Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. About
  3. Who We Are

Who We Are

NIMICT’s research team is multi- and cross-disciplinary. The team has expertise in wide-ranging methodological techniques and extensive research experience focused on the social determinants of health and disease reduction in diverse communities, patient populations, and practice settings. Few research teams have the experience and expertise to implement numerous primary and secondary stroke and behavioral education intervention studies.

Bernadette Boden-Albala
  • Principal Investigator

  • Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH

  • Director and Founding Dean, University of California, Irvine, Program in Public Health
  • Dr. Boden-Albala is an internationally recognized expert in the social epidemiology of stroke and cardiovascular disease. For over fifteen years, her work has involved describing and intervening on stroke disparities with emphasis on the social determinants of stroke in diverse communities including the role of stress, socio-economic status and social support in explaining stroke disparities and patterns of stroke distribution across the U.S. She has been the PI of numerous large stroke prevention grants, and has a wealth of knowledge and experience on leading community level health interventions.
  • Communications Expert

  • Heather Carman Kuczynski, MPH, CHES

  • Program Manager, New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Heather manages NIMICT’s communications and publications. Heather specializes in health communications.
  • Co-Investigator

  • Nina S. Parikh, MPH, PhD

  • Research Associate Professor, New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Nina manages NIMICT's activities. Her background includes over ten years addressing health disparities among ethnic-racial older adults, in particular understanding their physical, mental and social needs and adapting behavioral interventions to combat some of the most prevalent chronic conditions for this group.
  • Research Manager

  • Emily Drum, MPH

    • University of California, Irvine
  • Emily coordinates NIMICT's initiatives. She received her MPH from New York University in the Public Health Nutrition track.
  • Epidemiologist

  • Eric Roberts, MPH

  • Associate Research Scientist, New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Eric received an MPH from the University of Michigan and is currently in the dissertation phase of a PhD degree in Epidemiology at Columbia University. Eric provides biostatistical and epidemiological consultation for all of NIMICT's initiatives.
  • Coordinator

  • Lauren Southwick

  • Junior Research Scientist, New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Lauren coordinates NIMICT’s initiatives. Lauren received her BA from Franklin and Marshall College. Her research interests include health communications and social determinants of health.
  • Coordinator

  • Noa Appleton

  • Research Coordinator, New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Noa coordinates NIMICT's initiatives. She received her MPH from Columbia in the Epidemiology of Chronic Disease track.
  • NIMHD Project Officer

  • Jennifer Alvidrez, PhD

    • NIMHD
  • Health Scientist Administrator for the Division of Extramural Activities and Scientific Program and serves as a Program Official at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
  • NINDS Scientific Director

  • Salina Waddy, MD

    • NINDS
  • Stroke neurologist with a special interest in the areas of health disparities, issues related to stroke, and the genetic determinants of stroke, as well as predictive health.
  • Multi-site Investigator

  • Dorothy Farrar-Edwards, PhD

    • University of Wisconsin at Madison
  • Expert on barriers to research participation in neurological clinical trials and IRB regulations and protocol.
  • Multi-Investigator

  • Amy Towfighi, MD

    • University of Southern California
  • Dr. Towfighi is a vascular neurologist who has published extensively on sex, race/ethnic, and socioeconomic inequities in stroke. She is an expert in the impact of social determinants of health on cardiovascular and neurological disease, and testing the effectiveness of complex health systems and community-based interventions to address vascular risk factor control for primary and secondary cardiovascular disease prevention in historically marginalized populations.
  • Multi-site Investigator

  • Ilene Albala, JD,MBE

    • Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
  • Policy and ethics consultant
  • Steering Committee Member

  • Devin L. Brown, MD

    • University of Michigan
  • Leading researcher in the field of sleep disorders in stroke patients, behavioral interventions for stroke prevention, health disparities research, and acute stroke therapy.
  • Steering Committee Member

  • Olveen Carrasquillo, MD

    • University of Miami
  • Expert in the field of areas of minority health, health disparities, community based participatory research and access to care.
  • Multi-site Investigator

  • Sean Haley, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College
  • Sean Haley believes that the strongest public health education is one that is rooted in an understanding of science, history and populations. Working within communities framed his understanding of and commitment to urban health and initiated his research interests related to the intersection of social context and health.
  • Multi-site Investigator

  • Nicole Saint-Louis, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Stella & Charles Guttman Community College at CUNY
  • Areas of interest include, Narrative Practice, Narrative Medicine/Social Work, culturally relevant/responsive pedagogy, cross-cultural understanding, social justice education, stress, burnout and compassion fatigue, motivational interviewing, psychodynamic interventions, mixed methods research, and clinical professionals.
  • Graduate Research Assistant and Trial Coordinator

  • Jazmin Rivera, MPH

    • New York University College of Global Public Health
  • Jazmin is passionate about the representation and visibility of vulnerable populations in social and behavioral research and interventions. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Women and Gender Studies and English Literature at Rutgers University. She hopes to enter a doctoral program focused on social and behavioral interventions at the community level.