Doctoral Students
April Ballard, MPH
PhD Student: April is pursuing her PhD in Environmental Health Sciences. She is interested in social, behavioral, and environmental determinants of water-, sanitation-, and hygiene-related (WASH) health outcomes. She currently works on a study in Northern coastal Ecuador to understand sociobehavioral and environmental determinants of child exposure to animals and animal feces, and the impact on the gut microbiome. She also works on various projects focused on WASH among people experiencing homelessness.
Dissertation title: Sociobehavioral and Environmental Determinants of Child Exposure to Animals along an Urban-Rural Gradient in Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador.
Frederica Lamar, MSPH
PhD Student: Frederica (Freddy) is a doctoral candidate in Environmental Health Sciences at Emory University. She studies childhood exposures to chicken-sourced enteropathogens along the chicken value chain in Maputo, Mozambique. Her work characterizes food hygiene hazards and estimates risks to inform potential intervention strategies to mitigate exposure to pathogens of poultry origin, and ultimately lessen the burden of diarrheal disease.
Dissertation title: ChickFlows in Maputo, Mozambique: High-risk Behaviors, Management Practices, and Pathways for Childhood Exposure to Enteropathogens from Chickens.
Master’s Students
Shauna McManus
Graduate Research Assistant, Data Analyst: Shauna is a James W. Curran Scholar at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. A second year Master of Public Health candidate in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Shauna holds dual Bachelor of Science degrees from American University in Public Health and Applied Statistics. Prior to coming to Emory, Shauna worked as a psychosocial oncology research manager for the Cancer Support Community, focusing on psychometric scale development.
Ajilé Owens
Graduate Research Assistant: Ajilé is a second-year MPH candidate in the Global Epidemiology Department, pursuing graduate certificates in Water, Sanitation & Hygiene, and Complex Humanitarian Emergencies. Before Rollins, she studied at Duke University and obtained dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Sociology and Global Health. During her time at Duke, Ajilé worked on several qualitative and quantitative research projects in Madagascar and India, primarily focusing on global health, infectious diseases, and socioeconomic indicators.
Megan Bleakley
Graduate Research Assistant: Megan is a 2nd year Global MPH student at the Rollins School of Public Health. She is pursuing a certificate in Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene and is writing a thesis using MUSE data. She is passionate about gender equality and received a WASH for Women Empowerment Scholarship to support work involving young girls in Honduras. Megan recently worked with UNICEF Madagascar to help inform and further develop menstrual hygiene programs.
Jill Pritts
Graduate Intern:
Yue Xie
Graduate Research Assistant: Yue (Sally) Xie is a 2nd year MSPH student in the Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. She graduated from Muhlenberg College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Finance with minors in Public Health and Mathematics. Her research interests include maternal and infant health and infectious disease. Until recently, she had worked on projects in HIV/AIDs with Emory University School of Medicine. She is currently working on her thesis on the association of adverse outcomes and ambient air pollution in Georgia.
Awa Youm
Graduate Research Assistant: Awa is a 2nd year MPH candidate in the Global Health Department, at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Before attending Emory, she studied at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a minor in Human Rights & Humanitarian affairs. Awa has a strong passion for women's health and gender equity. More recently, she has been working with UNICEF Madagascar on menstrual hygiene management programs.
Christie Hug
Graduate Research Assistant: Christie is currently a second year student studying Global Environmental Health and pursuing a WASH certificate at the Rollins School of Public Health. She is working with Wish For WaSH Inc. to describe sanitation among marginalized populations in the US. In addition, she works with World Vision to evaluate preferences surrounding sanitation. Christie aims to incorporate the needs and importance of women in the context of WASH to her work with World Vision and her master’s thesis.
Courtney Pico
Graduate Research Assistant: Courtney is a 2nd year MPH candidate in the Global Health Department at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. She is pursuing a concentration in community health development and is writing her thesis using data from the MUSE Project in regards to empowerment. She is currently working with UNICEF and Emory on the WinS course restructuring and with CDC to develop COVID-19 based curriculum for STEM teachers to utilize in teaching their students about public health.
Max Perel-Slater
Graduate research Assistant: Max is an first year student in the Global Health Department focusing on infectious disease and WASH. Max has 10 years of experience implementing Neglected Tropical Diseases, WASH and Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) projects in East Africa. He is currently working on the COVID-19 Hygiene Hub research team. Max is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Maji Safi Group, the Lake Zone Coordinator of the Tanzanian Water and Sanitation Network (TAWASANET), a founding member of the Tanzanian Menstrual Hygiene Management Task Force, and is on the Mainland Tanzania Technical Working Group on MHM organizing by the Ministry of Health and UNICEF-Tanzania.