada, and India. He also serves on the revision committee for the 8th edition of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health Standards of Care. Ayden is an Affiliate Scientist with the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, where he leads a longitudinal cohort study evaluating supervised consumption services integrated into community health agencies. He has conducted policy and programmatic research on harm reduction in settings ranging from London, Canada to Freetown, Sierra Leone. He received his Ph.D. (2017) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Western University in London, Canada and completed postdoctoral training as a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Fellow in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Ayden’s research is informed by a decade spent working in sexual health programs, shelters and Housing First programs, and community health centres. 
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ALLISON (ALI) GROVES, PHD, MHS
[she/her/hers]
​Assistant Professor, Department of Community Health and Prevention, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University

The main purpose of Ali’s research is to better understand and address disparities in HIV prevention and care globally. Specifically, she uses qualitative and quantitative research methods to further the science on how structural factors (e.g., gender inequalities, housing instability, and mass incarceration) and relationship factors (e.g., intimate partner violence (IPV)) contribute to racial and gender disparities in HIV-related outcomes in Southern Africa and in the United States. Her research has also led to the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions targeting these factors to reduce disparities in HIV and HIV-related outcomes. 
​
Ali has worked previously as a Homelessness Prevention Specialist in Boston, as a case manager for individuals living with HIV in Colorado, as a director of a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Maryland, and as a high school girls’ teacher (and health educator) in Lesotho. These experiences have greatly influenced her commitment to conduct research and interventions which reduce global health disparities in HIV.
KATHLEEN (KATIE) WARD, MSPH, CHES
[she/her/hers]
Doctoral Student, Department of Community Health and Prevention 
 
Katie Ward is a first year doctoral student in the department of Community Health and Prevention at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health.  She has coordinated research projects in Baltimore City focused on connecting people with HIV and HCV who inject drugs to testing and treatment. Katie was trained as a master presenter in the Maryland Department of Health’s ‘Regrounding Our Response’ initiative that aims to address the opioid crisis and reduce stigma surrounding substance use in Maryland.  She is excited to continue her work in Philadelphia as a Drexel University Urban Health Collaborative fellow focusing on harm reduction and peer-based interventions to improve health outcomes for people who use drugs.
KERRY MILEY, MPH
[she/her/hers]
Research Coordinator II
 
Previously a student and Urban Health Collaborative Masters Fellow at Drexel University, Kerry coordinates ongoing research projects for the Health Equity Advancement Lab. After receiving her B.S. in public and community health from Ithaca College, she worked at several harm reduction centers in Ithaca, NY, New York City, and rural Connecticut. Before joining the HEAL team, Kerry coordinated an environmental exposure study for the state of Utah as a CDC Public Health Associate. She is passionate about the overlapping issues of drug overdose, housing instability, infectious disease, and incarceration.
ERIN MCDOWELL, MA
[she/her/hers]
Research Coordinator

Erin graduated with her Master’s in Dance/Movement Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University in 2020. During her studies and in the years following, she has worked in mental health organizations in Philadelphia. Erin is passionate about working within the community to address the intersectionality of trauma, substance use, and stigma surrounding mental health, which brought her to work with HEAL. In her personal life, she loves traveling, dancing, reading, and spending time with the people she loves.
TAMICA MATOS
[she/her/hers]
Research Assistant, TIARAS Project​

​Tamica is from the Kensington section of Philadelphia and attended school in the Philadelphia School District. During her last two summers of high school, Tamica traveled to Cameroon, Senegal, and Italy as a Good Will Ambassador where she worked with local youth to build libraries, clean up local beaches, and work with programs for blind youth. This is where she was inspired to work in the human service field. After high school, Tamica began her human service career at Eagleville Hospital Philadelphia in North Philadelphia where she worked as a Residential Assistant with repeat offenders who had difficulty with addiction. Soon after, she attended University of Maryland College Park for one year, returning to Philadelphia due to medical issues. In 2008, Tamica began working with Philadelphia Workforce Development Employment Advancement Retention Network where she served as Intake Supervisor and Lead Work Readiness Facilitator. During her time there, she graduated from University of Phoenix with an associates degree in Human Service & Management. In 2013, she was forced to leave workforce development to have brain surgery to remove a cerebral AVM that left her legally blind. After adjusting to her loss of sight, Tamica continued to work with the disenfranchised, volunteering with SOL collective, assisting in harm reduction efforts, and working with community members to establish and maintain community parks and gardens such as Las Parcelas and Julio Iglesias Garden. She also works with Puerto Rican Folkloric Dance groups in North Philadelphia. Tamica is in her final year of her bachelor's program in human service with a focus on substance abuse. Her commitment to being of service to others has led her to the Health Equity Advancement Lab to work on TIARAS where she brings her passion for helping others and devotion to the community that she has served for her entire career.
​JULIANNA BERARDI 
[she/her/hers]
MPH Student, Department of Health Management and Policy, Research Assistant, TIARAS

