Doctoral Student Profiles

Mackenzie AdamsMackenzie Adams, MPH, is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and a Rackham Merit Fellow. Her research interests include understanding and mitigating the factors that influence substance use and adverse mental health outcomes in adolescents.

JaJaJane Bestnae Best, nae Best, MPH (she/her/hers) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. She is interested, broadly, in the impact of racism on Black communities. Specifically, she aims to highlight the impact of race-based stress on the sexual health and mental health of Black Americans while noting factors that have contributed to resiliency. This includes considering religiosity, social support, and racial identity as coping mechanisms. Her methodological interests lie with program design and community-based participatory research. Ultimately, she aims to implement interventions to address structural racism and move Black communities toward health equity.

Laura BrotzmanLaura Brotzman, MPH is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior Health Education at the School of Public Health and a Rackham Merit Fellow. Broadly, she is interested in medical decision making, risk communication, information visualization, and implementation of clinical practice guidelines.

Gregory Bushman, MPH, MSWGregory Bushman, MPH, MSW, is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior & Health Education at the School of Public Health. His work explores the relationship between the urban built environment and health, and examines the efficacy of community-engaged environmental design as a public health intervention for the reduction and prevention of crime, violence, and injury. Methodologically, he is interested in the visualization and analysis of spatiotemporal data, and in the application of data science and machine learning techniques to public health research.

Chelsea G. CoxChelsea G. Cox, MPH, MSW, is a doctoral candidate and Rackham Merit Fellow in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public. She previously directed community outreach and education initiatives for the NIH/NIA Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of California, Irvine. Her research is focused on improving early detection of Alzheimer’s disease and risk communication among healthcare providers, patients, and family members.

Victoria DavisVictoria H. Davis (she/her/hers), MSc, is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on opportunities to intervene on unmet social needs (e.g., social isolation, housing, and food security) in healthcare and social settings. She is passionate about working alongside patients and communities toward health and social equity, and policy and program evaluation. 

  Sara J. FeldmanSara J. Feldman, MPH, is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education (HBHE) at the School of Public Health and a Rackham Merit Fellow. Sara has domestic and global experience in the development, implementation and promotion of disability and health education curriculum, programs and policies. Her current research is focused on the ethical, social, behavioral and psychological implications of disclosing genetic and biomarker risk information for the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases (i.e., Alzheimer’s disease) among patients and their family members and/or care partners.

Koya Ferrell

Gabriel JohnsonGabriel Johnson, MPH, is a doctoral candidate in Health Behavior Health Education, Rackham Merit Fellow, and Robert Woods Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholar. His work focuses on the health and wellbeing of Black men by investigating masculinities as an intersectional and dynamic  sociocultural construct that captures how structural factors impact and shape the health of Black men. His dissertation applies Critical Race Theory and intersectionality to qualitatively explore how Black masculinity as a distinct social construct impacts the mental wellness of cisgender Black gay and bisexual men living in southeast Michigan. The qualitative study is foregrounded by a critical literature review that uses intersectionality as a lens to analyze empirical peer reviewed articles across disciplines addressing Black gay and bisexual men, masculinity, and mental well-being. He aims to incorporate his work into varying community contexts. In fall of 2024, Gabriel will be transitioning to a Dean’s Research Associate (postdoc) at Michigan State University’s School of Social Work. 

Noelle KelloggNoelle E. Kellogg, MPH is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and a Rackham Merit Fellow. Her research interests include using community-engaged approaches to better understand and address the health effects of intersectional stigma, particularly among youth and LGBTQ+ people. 

Esther Lee

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Akilah Patterson, MPH is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. Her research focuses on the effects of racial discrimination on mental health among adolescents and emerging adults. Previously, she was a project manager for the Healthy Minds Study, the largest and most comprehensive national research study on college student mental health.

Geila RajaeeGeila Rajaee, MPH is a PhD Candidate at the University of Michigan, School of Public Health in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. Her research interests include spirituality/religion, chaplaincy, management of chronic disease, and behavioral interventions to improve health outcomes. Geila is particularly interested in preventable chronic diseases (e.g., diabetes) and the role of chaplains in mitigating and managing adverse health outcomes.

Clara Lucia Reyes, MPH, is a doctoral student and Rackham Merit Fellow in the Department of
Health Behavior and Health Education (HBHE) at the University of Michigan School of Public
Health. Clara is also a Population Studies Center trainee at the Institute for Social Research.
Her research focuses on understanding structural influences on the health of (im)migrant
communities and subsequent generations in the U.S. and Latin America, and in developing and
implementing community-driven policy approaches to advance health equity and social justice.
Clara earned her MPH in Community Health Education from New Mexico State University.
While there, she contributed to the cultural adaptation of an evidence-based parenting program
for Latina mothers diagnosed with cancer and was Program Manager of the randomized control
trial assessing its efficacy. Prior to her MPH studies, Clara worked at Peace Corps headquarters
in Washington, DC and served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in El Salvador.

headshot of doctoral student amy ruschAmy Rusch, MPH, is a doctoral student and Rackham Merit Fellow in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research interests revolve around mental health in school- and community-based settings. Utilizing Implementation Science frameworks, theories, and strategies, she aims to focus her work on improving the availability and accessibility of evidence-based mental health resources and programming. She plans to deploy rigorous qualitative and quantitative methods to identify effective ways to bridge gaps and improve mental health access for underserved populations through an equity lens.

Sundas Saboor Sundas Saboor, MBBS, MPH, is a doctoral student in the Deparment of Health Behavior and Health Education at the School of Public Health. Broadly, she is interested in women's health, public health practices among Muslim women, artificial intelligence, and digital health. 

Maren SpolumMaren Spolum, MPH, MPP (she/her/hers) is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and a Population Studies Center demography trainee within the Institute for Social Research. Broadly her research interests include the political economy of health, structural racism, public policy, and health inequities. Maren is specifically interested in tracing the historical and political conditions giving rise to neoliberal policy decisions, and the role and impact those policies have had in the social patterning of racial health inequities in the U.S.

 Dominique SylversDominique Sylvers, MPH, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Health Behavior & Health Education who is committed to working for more equitable aging. Dominique is a trainee with the Population Studies Center (PSC) and Social Environment and Health (SEH) Department, both at the Institute for Social Research (ISR). Her research largely focuses on the older African American adults, specifically around explicating the influence of segregation and the neighborhood context on disparities in cognitive aging.

Gabrielle YoungGabrielle Young, MPH, CHES, is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the School of Public Health and a Rackham Merit Fellow. Broadly, she is interested in policy and built environment interventions to address hunger and diet quality. She has a special interest in the structural drivers of inequalities and their impact on households meeting food needs.