Academic Affairs
Academic Affairs Coordinator Tim White
Academic Program Specialist Theo Caldwell
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Assistant Professor Belinda Zeidler¹
Biography
Belinda Zeidler has been a faculty member at PSU for over 30 years. As Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs at the School of Public Health, she is the undergraduate curriculum chair and is responsible for overseeing the curricular changes to courses and programs at the undergraduate level. She also works as an academic advisor and internship co-coordinator.
Early in her career, as a graduate student at PSU, Zeidler was assigned to teach the Health and Fitness for Life course required of all PSU students. She developed a strong interest in enhancing health by applying successful behavior change theory. Upon graduation, she was hired to coordinate the Health and Fitness program.
Also early in her career, aside from teaching, she worked with an Oregon health insurance company as a health educator, implementing health promotion programs around the state. Her focus was health behavior change for lower socioeconomic populations.
Education, Degrees
B.S., Anthropology, PSU, 1982
M.S.T., Exercise Science, PSU, 1986
Awards and Honors
2016, Outstanding Teacher Award, PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs, School of Community Health
Director of Applied Learning Jamie Jones
Biography
As an alum of our MPH in Health Promotion, Jamie Jones has work experience as an undergraduate public health instructor, academic advisor, an OHSU research associate, and the Director of Operations at Disability Rights Oregon. Jamie will be supporting our graduate students with their Practice Experience. Jamie grew up in Florida, lived in Alaska, and moved to Portland in 2006. She loves the Portland Thorns (#ptfc), has many houseplants, and is known to hike on rare occasions.
Executive Specialist for Academic Affairs Jennifer Sweeney
Biography
She was born in Las Vegas and lived in Redondo Beach, CA during her teenage years. She attended the Western Washington University, then moved to Vancouver, Washington. She is getting married in Arizona this October! She is currently obsessed with her polydactyl cat, Poppy. In her spare time she enjoys reading, writing, working out, and traveling.
Interim Assistant Dean for Graduate Academic Affairs, Associate Professor Brad Wipfli¹
Biography
Brad Wipfli’s research concentrates on health promotion and health behavior, particularly on identifying strategies to increase physical activity and improve physical and mental health. He also investigates the ways in which changes in health behaviors impact physiological processes and clinical indicators of illness and disease.
Wipfli won the 2009 Dissertation of the Year award from the National Association of Sport and Physical Education for his work discovering that post-exercise improvements in depressive symptoms are mediated by reductions in serum serotonin. He has also been a part of several pioneering Total Worker Health interventions, including the groundbreaking Safety and Health Involvement for Truckers study, which is the largest health and safety intervention with truck drivers in U.S. history. He is currently leading an intervention aimed at improving health, safety, and well-being of workers in sedentary occupations (see here).
Education, Degrees
B.A., Carthage College, 2002
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2008
Awards and Honors
- 2009, First Place, Best Practices Intervention Evaluation Competition (Olson, R., Anger, K., Elliot, D.L., Wipfli, B., Schmidt, S., & Gray, M.) APA/NIOSH Work, Stress and Health Conference
- 2009, Dissertation of the Year, National Association for Sport and Physical Education
- 2007, Douglas L. Conley Memorial Scholarship Award, Arizona State University Department of Kinesiology
Notes
- NIOSH Center of Excellence (Anger, Center PI) Oregon Healthy Workforce Center of Excellence Research Project: Multilevel Intervention to Improve Safety and Health in Sedentary Occupations Description: This project is a research project within the overall Center application. The study is designed to substantially improve health, safety, and well-being in sedentary workers, including physiological outcomes that contribute to chronic diseases. The project tests whether a multilevel intervention is more effective than single level interventions for increasing the utilization of existing health and safety resources. Role: PI of Research Project
- USAMRAA W81XWH-13-2-0020 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 2/08/13 – 2/07/18 Development and Evaluation of Veteran Supportive Supervisor Training (VSST): Improving Reintegration of the Oregon National Guard and Reserves into the Workplace Description: The major goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a veteran supportive supervisor training program for the civilian workforce to impact veteran and family health and well-being. Role: Co-Investigator
