Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology Faculty
Faculty bios
Rebecca Campbell, PhD, is an assistant professor of maternal and child health epidemiology. Her research interests are in environmental and nutritional determinants of early life growth and development, particularly interactions among exposures and drivers of health disparities. Her recent global research investigated prenatal determinants of fetal iron status at birth in a Mexico City pregnancy cohort study. Prior research in Bangladesh investigated intestinal dysfunction and diet quality in young children as drivers of poor growth.
Brenikki Floyd, PhD is the associate dean for community engagement and a clinical assistant professor of community health sciences. She has years of experience in health communication, community-based participatory research, implementation and dissemination science and program evaluation. Dr. Floyd’s research focuses on the application of health communication strategies in community-based and health systems settings to improve health outcomes among racial and sexual minority populations, particularly adolescents, women and LGBTQ+ populations.
Ashley Hill, PhD, assistant professor of community health sciences, is a reproductive epidemiologist focusing on maternal and child health, sexual health and health equity to reduce reproductive health disparities. She aims to determine risk factors for sexual and reproductive health disparities and suggest approaches to aid in the development of prevention strategies to reduce morbidity. She utilizes multiple mixture modeling approaches (e.g., latent class analysis, latent transition analysis, structural equation modeling) and applies social determinants of health frameworks. This work is community grounded and engaged from inception to implementation.
Jess Rothstein, PhD, assistant professor of community health sciences, is a social and behavioral scientist who uses mixed methods with the goal of improving child nutrition, health, and development. She is particularly interested in (1) understanding and addressing the multi-level factors influencing infant and young child feeding practices, and (2) leveraging formative research to develop feasible and acceptable interventions to improve responsive parenting. She is also interested in the potential of mobile health/digital health technologies to promote behavior change. Current projects include a study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on food insecurity and child growth in peri-urban Lima, Peru, and implementation research to adapt a play-based early child development intervention for Latine families receiving care at Esperanza Health Centers in Chicago.
Alisa Velonis, PhD, director of the UIC Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health and associate professor of community health sciences, works toward solution-focused responses to intimate partner and gender-based violence. Much of her current work aims to improve health care systems’ ability to identify and respond to partner violence, especially through the use of implementation science and mobile technology, and demonstrates the importance of investing in the early stages of implementation readiness to create successful screening and response programs. Her teaching interests include reproductive health, gender-based violence, realist methodology, community health assessment and program evaluation.