Featured Public Health Work

Featured Public Health Work

DEEP BEHAVIORAL INSIGHT

OPERATIONAL DISCIPLINE

PUBLIC HEALTH & INSTITUTIONAL RIGOR

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DEEP BEHAVIORAL INSIGHT

  • Longevity Initiative of Wake County, NC
    MPH capstone applied Blue Zone theory and longevity science to Wake County, identifying its underserved 40-59 “sandwich generation” cohort, more than 332,000 adults with zero dedicated county programming. Proposed a complete, five-year framework addressing loneliness, workplace ageism, and community design, including measurable Year 1 and Year 5 targets.

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  • Pictorial Project: Crooked Creek Community Health Assessment (Fuquay-Varina, NC)
    A photovoice assessment evaluating the built-environment health factors of a 470-home neighborhood in Fuquay-Varina, NC (a suburb of Raleigh, NC). The community sits within a 143-acre town park with five miles of trails, large half-to-one-acre lots that support home gardening, and a new elementary school and community center, all of which are health assets. However, this assessment also found gaps: no sidewalks anywhere in the neighborhood, a walkability score of just 3 out of 10, no streetlights in the surrounding park, and no public transportation. This demonstrates that even an affluent, amenity-rich community can hide significant built-environment health risks in plain sight, as shown by direct observation.

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  • Portage Pathways: Helping Tweens and Teens Build Healthy Mindsets (OH)
    A full school-based mental health program design (group project) responding to a documented 25% global rise in adolescent anxiety and depression since COVID-19, with local Portage County, Ohio, data showing nearly 28% of adolescents reporting anxiety warranting professional support. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the plan includes a “Train Your Brain” classroom curriculum, mindfulness training, a supporting mental health app, and community engagement events, built using the CDCynergy planning model and the CDC’s six-step evaluation framework, complete with SMART objectives, a quasi-experimental evaluation design, and a detailed implementation budget and sustainability plan.

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  • Sleep Hygiene & the Integrated Behavior-Change Model
    Reviewed five peer-reviewed studies on behavior-change methodology and produced a full measurement design for a sleep-hygiene intervention, including validated psychological instruments (Self-Report Habit Index, Implicit Association Test, and others).

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OPERATIONAL DISCIPLINE

  • Wake County, NC Housing Research, From Data to Designed Intervention
    A needs assessment found that an increasing number of households in Wake County’s “middle-income” bracket spend nearly 59% of income on housing, almost double the federal cost-burden threshold. A final comprehensive project then built directly on that research, designing a complete, county-ready intervention, including a new screening protocol, a dedicated Housing Navigator role, and a destigmatizing public awareness campaign to help close the gap.

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  • Review of Summit County, OH 2019 Community Health Assessment
    A critical evaluation of a real county CHNA, assessed against the NACCHO/MAPP planning framework.

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PUBLIC HEALTH & INSTITUTIONAL RIGOR

  • Global Health Governance: Geneva, Switzerland
    At the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, attended 12 WHA side events and six WHO presentations, with site visits to the Global Fund, IFRC, and UN agencies, seeing firsthand how governance, trust, and the built environment function as determinants of health at scale, vs. theory.

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  • Care Can’t Wait: Gender-Affirming Care Direct Action Project
    Applied Gaventa’s Three Faces of Power framework to map how institutions maintain, or can be pressured to change, policy outcomes around gender-affirming care access in North Carolina. Full campaign includes a provider pledge, legislative testimony support, and professional association engagement, each with defined deliverables and audience-specific dissemination plans. Includes an NC Provider Fact Sheet citing peer-reviewed findings, endorsements, and a point-by-point evidence rebuttal of common legislative arguments.

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  • Climate Change, Hurricanes & Mosquito-Borne Disease Risk in Eastern NC
    Intensifying hurricanes and sea-level rise are expanding mosquito-borne disease risk in Eastern North Carolina, but the state currently treats flood planning and mosquito surveillance as separate systems. Produced seven policy recommendations to close that gap, including integrated data systems and mandatory Integrated Mosquito Management.

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  • Post-Dobbs Maternal Mortality Policy Brief, North Carolina
    A policy brief built on common ground: regardless of one’s views on abortion policy, no one disagrees that women shouldn’t die from preventable pregnancy complications. Six concrete, politically viable recommendations to reduce avoidable maternal deaths in North Carolina.

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  • Fact Sheet: Safeguarding LGBTQ+-Inclusive Public Services Within Anti-DEI Constraints
    A practical guide for institutions navigating how to maintain quality, inclusive services under growing anti-DEI policy restrictions, without exposing themselves to legal or political risk. Backed by real data: inclusive healthcare environments reduce emergency department visits by 23% and improve medication adherence by 40% among LGBTQ+ patients, while hostile school environments correlate with 30% higher absenteeism and 25% lower graduation rates among LGBTQ+ students. Offers concrete, defensible reframing language that preserves legal protections like the ACA, Title VII, and EMTALA, giving policymakers, institutions, and educators actionable steps that avoid political vulnerability.

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  • Literature Review: Bisphenol A (BPA) Exposure Risks for Pregnant Women
    A structured review and analysis of nine peer-reviewed studies (2016-2025) examining the health effects of prenatal BPA exposure. Findings consistently link maternal BPA exposure to increased childhood adiposity (especially in girls), elevated preeclampsia risk, preterm birth, and lower birth weight (especially in male infants), with some evidence pointing toward ASD symptom associations. The review also identifies a common methodological weakness across the field, reliance on single-point urine sampling, and calls for more longitudinal population health research and exposure-reduction strategies.

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