- TREC – NITC (Liu-Qin Yang, PI) 4/01/16 to 10/01/17 How Do Stressed Workers Make Travel Choices that are Good for their Health, Safety, and Productivity? Description: This study will analyze two existing datasets to determine the psychological factors that impact commute choices, and examine how commute choices impact psychological and physiological stress responses to daily stressors. Role: Co-Investigator
- NHLBI R01 HL105495 (Ryan Olson, PI) 4/01/11 to 3/31/16 Social Support During a Randomized Trial of a Trucker Weight Loss Intervention Description: Cluster randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a competition-based weight loss intervention for truck drivers that is supported with computer-based training and motivational interviewing. The study will also evaluate how social support factors in both home and work environments moderate intervention effectiveness. Role: Co-Investigator
- NIOSH U19 OH010154 (Kent Anger, PI) 9/01/11 to 8/31/16 Oregon Healthy Workforce Center of Excellence Description: Development and evaluation of a scripted peer-led curriculum to organize home care workers into neighborhood-based Workforce teams that provide education and social support for improving lifestyle (e.g., diet, exercise) and safety behaviors. Role: Collaborator
- NIOSH 2U01 HD059773-05 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 9/01/08 to 7/31/14 Portland Center: Work Family and Health Network Phase II Description: Randomized multi-worksite evaluation of a multi-component intervention (including behavioral self-monitoring) to increase family-supportive supervisory behaviors and employee temporal control over job tasks. Role: Investigator
- NICHD U01 HD059773-05S1 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 9/30/09 to 9/29/11 Administrative Supplement, Work-Life Network Phase II Description: Administrative supplement award to enhance intervention effectiveness through the development of employee self-monitoring activities that are designed to increase co-worker supportive behaviors and employee temporal control over job tasks. Role: Investigator
Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for Social Justice, Associate Professor Dawn Richardson¹
Biography
Dawn Richardson is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, where she teaches Foundations of Public Health, Urban and Community Health, and Global Health. Richardson also serves as the Faculty lead for the Practice Experience.
Richardson is a social epidemiologist trained in Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR). Her research advances health equity by integrating and building on new knowledge, combining social determinants of health with the science of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), with the aim of developing policies and programs in response. Specifically, her research questions elucidate the pathways by which the unequal distributions of income, power and wealth (based on gender, race, ethnicity, immigration status, e.g.) affect health outcomes, social mobility, and access to opportunity. Working in partnership with community, she incorporate these findings into concrete programs and policies to promote population health. Her current research projects include: (1) understanding the intersection of place and health, specifically how neighborhood characteristics (e.g., race-based segregation, geographies of opportunity) shape health inequities; (2) examining the impact of racism, discrimination, and immigration status on access to reproductive health services and birth outcomes; and (3) evaluating work-place policies that impact maternal child health disparities (e.g., paid parental leave, breastfeeding support).
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of Tennessee Chattanooga, 1999
M.P.H., Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2002
Dr.P.H., University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 2010
Kellogg Health Scholar, University of Michigan, 2012
Awards and Honors
- 2019: Selected Participant, Latino Network’s UNID@S Oregon Leadership Program, Cohort VIII
- 2018: Recipient, PSU President’s Diversity Award for Distinguished Faculty
- 2017: PSU Faculty Fellow for Equity & Social Justice in Community-Based Learning
- 2016: PSU Faculty Fellow for Sustainability, Institute for Sustainability Studies
- 2013: PSU Faculty-in-Residence for Engagement, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2012: PSU Faculty Fellow for Community Partnership, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2011: Selected Mentee, American Academy of Health Behavior/Kellogg Health Scholars Program
Notes
- 1R21HD087734-01 NIH (Messer) 05/06/16-04/30/17 Role: Co-Investigator Social Factors Influencing Pregnancy Outcome Disparities This study aims to identify how nativity and documentation status shape adverse PO (inappropriate maternal weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)/eclampsia, PTB, term BW, small for gestational age (SGA)) and how the residential food context exacerbates risk for adverse outcomes.
