Emergency Preparedness, Ethics and Equity Series

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Panelist

Dr. Ralph Baric

Ralph S. Baric, PhD
William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Epidemiology
Professor, Microbiology and Immunology
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Ralph Baric, PhD, has spent the past three decades as a world leader in the study of coronaviruses, warning that the emerging coronaviruses represent a significant and ongoing global health threat. His team in the Baric Lab has been working to accelerate the development of a promising new drug, remdesivir, which has been shown to inhibit multiple coronaviruses. In collaboration with industry partner Gilead Sciences Inc., this drug is currently in clinical trials to reverse COVID-19 disease in humans.

Panelist

Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett

Kizzmekia S. Corbett, PhD
Sr. Research Fellow and Scientific Lead
Coronavirus Vaccines and Immunopathogenesis Team
Vaccine Research Center, NIAID, NIH

Kizzmekia S. Corbett, PhD, is the scientific lead for the Coronavirus Vaccines & Immunopathogenesis Team at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Vaccine Research Center. Her team develops novel coronavirus vaccines, including mRNA-1273, a candidate vaccine against the virus that causes COVID-19. In partnership with Moderna, Inc., this potential vaccine is now in phase 1 clinical trial. Dr. Corbett earned her PhD in microbiology and immunology from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Opening Remarks

Dean Barbara K. Rimer

Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, MPH
Dean and Alumni Distinguished Professor
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Barbara K. Rimer, DrPH, has led the Gillings School as dean since 2005 and spends every day concerned about issues such as student recruitment and retention, the relationship between practice and research, and inclusive excellence. She believes that diversity, equity and inclusion in public health and at the Gillings School are essential to best serve the needs of diverse communities in North Carolina and globally.

Moderator

Matthew Chamberlin

Matthew Chamberlin
Director of Communications and Marketing
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Moderator

Dr. Yesenia Merino

Yesenia Merino, PhD, MPH
Director of Inclusive Excellence Education and Training
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Dr. Merino is director of inclusive excellence education and training at the Gillings School, where she develops research projects related to inclusion in academic public health, creates and delivers training on inclusion and antiracism and engages partners throughout university and local communities to improve the inclusive environment at the School. An alumna of health behavior, she conducts mixed methods research on institutional racism and health.

Panelist

Stefani Baca-Atlas

Stefani Baca-Atlas, MSW
Doctoral Candidate (PhD)
UNC-Chapel Hill

Ms. Baca-Atlas is a fourth-year, first-generation doctoral student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her dissertation focuses on the role of structural violence in creating vulnerabilities that increase exposure to potentially traumatic events and health disparities among Latinx people. Stefani is an advisory board member of Carolina Grad Students F1RST, an initiative administered by The Graduate School’s Diversity and Student Success program.

Panelist

Dawna Jones

Dawna Jones, MEd, MSW
Assistant Dean of Students
UNC-Chapel Hill

Ms. Jones serves as assistant dean of students and adjunct instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dawna is a social worker and a committed community advocate. She chairs the Carolina Black Caucus and UNC Financial Literacy Consortium and is a member of the Carolina FIRSTS Advisory Board. She also serves as an affordable housing advocate on the Chapel Hill Housing Advisory Board.

Panelist

Maria Dykema Erb

Maria Dykema Erb, MEd
Co-Director of Diversity and Student Success
UNC-Chapel Hill

Ms. Erb is the co-director of diversity and student success in the Graduate School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Much of her work impacts the retention of underrepresented students. She directs the following initiatives: Carolina Grad Student F1RSTS, Global Grads, Military-Affiliated Grads, QGAPS (Queer Graduate and Professional Students) and the APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) Grads empowerment group.

Moderator

Dr. Dana Rice

Dana Rice, DrPH
Assistant Professor, Public Health Leadership Program (PHLP)
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health

Dr. Rice has expertise in public health practice, leadership and training; correctional healthcare; HIV/STD prevention among vulnerable populations, and health equity. She has worked to document the impact of HIV and STD screening on the health of people housed in jails.

Panelist

Dr. Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein

Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein, PhD
Assistant Professor, Social Medicine
UNC School of Medicine

Dr. Brinkley-Rubinstein, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Social Medicine at UNC—Chapel Hill, as well as a core faculty member in the UNC Center for Health Equity Research. Her research focuses on how incarceration can impact health outcomes and is the PI of a recently funded NIMHD R01 cohort study relevant to pre-exposure prophylaxis among people on probation and parole.

Panelist

Bernadette E. Brown

Bernadette E. Brown, J.D.
Founder and President
B. Brown Consulting, LLC

Ms. Brown has served as as a senior program specialist for the National Council on Crime and Delinquency in California. As a consultant to The National Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) Resource Center (PRC), she developed the first LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) and GNC (gender nonconforming) training curriculum for U.S. Department of Justice PREA auditor certification.

Panelist

Amber Akemi Piatt

Amber Akemi Piatt, MPH
Director, Health Instead of Punishment Program
Human Impact Partners

Ms. Akemi Piatt leads HIP’s Health Instead of Punishment Program. Through research, advocacy and action, this program advances racial justice, public safety, and health equity in partnership with those most harmed by today’s immigration and criminal legal system. Ms. Akemi Piatt believes it’s urgently necessary to shift public resources towards healing and harm reduction instead of furthering criminalization and trauma.

Dr. Gloria Richard-Davis

Gloria Richard-Davis, MD, MBA, NCMP, FACOG
Professor and Executive Director for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Division Director for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility
Medical Director for the Physician Assistants Program

Dr. Richard-Davis is the Executive Director for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. She also is a board-certified, tenured professor in obstetrics and gynecology, division director for reproductive endocrinology and infertility and medical director for the Physician Assistants program. Much of her work in research has been focused on conditions that disproportionately affect women of color, such as fibroids. As a member and officer in the Little Rock Chapter of Links, Inc., she serves communities of color with a focus on women and children.

Dr. Jim Thomas

Jim Thomas, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Director, Measure Evaluation Project for the Carolina Population Center
University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health

Dr. Thomas’s work in public health spans more than 35 years and 25 countries. His principal interests are in the social epidemiology of HIV/AIDS along with public health ethics and human rights. In addition to his many scholarly articles, he was an editor and author of a textbook on epidemiologic methods in the study of infectious diseases and principal author of the American Public Health Association’s Code of Ethics. As director of the MEASURE Evaluation Project, Dr. Thomas leads a global team to advance the capacity of developing countries to monitor and control their epidemics.

Nicole Dozier

Nicole Dozier
Director, Health Advocacy Project
North Carolina Justice Center

Nicole Dozier is the director of the Health Advocacy Project at the N.C. Justice Center. She has been an N.C. State Bar certified paralegal for more than 14 years and currently serves as the Mayor Pro Tempore of the Apex Town Council. Previously, Ms. Dozier worked as a disability specialist with the Social Security Administration State Agency. She serves on the Secretary of State Advisory Council to Combat Counterfeit Medication, the N.C. Council of Churches Governing Board and as the HOA Legislative Action Chair.