Leonore Okwara, MPH

Founder and Executive Director

Leonore Okwara, MPH is from San Diego, CA. She is a military wife and mother of three. Leonore has managed community-engaged research initiatives, nationally, within the nonprofit, academic, and government sectors over the past 15 years.

 

While working for the Department of Veterans Affairs, Leonore co-directed the local team Project Managers’ Research Group (PMRG) that served as a professional resource for program managers, research coordinators, and research assistants. Because of this experience, Leonore understands the importance of bringing researchers together to share best practices, strategies, and lessons learned for navigating the research journey. This is why she formed the Association of Black Researchers (ABR), a central resource to support, advocate, and advance a multidisciplinary community of Black Researchers. 

 

She is enjoys hosting events, such as the Research Community of Color Summit, and Research Roundtable to improve community engagement and trust building in research. 

 

Leonore has a BA in Sociology and received her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology from Eastern Virginia Medical School. 

Meet our Board of Directors

Callie Edwards, PhD, MPH

The Life Of A Scholar, LLC

Dr. Callie Edwards holds a Ph.D. in Educational Research and Policy Analysis from North Carolina State University (NCSU) and a M.P.H. in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is an experienced educational researcher and program evaluator. For nearly a decade, she has studied, partnered with, and advocated for historically underrepresented and underserved populations in health, education, and STEM fields, such as women, communities of color, individuals from low-income backgrounds, and those who are the first in their family to graduate from college. She has also served in the areas of assessment, academic coaching, pre-college and new student programs, underrepresented student recruitment and retention, and student wellness.

 

Dr. Callie currently serves as the Associate Director of Research and Evaluation at the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, where she provides leadership for highly specialized and multifaceted research programs. She is Founder and CEO of The Life Of A Scholar, LLC, an educational coaching and consulting agency based in North Carolina, that offers an array of evidence-based solutions for students, families, educators, and organizations in the higher education domain.

 

 

Jason Ottley, PhD

The Bond Educational Group

Dr. Jason Ottley received his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy from West Virginia University and is an experienced leader, builder and innovator. His dossier personifies a progressive leadership style focused on race conscious pedagogy, policy reform, equitable recruitment and hiring practices, program assessment and equity audits & training. He has earned a reputation as an influencer who embraces collaboration, transparency, inclusion and a commitment to data-informed decision making. He has over 15 years of extensive research in developing race conscious programs and culturally relevant pedagogy. 

 

Dr. Ottley is a race scholar positioned to change the way schools and organizations function by revising policies and practices entrenched in white supremacy. He has experience leading teams of talented strategists and researchers, to partner with the world’s leading brands and transform their employee and customer experiences through a diversity, equity and inclusion lens.

 

Dr. Ottley is an Assistant Professor at Kennesaw State University. He is also the Executive Director for The Bond Educational Group; a non-profit organization that invests in the lives of underserved communities through education and entrepreneurship.

Tere Williams, M.Sc

SIMON|PETRk Co

Tere Williams earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences from Virginia Tech after being drafted into the WNBA in 2001, where she joined the Phoenix Mercury organization for one season. She also holds an M.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Immunology. As a Ph.D. student, she is working on a multidisciplinary Immunology/Vaccinology project determining immunomechanisms of protective immunity through a novel vaccine, engineered in her host lab, against Trypanosoma cruzi infection. She is the recipient of the prestigious Geographic Medicine and Emerging Infectious Disease Training Grant and sits on the board of Einstein Minority Scientists Association (EMSA). She co-authored the manuscript "Development and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines to those most vulnerable" published in Science Translational Medicine.

 

Ms. Williams continues work in this area on such projects evaluating risks in the national COVID-19 vaccine distribution pipeline for a government public health agency and science advocacy/community outreach focused on the historical perspective of vaccinology, mRNA vaccine technology, and the development of the current COVID-19 vaccine platforms through SIMON|PETRk Co.

Selina Osei, MD, MPH, MBA

ThinkTank Unit

Dr. Selina Osei graduated from University of Connecticut with a B.S in Chemistry, University at Albany School of Public Health with an MPH, earned her MD as an international medical graduate and pursued an MBA in business management from Davenport University. She aspires to work within the space of global health systems delivery design targeting resource-poor communities. Dr. Osei also serves as the incumbent Communications & Membership Committee Chair for the Connecticut Chapter of the National Association for Health Service Executives (NAHSE). She is a community organizer, AmeriCorps Alumni, and past student Ambassador for UNESCO.

 

Dr. Osei is a Public Health Practitioner who manages the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Integrated Care Management Program. As Founder and Principal Consultant of ThinkTank Unit, Dr. Osei works closely with physicians and community-based organizations (CBO) in developing targeted projects and programs that advance health equity. She has special interests in environmental public health issues; grant writing; literature review, curriculum development, project planning, program evaluation, health blogging.

JacKetta Cobbs, PhD, MPH

J Renee Consulting, LLC

Dr. JacKetta R. Cobbs attended Florida A&M University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics. She received her PhD in Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from Walden University. Dr. Cobbs became an Epidemiologist with the US Army Public Health Command conducting research with the chemical brigade, engineer, and military police soldiers during basic training to examine injury rates and injury risk factors during training. Dr. Cobbs has served as a Research Project Manager for eight years with numerous research studies, including clinical trials, investigator initiated, and community based participatory research at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC).

 

Dr. Cobbs is currently the Program Manager of the MUSC Masters of Public Health Program where she oversees the management of the program from student recruitment, curriculum development, program evaluation, internship coordination, teaching, and accreditation. Dr. Cobbs is also the CEO and Founder of J Renee Consulting, LLC, a public health program management consulting firm.

Jada Walton, BS

Public Health Professional

Ms. Walton holds a degree in Biobehavioral Health from Pennsylvania State University and is a trained birth doula and Global Health Corps alumnus. Ms. Walton is a public health professional fueled with a passion to integrate her love for research, wellness and the art of language to support women and under-resourced communities of color, globally. She has several year’s experience in the governance, start-up and private sectors in both the US and abroad. She has previously worked as a health communications specialist in the Pacific Islands and East Africa. She currently holds a Senior Manager position in a health tech company creating digital communities of people living with chronic and rare diseases. 

 

With experience as an Assistant Lab Manager, Ms. Walton pioneered the reconstruction of a three-credit independent research course at Pennsylvania State University. Additionally, as a health communications specialist, she worked with various foreign governments to craft mass communications materials used for nationwide disease prevention & outbreak mitigation. She is a birth doula and speaker, who hosts workshops around the importance of wellness and self advocacy. 

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