Julianna graduated from Ursinus College with majors in Psychology and Public Health, where her focus on systems-thinking guided her to pursue her Masters of Public Health. At Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health, Julianna is concentrating her MPH studies in Health Management and Policy with a minor in Social Justice Policy. Her public health and research interests include sociopolitical determinants of health, expansion of harm reduction policies and initiatives, and justice-oriented community development. For her Applied Practical Experience (APE), Julianna is collaborating with Dr. Alexis Roth through the Mid-Atlantic Regional Public Health Training Center to create a national landscape of harm reduction policies. Additionally, Julianna is a research assistant for the TIARAS project, aligning with her belief in trauma-informed research and initiatives. Outside of her studies, she is also passionate about voting rights, abolition, and housing. Julianna loves all things Philadelphia – trying new restaurants, spending time with loved ones in the city, and visiting antique shops.
Sidney Palmer
[she/her]
Research Assistant, MPH Student

Sidney graduated from the University of Miami with a B.S. in Public Health, where she engaged in research related to inclusive sexual health education for young people. She is currently a Dornsife Fellow at Drexel University, where she is pursuing her MPH in Epidemiology. Sidney has worked with individuals in the Kensington community as an outreach service provider for individuals experiencing housing insecurity. She also continues to work in the public health field as a COVID-19 contact tracer in Philadelphia. She is currently a research assistant for the TIARAS project within HEAL. Sidney is passionate about achieving health equity and dismantling barriers to health for communities that have been historically marginalized. Her primary interests relate to structural racism as a public health crisis and issues related to safe housing access for all. During her free time, you can find Sidney rock climbing, dancing, or relaxing with her cat.
KATIE SINGLEY, MPH
​[she/her/hers]
Research Assistant

Katie graduated from Loyola University Maryland with a Psychology degree and Statistics minor. She is currently pursuing a Masters of Public Health at Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health with a minor in Social Justice Policy. Her research interests include substance use, urban health, health disparities, and public health ethics. Katie is involved in various research projects that examine the role of harm reduction strategies in alleviating the opioid epidemic. Her goal is to conduct community-based research that can be used to create equitable and transformative policy. Recently, Katie completed her Applied Practical Experience (APE) with Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Network (POPN) where she engaged with key stakeholders such as residents, government officials, and various harm reduction organizations to implement harm reduction strategies in Philadelphia to address the opioid epidemic. ​
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      Azaria Crayton
     [she/her/hers]
     Research Assistant, TIARAS
 Azaria graduated from Penn State with a B.A. in Psychology & Gender Studies and Sexuality. She is currently in her second year of pursuing her Masters in Couple and Family Therapy at Drexel University. Azaria was selected to participate in OWEP, a collaborative training with The University of Akron, focused on addressing substance dependency from a systemic lens. Azaria is passionate about using her diverse experience, sense of humor, and sensitivity to provide trauma informed and culturally attuned care. Azaria currently works as an intern therapist at a community behavioral health agency in Philadelphia with a focus on families and individuals with prior substance dependency, court involvement, and co-occurring mental health diagnoses. She currently a research assistant for TIARAS. In her personal life, Azaria enjoys cooking, reading, and exploring the food and culture of the city. 

Former Team Members:

