Joint and secondary appointments:

Research Fellow, Global Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health in Atlanta

Appointment granted July 1998

 Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics

Emory University School of Medicine

Appointment granted December 2010

 Clinical appointments:

Staff physician, Emory Healthcare 

Previous Academic and Professional Appointments:   

 Former Chief, Preventive Medicine Division and Preventive Medicine Residency Program

Licensures/Boards: 

Georgia Medical License, issued September, 1998.

American Board of Preventive Medicine Certification, certified 2001, recertified 2011

American Board of Family Practice Certification, certified 2002, recertified 2009

Education:

Postgraduate Training:

Committee Memberships:

National and International: 

• HRSA-Maternal Child Health Bureau, Interconception Care Team for Regions IV and VI (5/12 – present)
• CDC, Division of Reproductive Health, Advisory Panel on Emergency Preparedness and Response (12/11 – present)
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Office of Population Affairs/Family Planning, Expert Work Group on Reproductive Planning (08/10 – present)
• CDC, Division of Reproductive Health, Expert Advisory Panel on Vitamin D Physiology in Pregnancy:  Implications for Preterm Birth and Preeclampsia (4/26-4/27/11)
• CDC Steering Committee for Surveillance of Hemoglobinopathies (01/09 – present)
• HRSA-Maternal Child Health Bureau Expert Work Group for Interconception Care (3/09 – present)
• CDC Select Panel and Clinical Work Group on Preconception Care (2006 - present)
• American Academy of Family Physicians Representative to Select Advisory Panel for National Summit on Preconception Care (2005 - present)
• CDC Clinical Work Group of the Select Panel for Preconception Care (2007 – present)
• American Academy of Family Physicians Representative to National Preconception Care Work Group of American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (2004-2005)        

Regional and State:

• Advisory Committee, Every Woman Southeast Preconception Care Initiative (2010-present)
• Blue Ribbon Advisory Panel, Louisiana Better Births Initiative (2011–present )
• Advisory Committee, Georgia Academy Pediatrics Obesity Action Network (2004-present)
• Advisory Committee, Georgia Physician’s Breastfeeding  Panel (2002-2005)
• Research Committee, Georgia United Against Antibiotic Resistant Disease (2002- 2005)
• Task Force Committee Member, Georgia Academy of Family Practice Early Intervention and Developmental Screening Tool (2004 - 2005)

Institutional:

• Preventive Medicine Residency Advisory Committee (2005-2009)
• Resident Representative, Dean’s Graduate Medical Education Committee (2001-2002)
• Resident Representative, Dean’s Committee Status of Women in Medicine (1998-00)

Consultantships:   

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Expert Panel on Pan-Influenza Preparedness Workgroup for Pregnant Women (3/08)

NIH/National Institute of Child Health and Development:

• Reviewer for Biospecimen Repository Access and Data Sharing Committee of the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research (01/06/12)
• Advisor, Preconception Care Research: Improving Birth Outcomes and Reproductive Health Workshop  (4/14/08 – 4/15/08)

Georgia Academy of Family Physicians:

• Advisor to ‘Prevention, Assessment, and Treatment of Child Obesity’ project of the Educating Physicians in their Communities (EPIC) initiative (3/12 – present)
• Quality Improvement Leader for Lowering Infant Mortality in Georgia (5/07-4/08)

 IMPLICIT:  Family Medicine Practice-Based Research Network:

• Clinical and epidemiologic design consultant for implementing interconception care in a

            network of primary care practices (2/08 – 3/08). 

Editorships and Editorial Boards: 

• Editorial consultancy with American College of Physicians (ACP): Update of Preconception Care Module for Physicians’ Information & Education Resource, 2008

• Co-Editor Special Issue Journal of Community Genetics: Genetic Aspects of Preconceptional Consultation in Primary Care (2012, in press)

Manuscript reviewer:

Reviewer, Academic Pediatrics

Reviewer, American Family Physician

Reviewer, American Journal of Disaster Medicine

Reviewer, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Reviewer, American Journal of Preventive Medicine

Reviewer, American Journal of Public Health

Reviewer, Annals of Family Medicine

Reviewer, Annals of Epidemiology

Reviewer, Environmental Research

Reviewer, Indoor Air

Reviewer, Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine

Reviewer, Journal of the National Medical Association

Reviewer, Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing

Reviewer, Journal of Pediatrics

Reviewer, Journal of Urban Health

Reviewer, Journal of Women’s Health

Reviewer, Pediatric Allergy & Immunology

Reviewer, Pediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology

Reviewer, Pediatrics

Reviewer, Women’s Health Issues

Reviewer, Sexual and Reproductive Health

Honors and Awards:

