Contributors
Cornell Department of Public and Ecosystem Health Lab Members
Charley E. Willison, PhD, MPH, MA is an Assistant Professor of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. Dr. Willison joined Cornell after completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the Harvard Department of Health Care Policy and receiving her PhD in Health Policy and Political Science at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She is a political scientist studying the relationships between local politics, intergovernmental relations, and public health political decision-making, with a primary focus on homelessness and disaster response. Dr. Willison’s 2021 book, Ungoverned and Out of Sight: Public Health and the Political Crisis of Homelessness in the United States (Oxford University Press) examines why municipalities may use evidence-based approaches to address chronic homelessness in their jurisdictions or not. Her book won the 2022 Dennis Judd Best Book Award, which recognizes the best book on urban politics (domestic or international) published in the previous year. CV.
Cassandra Cheung is a Research Associate in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Medical Biosciences from Imperial College London and recently earned a Master of Public Health from Cornell University. Cassandra’s research interests include public health policies aimed at safeguarding vulnerable populations and strategies to control infectious and rare diseases.
Ali Dewald is a Research Associate in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University and the Boston University Initiative on Cities. Ali is currently working on her MD at George Washington University Medical School. Ali completed her Bachelor of Science in Biomolecular Science with a minor in Urban Studies at the University of Michigan. Ali is an alumna of the Semester in Detroit program, and the Delonis Center homeless shelter in Ann Arbor. In her free time, she enjoys taking boxing classes and listening to podcasts on long walks!
Naquia Unwala is a Research Associate in the Department of Public and Ecosystem Health at Cornell University. Naquia completed her Bachelor of Sciences at the University of Michigan School of Public Health in Community and Global Public Health with a minor in Spanish Literature. Her research interests include the effects of public health politics on homelessness and housing insecurity, refugee and immigrant health, and disaster responses.
Faculty Affiliates and Partner Lab Members
Melissa S. Creary PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health at the University of Michigan and the Senior Director for the Office of Public Health Initiatives at the American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network (ATHN). As the Senior Director Dr. Creary assists ATHN in finding ways to leverage public health research and policy to make a broader impact within the bleeding and blood disorders community. Dr. Creary is also helping ATHN be thoughtful about the best ways to center health equity practices in data collection and dissemination. Dr. Creary's area of study includes race and racism, genetics, identity politics, health policy, and health equity. She got here by way of a biology, public health, & interdisciplinary doctorate degree, many years working as a health scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Division of Blood Disorders), extensive field work in Brazil, and overy 20 years of bench, public health, and social science research experience.
Katherine Levine Einstein PhD, is an Associate Professor of Political Science (and Director of Undergraduate Studies) at Boston University and Assistant Director of Policy at the Center for Antiracist Research. Dr. Einstein joined BU in 2012 after receiving her Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy at Harvard University. Dr. Einstein's research and teaching interests broadly include local politics and policy, racial and ethnic politics, and American public policy. Her most recent book (with David Glick and Maxwell Palmer) Neighborhood Defenders: Participatory Politics and America’s Housing Crisis (Cambridge University Press 2019) explores the politics of housing development. Dr. Einstein is currently the co-principal investigator of the Menino Survey of Mayors, a multi-year data set of survey-interviews of U.S. mayors exploring a wide variety of political and policy issues.
Scott L. Greer PhD is a Professor of Health Management and Policy, Global Health and Political Science (by courtesy) at the University of Michigan, and a Senior Expert Advisor on Health Governance for the European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies. He researches the politics of health policies, with a special focus on the politics and policies of the European Union, the impact of federalism on health care, and the politics of disaster relief.
Holly Jarman PhD is an Associate Professor and a Public Engagement Faculty Fellow within the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. As a political scientist, she researches the effects of policy implementation and market regulation on health. She has a special interest in the political economy of products that affect health, such as tobacco, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.
Katarzyna (Kasia) Klasa MPH, is a PhD Candidate in Health Services Organization and Policy at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Policy. Her research broadly falls into three areas: (1) the politics of natural disasters, (2) resilience and risk governance, and (3) comparative health politics and policies across high- and middle-income countries. She has cross-disciplinary training in nursing, healthcare management, public health, economics, and comparative politics. She received her M.P.H. in Global Health Management and Policy from the University of Michigan, and both a B.S. in Economics and B.S. in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania.
Phillip M. Singer PhD, MHSA is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Political Science and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Population Health Sciences at the University of Utah. He researches comparative health policy within the United States, the politics of health policy, health policies for vulnerable populations, and the politics of infectious diseases and public health disasters.