IMANI ALI
[she/her/they] 
Research Assistant, TIARAS Project
​
Imani received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey with a major in Political Science and minor in Women and Gender Studies. Her extracurriculars included work with the writing center as a tutor for multilingual students along with the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program for incoming first year students. She has additionally committed time to violence prevention as a peer mentor, assisting in planning awareness campaigns, training volunteers and resident hall advisors on mandated reporting, and acting with a student-led improvisational theater group aimed to educate on bystander intervention strategies as a primary tool for preventing interpersonal violence.  
Following graduation, Imani moved to Philadelphia and joined the city’s domestic violence agency, Women Against Abuse, as a crisis counselor and intake coordinator within the family safe haven. She is currently a full-time research assistant under Dr. Alexis Roth on the TIARAS project. Imani is passionate about creative expression as a tool for restorative justice and hopes to combine her experience with direct service and research to better inform and reshape policy that will address gender-based disparities in health from an intersectional lens.  
NGUYEN TRAN, MPH
[he/him/his]
Doctoral Student, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Nguyen Tran is an incoming doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. Nguyen is involved in various research projects focusing on infectious diseases, sexual health and drug-related behaviors among marginalized populations. He uses statistical and epidemiologic methods to understand how individual and social factors affect health disparities, particularly relating to HIV/STI. Nguyen’s goal is to generate epidemiologic data that will drive community prevention efforts and policies. Recently, Nguyen has worked with the Philadelphia Department of Health to understand the burden of HIV among men who have sex with men, persons who inject drugs, and high-risk heterosexuals.  He has an emerging interest in using spatial and multilevel approaches as well as agent-based modeling to understand the how demography, behavior, and social networks influence health outcomes. 
SNEHA KAMARAJUGADDA
​​[she/her/hers]
​MD/MPH Student, Community Health & Prevention
​
Sneha  is an MD/MPH student at Drexel University with a concentration in Community Health and Prevention. She completed her undergraduate studies in biology at Drexel and recently finished her third year of medical school. Her public health interests include sexual and reproductive health and justice, antiracism, and immigrant health. Sneha hopes to practice as an Ob/Gyn doctor and reduce health disparities by addressing barriers to healthcare access and patient education. Outside of school, she likes to embroider, read and eat (but not cook) delicious food.
ALLISON MITCHELL, MPH
[she/her/hers]
Project Manager 

Before earning her MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics, Allison served as an AmeriCorps member at the Eastern Area Health Education Center in Willimantic, CT, where her interest in people who inject drugs and the opioid epidemic originated. During her year of service she served as a program coordinator for the "Collegiate Health Service Corps," in which she managed local college students presenting weekly health education lessons at community service sites such as soup kitchens and migrant farms. Allison's public health interests include analyzing harm reduction services for people who inject drugs, and dreams of being involved with a supervised-injection facility evaluation process. ​
MARISA FELSHER, DrPH
[she/her/hers]
Doctoral Student, Department of Community Health and Prevention
 
Marisa Felsher is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases. Her primary research interest is using social network approaches to increase PrEP awareness, initiation and adherence among women who inject drugs. Marisa has been involved in various research projects, focusing on vulnerable female populations, HIV, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Her dissertation focused on how social networks can be utilized to increase PrEP awareness among  women who inject drugs. Recently, Marisa managed a project related to PrEP eligibility, awareness and attitudes among men and women accessing rapid HIV testing at community-based organizations in Philadelphia. Previously, Marisa volunteered with Project SAFE, a grass roots harm reduction organization providing advocacy and support to women working in Philadelphia’s street economies. ​
ELIZA ZIEGLER
[she/her/hers]
MPH Student, Department of Health Policy and Management 

Eliza is a second year MPH student at Drexel concentrating in Health Policy and Management. She will be working with Project S.H.E through the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative's Master's Fellowship. Eliza received a BA in Economics and Community Health from Tufts University. Since moving to Philadelphia, she has worked at Pathways to Housing PA coordinating benefits for adults who have experienced chronic homelessness. Eliza's interests include improving access to healthcare for vulnerable populations, specifically mental health and drug and alcohol treatment, and how public health research can help promote interventions such as safe consumption sites.
MATTHEW LIPOW
[he/him/his]
MD Student, Drexel University College of Medicine
 
Matthew is a third-year medical student. He is interested in social and structural factors influencing substance use, the spread of infectious disease, and emerging methods to reduce opioid overdose death. Matthew co-coordinated patient advocacy and helped to run Streetside Health Project, a free urgent-care clinic at a syringe exchange and social services organization in Kensington, Philadelphia. In the future, Matthew hopes to develop long-term care relationships with patients through the lens of harm reduction and to bring community health findings into clinical application. Outside of medicine, he has a passion for film photography.
ALEXANDRA TRAUTMAN
[she/her/hers]
MPH Student, Department of Community Health & Prevention
 
Alexandra is a second year MPH student at Drexel concentrating in Community Health and Prevention. She will be conducting a mixed methods analysis using Project SHE data for her Integrated Learning Experience for the MPH Program. Alexandra received a BS in Health Sciences from the University of South Florida. Before moving to Philadelphia, she was a teacher in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana. Her public health interests were largely shaped by her time as a middle school teacher and focus on adolescent health, health disparities, and sexual and reproductive health.
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BOLUTIFE T. ODENIYI
[she/her/hers]
 Research Assistant, Project SHE and KIND
Bolutife is a recent graduate of the Temple University College of Public Health. She has a growing passion and a budding interest in the factors that influence sexual health and drug use behaviors. As an aspiring Global Health professional, Bolutife’s future plans include working with developing countries to establish and implement effective and efficient health care infrastructure, and to reduce negative health outcomes associated with infectious disease. Ultimately, her goal is to reduce health disparities through research, community education, and health policy and to achieve equity in health on a global scale. ​
      
