Maternal and Child Health Researchers
Faculty bios Heading link
Arden Handler, DrPH, is the director of the UIC Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health and a professor of community health sciences. Her research career reflects her long-standing commitment to reducing disparities and improving the health of women, children and families. Her specific interest is the exploration of factors that increase the risk for disparities in adverse pregnancy outcomes and examining ways in which the healthcare delivery system, particularly prenatal care, postpartum care and preconception/interconception/well-woman care can ameliorate these risks and reduce disparities and inequities. Handler is the principal investigator of the evaluation of the Illinois Breast and Cervical Cancer Program and is working on a number of projects focused on the delivery of women’s health care in the postpartum period. She is a nationally renowned leader in maternal and child health advocacy, policy, epidemiology and public health system improvement.
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.
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, 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.