- 1UL1MD009596 / 1RL5MD009591 / 1TL4MD009634 NIH (Crespo) 09/26/14-06/30/19 Role: Co-Investigator Enhancing Cross-Disciplinary Training at Oregon (EXITO) The major goal of this project is to recruit, train, and support diverse undergraduate students seeking research careers in the biomedical and social sciences. This is part of a broad national strategy to develop and evaluate innovative strategies for engaging undergraduate researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences, and preparing them to thrive in the NIH-funded workforce.
Academic Affairs - Program Directors & Coordinators
| SPH Program | Program Director | Program Coordinator |
|---|---|---|
| BS/BA Applied Health & Fitness | Belinda Zeidler | |
| BS/BA Public Health Studies | Belinda Zeidler | |
| Graduate Certificate in Biostatistics | Rochelle Fu | |
| Graduate Certificate in Public Health | Robin Baker | |
| MPH Biostatistics | Rochelle Fu | |
| MPH Environmental Systems & Human Health | Tawnya Peterson | |
| MPH Epidemiology | Sarah Andrea | |
| MPH Health Management & Policy | Neal Wallace | |
| MPH Health Promotion | (1) Brad Wipfli, (2) Dawn Richardson | |
| MPH Public Health Practice | Robin Baker | |
| MS Biostatistics | Rochelle Fu | |
| PhD Community Health | Cara Eckhardt | |
| PhD Epidemiology | Emily Henkle | |
| PhD Health Systems & Policy | Sherril Gelmon |
Academic Affairs - Undergraduate Advising
Undergraduate Advising is provided by PSU’s Pathway Advising. The undergraduate programs of the SPH are part of the Health, Science and the Earth (HSE) pathway.
Information on this pathway, including how to connect with an advisor can be found on the PSU website.
Communications
Communication, Outreach & Marketing (COM) Manager Kelly Mackura
Dean's Leadership Team
Assistant Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs Emily Morris Kemmerer
Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Assistant Professor Belinda Zeidler¹
Biography
Belinda Zeidler has been a faculty member at PSU for over 30 years. As Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs at the School of Public Health, she is the undergraduate curriculum chair and is responsible for overseeing the curricular changes to courses and programs at the undergraduate level. She also works as an academic advisor and internship co-coordinator.
Early in her career, as a graduate student at PSU, Zeidler was assigned to teach the Health and Fitness for Life course required of all PSU students. She developed a strong interest in enhancing health by applying successful behavior change theory. Upon graduation, she was hired to coordinate the Health and Fitness program.
Also early in her career, aside from teaching, she worked with an Oregon health insurance company as a health educator, implementing health promotion programs around the state. Her focus was health behavior change for lower socioeconomic populations.
Education, Degrees
B.S., Anthropology, PSU, 1982
M.S.T., Exercise Science, PSU, 1986
Awards and Honors
2016, Outstanding Teacher Award, PSU College of Urban and Public Affairs, School of Community Health
Associate Dean for Finance and Administration Karen Camp
Associate Dean for Research, Ronald Naito-John McAnulty Professor in Health Equity Marguerita Lightfoot
Biography
Dr. Lightfoot received her master’s and doctorate in Counseling Psychology from UCLA. Her research focuses on improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults, as well as the development of culturally competent, efficacious interventions to reduce acquisition and transmission of HIV among populations disproportionately burdened by the epidemic. She has obtained NIH funding to design and implement HIV preventive interventions, including culturally-tailored interventions for adolescents in the juvenile justice system, runaway/homeless youth, youth living with HIV, young MSM, and adults living with HIV. Her research has developed interventions and bridged the gap from development to implementation. She has been the Principal Investigator on numerous R01 and other R-level grants, as well as center grants and foundation grants, including from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and others. She has had a distinguished career in community-engaged research, receiving awards for her community partnership efforts.