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ROHIT K. MUKHERJEE, MPH
[he/him/his]
Medical Student, Drexel University College of Medicine
 
Rohit is interested in harm reduction, overdose prevention, community outreach, and engaging marginalized populations. Before medical school, he worked as a reading teacher for special needs students living in low-income neighborhoods of DC, and then worked as a Senior Program Assistant at the National Academies of Sciences assisting on an evaluation of Supplemental Security Income. For three years he volunteered for HIPS in DC, a syringe exchange that serves drug users and sex workers. As a medical student, he managed a student-run clinic based out of a syringe exchange and founded a naloxone outreach program. He also interned at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health assisting with overdose prevention programming. He currently works with SOL Collective organizing advocacy efforts to promote the dignity, rights, and voices of people who use drugs in Philadelphia. ​
RACHEL FOX, MHS, PA-C
[she/her/hers]
Physician Assistant, Project SHE
Physician Assistant, Care Clinic, Public Health Management Corporation
 
Rachel Fox is a nationally board-certified Physician Assistant specializing in primary care, HIV, Hepatitis C,  and addiction medicine. Rachel received her Bachelor of Science in Biobehavioral Health from The Penn State University and completed her medical training at Drexel University, earning a Masters of Health Science in 2014. She is passionate about advocating and increasing access to care for urban marginalized populations. As a result, she has led several trainings and initiatives on harm reduction, medication assisted treatment (MAT), sexuality, and LGBTQ health.  Rachel is a member of the National Health Service Corps and sees patients full time at The Care Clinic, part of Public Health Management Corporation.
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ANNETTE GADEGBEKU, M.D.
[she/her/hers]
Associate Professor, Department of Family, Community & Preventive Medicine
Associate Program Director, Drexel University College of Medicine/Hahnemann University Hospital Family Medicine Residency Program
Clinical Site Director, Drexel Family Medicine at Center City
 
Annette’s academic interests include urban and underserved community medicine, adolescent medicine, women’s health and global health. She primarily cares for patients at the Drexel Family Medicine at Center City office, where she specializes in primary care for all ages. As Medical Director of the office, she has established longitudinal Refugee Health Services as well as primary care referral for the Healing Hurt People Program, specializing in trauma-informed care. 
​
She has a passion for underserved, marginalized, vulnerable, and at-risk populations with a focus in harm reduction.  As a result, she has implemented a longitudinal community medicine curriculum for residents and coordinates departmental community health programs at various sites in Philadelphia. She also serves as Community Preceptor and Clinical Faculty Advisor overseeing all the College of Medicine’s Health Outreach Projects (H.O.P.) Student-Run Clinics including the Eliza Shirley Women & Children’s Shelter, Salvation Army Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Center, and Streetside Prevention Point.  She is the Advisor for the Naloxone Outreach Program – a student-run initiative to address the opioid epidemic by training students and community residents in opioid overdose recognition and reversal in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. ​​
BROGAN L PIECARA, MPH, CLC​
[she/her/hers]
Project Manager

Brogan Piecara is a former Project Manager in the Department of Community Health and Prevention at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. Brogan is now a physician assistant student at Drexel University in the College of Nursing and Health Professions class of 2021. Brogan has particular interest in women and children’s health equity: her research has involved disparities in women’s health throughout her graduate career and into her professional experience.  In her time as Project Manager, she managed several community-based HIV prevention initiatives in Philadelphia. Additionally, Brogan has experience coordinating and managing the evaluation of a SAMHSA-funded youth drug and alcohol prevention initiative in Louisiana. 
BRENNA AUMAIER AREDAS, MPH, CPH
[she/her/hers]
Research Assistant, Project SHE
 
Brenna Aredas earned her MPH in the Department of Community Health and Prevention at Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. Brenna has been involved in various research projects, focusing on harm reduction, vulnerable populations, HIV, and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).  Brenna previously managed a research project investigating attitudes and acceptability of extra genital STI testing and attitudes about PrEP among injection drug users in Camden, New Jersey. The results of this project lead to policy changes surrounding expanded STI testing in New Jersey.