Research Team
Our research team includes Boston University scientists from the fields of epidemiology and biostatistics. They have expertise in cancer, aging, social and economic factors, nutrition, cardiovascular disease, and other less common health conditions.
Our scientists are supported by a talented group of staff who manage the study by maintaining the study database, staying in touch with subjects, mailing and processing questionnaires, and assisting with research analysis.
| Eyerusalem Alemu | Carolyn Conte, MPH | Lisa Crowell, BSN, MS | Lauren Delp, MS |
| Katelle Donkor, MPH | Dianne Dunn | Nastia Dynkin | Cassandra Edwards |
| Jaimie Figueroa | Pamela King, MS | Hannah Lord | Chanel Peguero, MS |
| Maria Petzold | Renee Pittman | Sarah Rothbard, MS | Delia Russell, MPH |
| Yifei Shan | Oleg Starobinets | Crystal Thomas, MPH | Nora Xu, MSPH |
BWHS Advisory Board
Members of the BWHS Advisory Board have a wide range of expertise. They provide advice and guidance on research directions in the BWHS and the health needs of Black women.
Linda Clayton, MD, MPH, gynecologic oncologist, is the Co-Director, Institute for Optimizing Health and Health Care, Inc.; Health Policy Researcher and Instructor, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School; Adjunct Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Meharry Medical College. She is co-author (with W. Michael Byrd, M.D.) of “An American Health Dilemma,” which documents the history of poorer health of African-Americans and the failures of the American health care system.
Heather Eliassen, ScD is Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard TH Chan School School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the roles of dietary and hormonal factors in risk and survival from breast cancer. As a leader of the Nurses’ Health Studies, her experience in large cohort studies is especially relevant for the BWHS.
C. Alicia Georges, EdD, RN, FAAN is Chairperson of the Lehman College Department of Nursing, former President of the Black Nurses’ Foundation, and a member of the board of directors of AARP.
Ellen E. Grant, PhD, LCSW-R is Executive Director of Corporate Social Responsibility/CARES at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has previously served as the Second Deputy Mayor of Buffalo, New York and is a former executive in several health organizations in New York State, including Blue Cross/Blue Shield.
Shiriki Kumanyika, PhD, MPH is Emeritus Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and is founder and Chairperson of the African American Collaborative Obesity Research Network (AACORN).
Lauren E. McCullough, PhD, MSPH is Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. She is a cancer epidemiologist whose research focuses on the contributions of obesity and the social environment to breast tumor characteristics, as well as to disparities in cancer outcomes.
Jacqueline McLeod, MPH, MEd is currently Director of Healing Communities Network, an organization that works to reintegrate prisoners and former prisoners into the community, and a former executive at organizations that include Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and the American Lung Association.
Former Advisory Board Members
Leslie Bernstein, PhD, epidemiologist, served on the BWHS Board 2016-2022
Ruth Cage, educator, served on BWHS Board 1994-2014
Rosemary Graham, lupus educator, served on BWHS Board 1994-2008
Sue Hankinson, epidemiologist, served on the BWHS Board 2016-2023
Linda Villarosa, journalist/author, served on BWHS Board 1994-2000