Dr. Lightfoot currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research. Prior to starting this position in September 2021, she was Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Chief for the Division of Prevention Science, Director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), Director of the UCSF Prevention Research Center and she held the Walter Gray Endowed Chair. She came to the SPH with extensive experience training and mentoring students, fellows, trainees, and early-career faculty across a number of disciplines. She also currently serves on the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), which advises the Director, National Institute of Mental Health, on all policies and activities related to the conduct and support of mental health research, research training, and other programs of the Institute. She was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral (MEB) Development Among Children and Youth. She serves on the editorial boards of American Psychologist and Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, and was recently associate editor for the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Education
1985 – 1990 University of California, Los Angeles B.A. Psychology
1990 – 1992 University of California, Los Angeles M.A. Counseling Psychology
1992 – 1997 University of California, Los Angeles Ph.D. Counseling Psychology
1997 – 1999 University of California, Los Angeles Postdoc Psychiatry
Data Analyst Juniper Poole
Biography
Juniper has been with the school for about a year, and works with all administrative teams at the School of Public Health. After receiving a double bachelors in Psychology and Philosophy from Willamette University in 2019, Juniper has pursued skills in data analysis and computer science. Among their skills are data wrangling, programming, and data visualization.
Executive Specialist for Academic Affairs Jennifer Sweeney
Biography
She was born in Las Vegas and lived in Redondo Beach, CA during her teenage years. She attended the Western Washington University, then moved to Vancouver, Washington. She is getting married in Arizona this October! She is currently obsessed with her polydactyl cat, Poppy. In her spare time she enjoys reading, writing, working out, and traveling.
Interim Assistant Dean for Graduate Academic Affairs, Associate Professor Brad Wipfli¹
Biography
Brad Wipfli’s research concentrates on health promotion and health behavior, particularly on identifying strategies to increase physical activity and improve physical and mental health. He also investigates the ways in which changes in health behaviors impact physiological processes and clinical indicators of illness and disease.
Wipfli won the 2009 Dissertation of the Year award from the National Association of Sport and Physical Education for his work discovering that post-exercise improvements in depressive symptoms are mediated by reductions in serum serotonin. He has also been a part of several pioneering Total Worker Health interventions, including the groundbreaking Safety and Health Involvement for Truckers study, which is the largest health and safety intervention with truck drivers in U.S. history. He is currently leading an intervention aimed at improving health, safety, and well-being of workers in sedentary occupations (see here).
Education, Degrees
B.A., Carthage College, 2002
Ph.D., Arizona State University, 2008
Awards and Honors
- 2009, First Place, Best Practices Intervention Evaluation Competition (Olson, R., Anger, K., Elliot, D.L., Wipfli, B., Schmidt, S., & Gray, M.) APA/NIOSH Work, Stress and Health Conference
- 2009, Dissertation of the Year, National Association for Sport and Physical Education
- 2007, Douglas L. Conley Memorial Scholarship Award, Arizona State University Department of Kinesiology
Notes
- NIOSH Center of Excellence (Anger, Center PI) Oregon Healthy Workforce Center of Excellence Research Project: Multilevel Intervention to Improve Safety and Health in Sedentary Occupations Description: This project is a research project within the overall Center application. The study is designed to substantially improve health, safety, and well-being in sedentary workers, including physiological outcomes that contribute to chronic diseases. The project tests whether a multilevel intervention is more effective than single level interventions for increasing the utilization of existing health and safety resources. Role: PI of Research Project
- USAMRAA W81XWH-13-2-0020 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 2/08/13 – 2/07/18 Development and Evaluation of Veteran Supportive Supervisor Training (VSST): Improving Reintegration of the Oregon National Guard and Reserves into the Workplace Description: The major goal of this project is to develop and evaluate a veteran supportive supervisor training program for the civilian workforce to impact veteran and family health and well-being. Role: Co-Investigator