Emory Graduate School of Medicine

Fellow, Woodruff Leadership Academy (2012)

Atlanta Clinical-Translational Science Institute New Investigator in Nutrition Award(2010-2011)

CDC Foundation Young Investigator in Public Health Training Grant (2005-2009)

Fellow, American Academy of Family Physicians (October 2005)

Chief Resident, Department of Family & Preventive Medicine (July 2001 – May 2002)    

Family Practice Resident of the Year, Georgia Academy of Family Physicians (June 2002)

PGY-3 Family Practice Resident of the Year, Emory University (June 2002)

Mead Johnson Resident Award for Leadership & Patient Care (June 2001)

PGY-2 Family Practice Resident of the Year, Emory University (June 2001)

Outstanding Resident Award, American College of Preventive Medicine (2000)

Rollins School of Public Health

Delta Omega (public health honor society) (2000)

Dean's Merit Scholarship Recipient (1998)

Mayo Medical School

Harry H. Hoffman Award (1994) – for service to indigent people of Bolivia

Harry H. Hoffman Award (1995) – for service to indigent people of the Dominican Republic

Dean’s Merit Scholarship Recipient (1993-1997)

University of Michigan

Summa Cum Laude graduate

Phi Beta Kappa (junior year inductee)

James B. Angell Scholar (8 consecutive terms of all A’s)

Society Memberships:

Member, American Academy of Family Physicians

Member, Georgia Academy of Family Physicians

Member, American Public Health Association

Member, Georgia Public Health Association

Member, American College of Preventive Medicine

 Research focus:

My research focuses upon improving women’s health and health care with a focus upon reproductive health and child health outcomes.  Specifically, I am interested in identifying underlying factors that contribute to racial disparities in reproductive and pregnancy outcomes (especially preterm and low birth weight deliveries) and in clinical translational research to identify interventions to improve reproductive and pregnancy outcomes, particularly among low-income minority populations.  A major research focus has been the content and mechanism of delivery of preconception health care and exploring whether improvements in specific women’s health parameters can improve birth outcomes such as rates of preterm birth.  In addition, my research with the WHO Collaborating Center in Reproductive Health in Atlanta has focused upon monitoring racial disparities in reproductive health outcomes, exhuming factors contributing to trends over time, as well as implementing and evaluating health services and policy interventions.  Presently, I am evaluating the integration of women’s primary and preconception health care services in county- and federally-funded clinic sites in metropolitan Atlanta.  I am a member of the Emory PRiCE (Preterm Research International Center of Excellence) under the leadership of Drs. Robert Taylor (Gynecology-Obstetrics) and Carol Hogue (Epidemiology/Women’s and Children’s Center), and have contributed to the submission of several federal grants to study environmental and genetic contributors to preterm birth and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

ACTIVE Grants and Contracts:

    Federally funded:  

1. PI, Office of Population Affairs-Family Planning - FPRPA006056-01-00 - $702,958

Outcome & Translatability Evaluation of a Client-Centered Counseling Toolkit in Title X

Oct 2012 – Sep 2015

2. PI, HRSA-Maternal Child Health Bureau - R40MC11280 -  $ 774,630  

Evaluation of the integration of preconception and primary health care for low-     income, minority women

Feb 2009 – Feb 2013

3. PI, HRSA-Bureau of Health Professions - D5HHP18958 - $ 680,000

Creation of a ‘Maternal-Child and Reproductive Health Track’ for the Preventive Medicine Residency Training Program

July 2010 – June 2013

4. co-PI, CDC-COPTER ($ ) - 1P01TP000300-01  -   $1,550,547

Exploration of successful academic-public health partnerships in crisis planning and response  (PI = Alexander Isakov, MD, Emergency Medicine)

10/2008 – 10/2013

     State and other funded:        

1. PI, Healthcare Georgia Foundation - $50,000

Evaluation of Promising Approaches to Improved Infant Health Program

10/2012 – 09/2013

2. PI, Emory-Children’s Pediatric Research Center - $50,000

Does health care coverage for primary care services before and between pregnancies improve birth outcomes for low income?

06/2012 – 05/2013

3. co-PI, Georgia Department of Community Health (PI = Kathleen Adams, PhD)

            Evaluation of the Georgia Medicaid Family Planning Waiver

January 2011 – July 2013