NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH) - Community-Campus Partnerships for Health | 2 years, current
Engagement Lead
Design and implement national, federally funded community engagement programs to address health disparities and improve health outcomes for diverse high-priority communities.

++NIH Program 1: New Directions in Health Research & Equity Webinar Series
Program Design, Events & Content Development
• Design and direct national webinar series aligning program mission, NIH priorities, funding compliance, and stakeholder engagement strategies to expand participation and elevate equitable research practices using the All of Us national health dataset increasing utilization by 37%.
• Curate and convened national discussion spaces on current trends in addressing health disparities, increasing engagement by 23%.

Reporting, Evaluation and Continuous Improvement
• Align program effectiveness with national health and community engagement priorities by leverage data-informed approaches to refine engagement strategies through satisfaction, usability, and impact evaluations.
• Synthesize cross-program learnings to enhance trust and translate findings into actionable insights across community-engaged research projects.

++NIH Program 2: Community Engagement Alliance Consultative Resource (CEACR)
Communities of Practice & Peer Learning
• Lead the development of community-partnered frameworks, tools, and coordination structures aligning community-based stakeholder engagement and best practices through a national Community of Practice to strengthen reproducibility.
• Strengthen coordination mechanisms to enable cross program, peer-to-peer learning through on-line expert panels and consult sessions, synthesizing insights across programs to inform national community engaged strategies.
• Synthesize lessons learned across programs to generate national level insights that improve implementation and informed community engaged research practice.

Collaboration, Budgeting & Cross-Functional Alignment
• Established a cross-sector team consisting of program, evaluation, dissemination and communication to operationalize CEACR engagement and dissemination processes to ensure accessibility and culturally relevant engagement products and plans.
• Oversaw program budget ensuring compliance with NIH financial and reporting requirements.

Member Engagement & Partnership Development
• Design structures to strengthen equitable community partnerships by addressing engagement barriers, improving institutional processes, and supporting sustainable collaboration among stakeholders by streamlining SOPs, transparent accountability structures and clear decision rights.
• Advance approaches positioning trust as a measurable scientific asset to support improved enrollment, retention, and participation by utilizing implementation science frameworks, models and theories.
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Sawubona Civic Literacy Program, Hartford, CT | 2 year
Program Director & Curriculum Designer
• Founded a civic literacy initiative empowering disconnected youth (ages 16–20) in Hartford to understand city, state, and federal systems through place-based and culturally responsive learning.
• Designed an 8-week curriculum integrating digital media literacy, equity analysis, and youth-led action, aligning with Connecticut Social Studies Standards.
• Building partnerships with Sheldon Oaks, Impact Academy, Hartford Next and other community-based organizations to expand access to civic education for disconnected youth.
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Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH), Office of Health Equity - Hartford, CT | 1 year
Regional Equity Coordinator
Directed a statewide, cross-sector vaccination access strategy focused on equitable systems design..
• Conducted equity assessments informing culturally responsive health access strategies—improving regional outcomes.
• Designed a school-based vaccination model deployed in 35 schools over 5 days, raising vaccination rates 27% across Hartford and becoming the statewide model.
• Built cross-sector partnerships with agencies, institutions, and trusted influencers increasing vaccination rates within housing authority sites by 7%.
• Developed educational outreach for officials and residents increasing access through warehouse and transit authority sites by 13%.
• Built community advisory partnerships raising access by 9% through institutions including HRA and Hispanic Health Council.
• Used geo-spatial mapping, transportation and anchor institution data to guide clinic placement — raising regional vaccination rates by 39%.
• Produced daily performance reports and monthly trend analyses supporting state-level decision-making.
• Mitigated vaccine hesitancy rates in Hartford and New Britain, cities with the highest vaccine hesitancy rates in the state.
• Created the first coordinated model for vaccine/wellness clinics in all New Britain Housing Authority properties increasing New Britain’s vaccination rate by 7%.
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Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) / AMN Healthcare – Hartford, CT | 1 year
Community Outreach Specialist Lead
Led a specialized, equity-focused contact tracing strategy across 11 socially-vulnerable cities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, improving health equity outcomes.
• Designed a human-centered contact tracing system improving health outcomes by 53% among vulnerable residents.
• Led engagement and coaching practices that resulted in 100% workforce retention during volatile conditions — demonstrating people leadership.
• Strengthened cross-sector coordination increasing access to wrap-around services by 7%.
• Built operational accountability systems ensuring 100% compliance across program life cycle.
• Created equity-based data needs assessment tools — improving resident satisfaction by 73% and workforce retention by 97%.
• Developed storytelling-based case studies to eliminate barriers and connect residents to mental health and social services supports.

+++Other Relevant Roles+++

Council for World Mission – Pulau Ujong, Singapore | 2 years
Program Facilitator
Worldwide partnership of 32 orgs dedicated to protecting human dignity, poverty eradication, dismantling ideologies of supremacy and abating climate change.
• Developed and executed program with Equal Justice Initiative and local BIPOC communities to create global initiatives to dismantle white supremacy in member nations.
• Created global campaigns designed to eliminate white supremacy and create unbiased structures in the 32 countries of the CWM.
• Assessed the Legacies of Slavery Hearings, synthesizing firsthand historical experiences of descendants of U.S. enslavement, creating linkages to the larger global context of colonial, white supremacist economic, social, cultural, and political structures.
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Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) – Birmingham, AL | 1 year, 10 months
Project Manager
A cultural and educational research center, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution, that promotes the comprehensive understanding for the significance of civil rights developments in Birmingham.
Executed the 50th Anniversary of the Children’s Crusade Event, “Youth, Activism, and the Struggle for Human Rights” through partnerships with community leaders, youth leaders, and teachers with the largest most diverse participation in the history of the institution.
• Accelerated the number of student participants by 25%.
• Capitalized on media strategies/campaigns for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute program resulting in a 30% increase in community participation.
• Achieved an increase in online participation by 50% through a multi-level media strategy.
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The Birmingham News – Birmingham, AL | 6 years
Education Manager
The principal newspaper in Central Alabama with a circulation of 100,000 in 15 counties.
Generated student-centered academic content leading to increased numbers of participating schools by 30% through effective relationship building and communication with teachers, city council members, businesses, and administrators.
• Created Advisory Board consisting of first adapters in teaching, administration, media and local businesses to identify and track emerging trends in education.
• Bolstered teacher involvement by 70% through the implementation of teacher and administrator training via workshops and presentations on socially and culturally relevant content.
• Amplified the number of Birmingham City School student’s participation by 47%.
• Planned and executed outreach increasing the number of Birmingham City School student’s participation by 47% through outreach strategies.
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Miss Porter’s School, Farmington, CT
History Instructor