- TREC – NITC (Liu-Qin Yang, PI) 4/01/16 to 10/01/17 How Do Stressed Workers Make Travel Choices that are Good for their Health, Safety, and Productivity? Description: This study will analyze two existing datasets to determine the psychological factors that impact commute choices, and examine how commute choices impact psychological and physiological stress responses to daily stressors. Role: Co-Investigator
- NHLBI R01 HL105495 (Ryan Olson, PI) 4/01/11 to 3/31/16 Social Support During a Randomized Trial of a Trucker Weight Loss Intervention Description: Cluster randomized trial to evaluate the efficacy of a competition-based weight loss intervention for truck drivers that is supported with computer-based training and motivational interviewing. The study will also evaluate how social support factors in both home and work environments moderate intervention effectiveness. Role: Co-Investigator
- NIOSH U19 OH010154 (Kent Anger, PI) 9/01/11 to 8/31/16 Oregon Healthy Workforce Center of Excellence Description: Development and evaluation of a scripted peer-led curriculum to organize home care workers into neighborhood-based Workforce teams that provide education and social support for improving lifestyle (e.g., diet, exercise) and safety behaviors. Role: Collaborator
- NIOSH 2U01 HD059773-05 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 9/01/08 to 7/31/14 Portland Center: Work Family and Health Network Phase II Description: Randomized multi-worksite evaluation of a multi-component intervention (including behavioral self-monitoring) to increase family-supportive supervisory behaviors and employee temporal control over job tasks. Role: Investigator
- NICHD U01 HD059773-05S1 (Leslie Hammer, PI) 9/30/09 to 9/29/11 Administrative Supplement, Work-Life Network Phase II Description: Administrative supplement award to enhance intervention effectiveness through the development of employee self-monitoring activities that are designed to increase co-worker supportive behaviors and employee temporal control over job tasks. Role: Investigator
Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for Social Justice, Associate Professor Dawn Richardson¹
Biography
Dawn Richardson is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, where she teaches Foundations of Public Health, Urban and Community Health, and Global Health. Richardson also serves as the Faculty lead for the Practice Experience.
Richardson is a social epidemiologist trained in Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR). Her research advances health equity by integrating and building on new knowledge, combining social determinants of health with the science of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), with the aim of developing policies and programs in response. Specifically, her research questions elucidate the pathways by which the unequal distributions of income, power and wealth (based on gender, race, ethnicity, immigration status, e.g.) affect health outcomes, social mobility, and access to opportunity. Working in partnership with community, she incorporate these findings into concrete programs and policies to promote population health. Her current research projects include: (1) understanding the intersection of place and health, specifically how neighborhood characteristics (e.g., race-based segregation, geographies of opportunity) shape health inequities; (2) examining the impact of racism, discrimination, and immigration status on access to reproductive health services and birth outcomes; and (3) evaluating work-place policies that impact maternal child health disparities (e.g., paid parental leave, breastfeeding support).
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of Tennessee Chattanooga, 1999
M.P.H., Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2002
Dr.P.H., University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 2010
Kellogg Health Scholar, University of Michigan, 2012
Awards and Honors
- 2019: Selected Participant, Latino Network’s UNID@S Oregon Leadership Program, Cohort VIII
- 2018: Recipient, PSU President’s Diversity Award for Distinguished Faculty
- 2017: PSU Faculty Fellow for Equity & Social Justice in Community-Based Learning
- 2016: PSU Faculty Fellow for Sustainability, Institute for Sustainability Studies
- 2013: PSU Faculty-in-Residence for Engagement, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2012: PSU Faculty Fellow for Community Partnership, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2011: Selected Mentee, American Academy of Health Behavior/Kellogg Health Scholars Program
Notes
- 1R21HD087734-01 NIH (Messer) 05/06/16-04/30/17 Role: Co-Investigator Social Factors Influencing Pregnancy Outcome Disparities This study aims to identify how nativity and documentation status shape adverse PO (inappropriate maternal weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)/eclampsia, PTB, term BW, small for gestational age (SGA)) and how the residential food context exacerbates risk for adverse outcomes.
