Trainees

Justin Bailey, MD
Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Bailey stayed close to home for his education, attending Birmingham-Southern College for undergraduate studies and then the Heersink School of Medicine. Before beginning medical training, he started his career as a middle school teacher. That experience profoundly shaped how he views the importance of early childhood development and continues to influence his research interests today. Dr. Bailey’s career interests include neonatology, child advocacy, and working to embed inclusivity and equity into medical education while challenging systemic injustice. His research focuses on early interventions in neonates to reduce the risk of neurodevelopmental impairment, drawing on his background as an educator to emphasize the lifelong impact of early learning and developmental support. He is particularly interested in how integrating educational frameworks into neonatal care can improve outcomes for high-risk infants.

Mireille Bitangacha, BA
Mireille Bitangacha is a Clinical Research Assistant in CATALYST, the Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking in The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She has a strong passion for research focused on improving health outcomes for marginalized populations. She holds a BA in History from Centre College and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Human Resource Management at The Ohio State University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of Black maternal and child health, looking at food as medicine, and financial literacy to address health disparities and promote well-being in underserved communities.

Marissa Cisneros, PhD
Marissa Cisneros, PhD started working on the HERN EQUATE grant under Kiarri Kershaw, PhD after finishing a year-long visiting professorship at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Prior to that she held a 3-year lectureship at Texas A&M University in the Department of Veterinary Physiology Pharmacology. Here she led the Health Disparity track for the Texas A&M University Biomedical Research Certificate. She completed her graduate studies in May of 2020 at the Texas A&M University Sociology department.

Jasmine L. Garland McKinney, PhD,
Jasmine L. Garland McKinney, is a postdoctoral associate in the College of Information at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she supports research activities for the Community, Equity, Data, and Information (CEDI) Lab and the American Heart Association-funded Building Equitable Linkages with Interprofessional Education Valuing Everyone (BELIEVE) Project. Her research focuses on Black women’s experiences with perinatal physical and mental health disparities, impacts of racial stress (e.g., racism, discrimination) on maternal mental health outcomes, and culturally-specific coping mechanisms resulting from intergenerational trauma.

Xiaodan Hu, PhD
Dr. Xiaodan Hu is a post-doctoral scholar with CATALYST, the Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking in The Ohio State University College of Medicine. She is engaged in the fields of health communication and implicit racial bias. Her primary research interests involve negative cognitive biases and emotion regulation strategies in individuals experiencing symptoms of depression or generalized anxiety disorder, their influence on how an individual’s digital environment is shaped by self-selection, and the associated mental health outcomes. Dr. Hu received her MA from Indiana University, Bloomington, and her PhD from The Ohio State University, both in Communication.

Sooyoung Kim, PhD, RN
Dr. Sooyoung Kim is a Postdoctoral Scholar at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, working within CATALYST—the Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking. She specializes in pediatric nursing and health services research. Dr. Kim earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in nursing science from Ewha Womans University in South Korea, and she holds a PhD in nursing from The Ohio State University College of Nursing. With her background as a pediatric nurse, she has contributed to improving the quality of care for infants and children through both clinical practice and research. Her dissertation focused on enhancing nursing care for infants experiencing substance withdrawal, aiming to improve care delivery for this vulnerable population.

Amber E. Lachaud, MD
Dr. Amber Lachaud is a Maternal-Fetal medicine fellow working with the IMPACT P3 team of the EQUATE network in the Division of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lachaud received her medical degree from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Brown University/Women and Infants Hospital. She is passionate about addressing disparities to improve adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. Her current research interest include health equity, implementation science, qualitative research methodology.

Deysia Oakcrum, BA
Deysia Oakcrum is a second-year MPH candidate at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, specializing in Maternal, Child, and Family Health. She currently serves as a trainee in the P3 EQUATE Network, working with the BELIEVE team at UNC. Deysia’s research focuses on centering the lived experiences of Black birthing people, with particular interests in doula care and birth work, maternal and infant nutrition, and reproductive health conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. With a background in health communication and qualitative research, she is passionate about advancing community-centered initiatives that promote equitable health outcomes for all birthing people.

Kayla Torres-Benson, DrPH, MPH
Dr. Kayla Torres-Benson, a native of Puerto Rico, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), working with the P3OPPY team. She earned her DrPH from Samford University, an MPH in Healthcare Organization and Policy from UAB, and a BS from Alabama State University. Her research interests focus on maternal and infant health equity, particularly the role of Community Health Worker (CHW) interventions in reducing health disparities and improving outcomes for underserved populations. Passionate about community-driven solutions and program development, Dr. Torres-Benson leverages her experience as a former CHW to inform her research efforts and training goals.