Chapel Hill, NC
PhD student in Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. I study how structural forces shape health — with a focus on opioid harm reduction, reentry health, and mixed methods research.
About
I'm a first-year PhD student in the Department of Health Behavior at UNC Gillings, where I work with Dr. Vivian Go. My research sits at the intersection of structural determinants of health, harm reduction, and community-centered approaches to equity.
Before graduate school, I spent two years at the NC Formerly Incarcerated Transition (NC FIT) Program at UNC Family Medicine, working directly with individuals navigating reentry — coordinating care, managing Medicaid reinstatement, and building relationships with county stakeholders. That experience shaped how I think about research: as something accountable to the people it concerns.
I'm trained in qualitative and mixed methods, with growing expertise in implementation science frameworks like CFIR and ERIC. I believe good methods serve the question, not the other way around.
I'm a Dorothy Dunn Scholar and a member of the American Public Health Association. I care about making public health research legible — to communities, to practitioners, and to anyone paying attention.
Research
Current work spanning opioid harm reduction, provider health, and emergency preparedness.
Emergency Preparedness Planning: Lessons from COVID-19 and the Opioid Crisis in Rural Ohio
Examines how rural communities in Ohio navigated the overlapping crises of COVID-19 and the opioid epidemic, identifying structural gaps in emergency preparedness systems and opportunities for harm reduction integration.
A Socioecological Examination of Provider Alcohol Use in Vietnam
Applies a socioecological framework to understand the drivers of alcohol use among healthcare providers in Vietnam, with implications for health system functioning and workforce wellbeing.
The Intersection of the Opioid Crisis and the COVID-19 Pandemic
Independent qualitative study examining how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped pathways into and out of opioid use disorder. Involved in-depth interviews, thematic analysis, and theory-driven interpretation. Awarded the Wake Forest Faculty-Student Facilitation Fund Grant.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2024 – Expected 2029
PhD, Health Behavior
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Dorothy Dunn Scholar · Advisor: Dr. Vivian Go
2024 – Expected 2026
MSPH, Health Behavior
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Dorothy Dunn Scholar
2018 – 2022
B.A., Sociology
Wake Forest University
Cum Laude · Honors & Distinction · Social Determinants of Health
Awards & Fellowships
2024
Dorothy Dunn Scholarship
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
2022
Faculty-Student Facilitation Fund Grant
Wake Forest University
Co-PI with Dr. A. Brewer
Experience
Aug 2024 – Present
Graduate Research Assistant
Dept. of Health Behavior, UNC Gillings
OHOP opioid study, Vietnam provider alcohol study, emergency preparedness; qualitative coding, survey development, mixed methods
Aug 2022 – Jul 2024
Research & Program Support Specialist
NC FIT Program, UNC Family Medicine
Clinical reentry navigation, Medicaid reinstatement, qualitative interviews, county stakeholder partnerships
Aug 2021 – May 2022
Senior Honors Thesis Researcher
Wake Forest University
Independent qualitative study on COVID-19 and opioid use disorder
May – Aug 2021
Research Assistant
Center for Health Policy & Inequalities Research (CHPIR)
HRV intervention research, qualitative memos, literature reviews
Aug – Dec 2021
Teaching Assistant
Wake Forest University — Undergraduate Sociology
Writing
Occasional writing on public health, methods, and things I'm thinking about.
March 2025
What two years in a reentry clinic taught me about structural determinants
Reflections on navigating Medicaid reinstatement, county systems, and what it means to do research with — not on — a community.
More writing coming soon.
Contact
Happy to connect — about research, methods, or public health more broadly.