- 1UL1MD009596 / 1RL5MD009591 / 1TL4MD009634 NIH (Crespo) 09/26/14-06/30/19 Role: Co-Investigator Enhancing Cross-Disciplinary Training at Oregon (EXITO) The major goal of this project is to recruit, train, and support diverse undergraduate students seeking research careers in the biomedical and social sciences. This is part of a broad national strategy to develop and evaluate innovative strategies for engaging undergraduate researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences, and preparing them to thrive in the NIH-funded workforce.
Interim Associate Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs, Professor Betty Izumi¹
Biography
Betty Izumi is a registered dietitian and associate professor in the School of Public Health. Her research focuses on issues at the intersection of nutrition, sustainability and health equity. She uses a community-based participatory research approach to explore the question: Can diet quality and health be improved among underserved individuals in such a way that promotes vibrant and resilient local food systems?
She is the principal investigator for Harvest for Healthy Kids, a nutrition intervention developed in partnership with Mt. Hood Community College Head Start and Early Head Start. Harvest for Healthy Kids connects children in early care and education settings to local agriculture through classroom education, food service modification and family engagement. In 2016, Harvest for Healthy Kids was awarded the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Nutrition Education Program Impact Award.
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of British Columbia, 1998
M.P.H., University of California, Berkeley, 2000
R.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2001
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2008
Awards and Honors
- 2017, Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award (Japan)
- 2016, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Mid-Career Professional Achievement Award
- 2016, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Nutrition Education Program Impact Award for Harvest for Healthy Kids
- 2013, Portland State University College of Urban and Public Affairs Craig Wollner Memorial Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty
- 2012, Portland State University Civic Engagement Award for Excellence in Community-based Research
Interim Dean Richard Johnson¹
Biography
Dr. Richard Johnson is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Professor in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health (SPH) at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland Oregon.
He received his BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Washington and his MS and PhD degrees from the Oregon Graduate Institute (now part of OHSU). Dr. Johnson has been a faculty member at OHSU since 1985. He teaches in the areas of public health relating to climate change, drinking water availability, chemical and transport and fate in the environment and restoration of sites contaminated by industrial and other sources. His research interests involve forecasting of water quality in rivers to protect drinking water sources, development of diagnostic tool for groundwater restoration, and vulnerability of groundwater sources of drinking water.
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of Washington, 1973
M.S., Oregon Graduate Institute, 1981
Ph.D., Oregon Graduate Institute, 1985
Strategic Projects Administrative Manager Recruitment In Progress
Finance and Administration
Associate Dean for Finance and Administration Karen Camp
Finance & Accounting Analyst 2 Jamie Townsend
Biography
Education, Degrees
BS Accounting, Portland State University, 2014
Finance, Administration & Student Services Beth Bull
Fiscal Coordinator Ashley Groves
HR Manager Cara Cooper
Senior Grants & Contracts Coordinator Brianna Duncan
Unit Sponsored Project Analyst 1 Tam Nguyen
Research
Associate Dean for Research, Ronald Naito-John McAnulty Professor in Health Equity Marguerita Lightfoot
Biography
Dr. Lightfoot received her master’s and doctorate in Counseling Psychology from UCLA. Her research focuses on improving the health and well-being of adolescents and young adults, as well as the development of culturally competent, efficacious interventions to reduce acquisition and transmission of HIV among populations disproportionately burdened by the epidemic. She has obtained NIH funding to design and implement HIV preventive interventions, including culturally-tailored interventions for adolescents in the juvenile justice system, runaway/homeless youth, youth living with HIV, young MSM, and adults living with HIV. Her research has developed interventions and bridged the gap from development to implementation. She has been the Principal Investigator on numerous R01 and other R-level grants, as well as center grants and foundation grants, including from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, William T. Grant Foundation, and others. She has had a distinguished career in community-engaged research, receiving awards for her community partnership efforts.
