CPH Faculty

Drawing on 20 years of practice as a nurse-midwife, Dr. Karen Trister Grace’s research interests are in reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence (IPV), pregnancy intention and health disparities. Dr. Grace recently conducted research addressing solutions to housing instability for IPV survivors, as well as a mixed methods study exploring reproductive coercion in Latina women. She has an interest in birth outcomes related to IPV and reproductive coercion, and the intersection with unintended pregnancy. Dr. Grace is the lead editor of the 3rd edition of the “Prenatal & Postnatal Care: A Person-Centered Approach” textbook.

Dr. Kossi Pierre Eklou is an Assistant Professor for the School of Nursing in the College of Public Health and a Board-Certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner.

Dr. Batheja is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Food and Nutrition Studies. Batheja’s research interests are how to leverage technology to create dietary behavior changes and impact overweight and obesity.

Dr. Bloom is a Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health at George Mason University. Bloom’s research focuses on the intersection of environmental pollutants and human health in the U.S. and abroad.

Helen Chin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health. Her research interests are centered around investigating factors that adversely affect the reproductive health of women and girls, as well as their offspring. Her current focus is studying how endocrine disrupting exposures affect ovarian development and function. 

Dr. Michelle S. Williams is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health at George Mason University. Dr. Williams’ research is focused on developing culturally appropriate health behavior interventions for cancer prevention and control that will lead to a reduction in cancer disparities. Since 2009, Dr. Williams has been conducting research in Ghana, West Africa that is focused on cervical cancer prevention.

Dr. Carolyn Drews-Botsch is Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health. Her research has focused on the epidemiology of pediatric conditions and the factors, particularly in the perinatal period, that contribute to their etiology.  Specifically, her work seeks to understand these conditions, and carefully apply modern epidemiologic methods to studies of these conditions. Her research program has included work in a variety of related fields including congenital cataracts, fetal growth restriction – particularly in relationship to placental development, intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders.  

Dr. Daphne King is an Assistant Professor and MSW Online Program Director in the Social Work Department/College of Public Health. King’s research interests are self-esteem issues in teens and adolescents, mental health concerns and treatment modalities for women of color, specifically African-American women, and the impact engagement in Christianity or spiritual practices have on self-esteem.

Dr. Marti Kubik has an 18-year history of extramural-funded research with a focus on youth and families and low-income and minority populations. Nationally recognized in the field of childhood obesity prevention, Dr. Kubik’s work has advanced understanding of the school food environment, contributing to school nutrition policy at state, national and international levels. Other research examined the role of school nursing in obesity prevention. New work piloted a trauma-informed, resilience-based multi-level intervention to reduce violence among urban youth. She has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals and is a past standing member of the NIH Community-Level Health Promotion Study Section.

Dr. Maria Uriyo is assistant professor and MHA Online Program Coordinator in the Department of Health Administration and Policy.  She was Program Director at Medicalincs LLC, an independent minority owned healthcare consulting firm located in Maryland where she oversaw the Rare & Expensive Medical Conditions Program that provided care coordination services to clients residing in select counties in Maryland.