Dr. Lightfoot currently serves as the Associate Dean for Research. Prior to starting this position in September 2021, she was Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Chief for the Division of Prevention Science, Director of the Center for AIDS Prevention Studies (CAPS), Director of the UCSF Prevention Research Center and she held the Walter Gray Endowed Chair. She came to the SPH with extensive experience training and mentoring students, fellows, trainees, and early-career faculty across a number of disciplines. She also currently serves on the National Advisory Mental Health Council (NAMHC), which advises the Director, National Institute of Mental Health, on all policies and activities related to the conduct and support of mental health research, research training, and other programs of the Institute. She was a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (National Academies) Committee on Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral (MEB) Development Among Children and Youth. She serves on the editorial boards of American Psychologist and Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, and was recently associate editor for the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Education
1985 – 1990 University of California, Los Angeles B.A. Psychology
1990 – 1992 University of California, Los Angeles M.A. Counseling Psychology
1992 – 1997 University of California, Los Angeles Ph.D. Counseling Psychology
1997 – 1999 University of California, Los Angeles Postdoc Psychiatry
Research Associate Tamara Sale
Biography
Research Associate Ryan Melton
Research Associate Tania Kneuer
Research Associate Michelle Owens
Research Associate Halley Knowles
Senior Research Associate II Katherine Hayden-Lewis
Social Justice
Graduate Administrative Assistant Sydney Gilbert
Biography
Graduate Administrative Assistant for Social Justice
Sydney Gilbert (she/they) is a dual masters student studying public health (MPH – Health Promotion) and social work (MSW – macro concentration). Sydney is a graduate assistant for the Antiracism Initiative and a teacher’s aide for Dr. Dawn Richardson’s Foundations of Public Health course (PHE 511). Her current social work internship is on Central City Concern’s Navigation Team, where they do street outreach to provide survival supplies and service referrals to people living in houseless encampments around Portland. Sydney’s background is vision science and neuropsychology, but going forth they hope to support public mental health and housing with a focus on racial justice, queer rights, reindigenization, and abolition. She is also the goalie for PSU’s women’s lacrosse team.
Interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Associate Dean for Social Justice, Associate Professor Dawn Richardson¹
Biography
Dawn Richardson is an Associate Professor and Associate Dean in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, where she teaches Foundations of Public Health, Urban and Community Health, and Global Health. Richardson also serves as the Faculty lead for the Practice Experience.
Richardson is a social epidemiologist trained in Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR). Her research advances health equity by integrating and building on new knowledge, combining social determinants of health with the science of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD), with the aim of developing policies and programs in response. Specifically, her research questions elucidate the pathways by which the unequal distributions of income, power and wealth (based on gender, race, ethnicity, immigration status, e.g.) affect health outcomes, social mobility, and access to opportunity. Working in partnership with community, she incorporate these findings into concrete programs and policies to promote population health. Her current research projects include: (1) understanding the intersection of place and health, specifically how neighborhood characteristics (e.g., race-based segregation, geographies of opportunity) shape health inequities; (2) examining the impact of racism, discrimination, and immigration status on access to reproductive health services and birth outcomes; and (3) evaluating work-place policies that impact maternal child health disparities (e.g., paid parental leave, breastfeeding support).
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of Tennessee Chattanooga, 1999
M.P.H., Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 2002
Dr.P.H., University of California Berkeley School of Public Health, 2010
Kellogg Health Scholar, University of Michigan, 2012
Awards and Honors
- 2019: Selected Participant, Latino Network’s UNID@S Oregon Leadership Program, Cohort VIII
- 2018: Recipient, PSU President’s Diversity Award for Distinguished Faculty
- 2017: PSU Faculty Fellow for Equity & Social Justice in Community-Based Learning
- 2016: PSU Faculty Fellow for Sustainability, Institute for Sustainability Studies
- 2013: PSU Faculty-in-Residence for Engagement, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2012: PSU Faculty Fellow for Community Partnership, Center for Academic Excellence
- 2011: Selected Mentee, American Academy of Health Behavior/Kellogg Health Scholars Program
Notes
- 1R21HD087734-01 NIH (Messer) 05/06/16-04/30/17 Role: Co-Investigator Social Factors Influencing Pregnancy Outcome Disparities This study aims to identify how nativity and documentation status shape adverse PO (inappropriate maternal weight gain, pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)/eclampsia, PTB, term BW, small for gestational age (SGA)) and how the residential food context exacerbates risk for adverse outcomes.
- 1UL1MD009596 / 1RL5MD009591 / 1TL4MD009634 NIH (Crespo) 09/26/14-06/30/19 Role: Co-Investigator Enhancing Cross-Disciplinary Training at Oregon (EXITO) The major goal of this project is to recruit, train, and support diverse undergraduate students seeking research careers in the biomedical and social sciences. This is part of a broad national strategy to develop and evaluate innovative strategies for engaging undergraduate researchers, including those from backgrounds underrepresented in biomedical sciences, and preparing them to thrive in the NIH-funded workforce.
Program Manager Adri Jones
Biography
Social Justice Program Manager
Adri is an alumna of OHSU-PSU School of Public Health and the Program Manager for Social Justice with Dr. Dawn Richardson. She is passionate about advocating for racial health equity, public policy, community building, and cultural humility practices. She is also invested in efforts toward improving population health outcomes and exploring the impact of intergenerational trauma on health. Currently, Adri is working to support efforts to engage the SPH community in collective action toward building an antiracist SPH. She has a background in supporting community-based initiatives centered around improving health equity and addressing the social determinants of health through culturally relevant resources.
Student and Alumni Affairs
Assistant Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs Emily Morris Kemmerer
Executive Specialist for Student & Alumni Affairs Lexee Chau
Biography
Lexee was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. She has lived in Portland and Seattle. She has a 3.5 year old French Bulldog named Saint. In her free time she loves to try new restaurants with friends, walk by the waterfront with her dog, and enjoy the outdoors.
Graduate Registration and Student Services Coordinator Patricia Fidler
Interim Associate Dean for Student and Alumni Affairs, Professor Betty Izumi¹
Biography
Betty Izumi is a registered dietitian and associate professor in the School of Public Health. Her research focuses on issues at the intersection of nutrition, sustainability and health equity. She uses a community-based participatory research approach to explore the question: Can diet quality and health be improved among underserved individuals in such a way that promotes vibrant and resilient local food systems?
She is the principal investigator for Harvest for Healthy Kids, a nutrition intervention developed in partnership with Mt. Hood Community College Head Start and Early Head Start. Harvest for Healthy Kids connects children in early care and education settings to local agriculture through classroom education, food service modification and family engagement. In 2016, Harvest for Healthy Kids was awarded the Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Nutrition Education Program Impact Award.
Education, Degrees
B.S., University of British Columbia, 1998
M.P.H., University of California, Berkeley, 2000
R.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2001
Ph.D., Michigan State University, 2008
Awards and Honors
- 2017, Core Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Award (Japan)
- 2016, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Mid-Career Professional Achievement Award
- 2016, Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior Nutrition Education Program Impact Award for Harvest for Healthy Kids
- 2013, Portland State University College of Urban and Public Affairs Craig Wollner Memorial Award for Outstanding Junior Faculty
- 2012, Portland State University Civic Engagement Award for Excellence in Community-based Research
Program Assistant, Student Support Andrew Wyman
Biography
Andrew is an administrator in the School of Public Health.
B.S., Health Studies, Portland State University
Recruitment and Admissions Manager Josh Hodsden
Biography
Josh Hodsden has been a student advocate in higher education for over 10 years, coaching both undergraduate and graduate students before and during their programs.
Education, Degrees
B.S., Business Management, University of Phoenix, 2002
M.B.A., University of Phoenix, 2010
Student and Alumni Success Manager Laura Ehrlich
Biography
Education, Degrees
M.S. Ed., Portland State University
M.L.A., University of Virginia
B.A. Cornell University
¹ CEPH Primary Instructional Faculty
² CEPH Non-Primary Instructional Faculty
OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Org Chart
