Sandra Crouse Quinn, PhD is the Associate Dean for Public Health Initiatives, Professor in the Department of Family Science, and Senior Associate Director of the Center for Health Equity at the School of Public Health, University of Maryland at College Park. She is the Principal Investigator (with Dr. Thomas) on the Center of Excellence in Race, Ethnicity and Health Disparities Research, funded by the National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), and within it, she is also the Principal Investigator on a study, Uncovering and Addressing Cultural Beliefs behind Vaccine Racial Disparities.  She is also the Principal Investigator on a study, Investigating Factors Associated with Participating of Racial & Ethnic Minority Populations in FDA Regulated Research, funded by the US Food and Drug Administration; co-Principal Investigator on the Research Center of Excellence in Minority Health Disparities, also funded by NIMHD, NIH; and the site Principal Investigator on the school’s subcontract for the Mid- Atlantic Public Health Training Center, funded by HRSA with a five year grant to the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. She was the Principal Investigator on the recently completed Building Trust between Minorities and Researchers: A Bioethics Research Infrastructure Initiative funded by the NIMHD and the Office of the Director, NIH. She has worked for more than twenty years on addressing the legacy of the US Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Dr. Quinn received her doctoral degree in Health Education at the University of Maryland. Prior to her doctoral work, she worked in substance abuse and mental health treatment programs in two local health departments.

Major Research Interests

• Engagement of minority and marginalized communities in research;
• Public acceptance of vaccines in routine and emergency situations;
• Crisis and emergency risk communication in emergencies, pandemics and disasters, with a particular focus on the implications for minority communities.
  

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James Butler III, DrPH, MEd is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health and is an Associate Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity. Dr. Butler has a DrPH in Health Services Administration from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health and master of education degree in Community Health Education from Temple University. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in preventive medicine and public health at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. His research interests are tobacco control and prevention and the social and environmental influences on smoking. His research incorporates the individual, social structure and environmental influences in eliminating tobacco-related health disparities. To eliminate these disparities, he believes it is imperative to build ongoing and permanent relationships with community members and to design and conduct effective interventions where the community participates fully in all aspects of the research process.

Major Research Interests

• Tobacco Control and Prevention
• The Social and Environmental Influences on Cigarette Smoking
• Health Disparities Research
• Community-based Participatory Research

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Trained as behavioral scientist, Dr. Fryer utilizes mixed methods research to examine the sociocultural context of health and health disparities, with an emphasis in community-engaged research. His work focuses on racial and ethnic health disparities in substance use and dependence, specifically tobacco and marijuana use among urban youth and young adult populations. Dr. Fryer is the Principal Investigator of the five-year, NIH-funded (National Cancer Institute) K01 career development award, “Correlates of Nicotine Dependence among Urban African American Youth.” Additionally, he is a Co-Investigator on three NIH-funded grants within the Maryland Center for Health Equity. Collateral research endeavors include: qualitative methods; behavioral intervention research; HIV/AIDS and STI prevention; and the recruitment and retention of underrepresented communities into research.

Major Research Interests

• Adolescent Health
• Health Disparities Research
• Mixed Methods Research
• Community-based Participatory Research 

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Mary A. Garza, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor,
Department of Behavioral
and Community Health
Associate Director,
Maryland Center for Health Equity

Mary A.Garza, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health and Associate Director in the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland, School of Public Health. Dr. Garza received her MPH from the School of Public Health at San Diego State University with an emphasis in health education and health promotion. She received her PhD in Health Policy and Management with a focus in Social and Behavioral Sciences from the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University where she also completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Cancer Epidemiology.

Dr. Garza's research activities embrace the full spectrum of the intervention research process-from planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating, to dissemination of research findings - using a community-based participatory research approach. She has a strong interest in health disparities research, including understanding the interplay of psychosocial, behavioral, and neighborhood-level factors associated with health behavior; specifically, factors related to cancer screening. Dr. Garza's research interests also include the role and influence of religion and spirituality on health outcomes.

Major Research Interests

• Health Disparities Research
• Domestic Violence Research
• Religion and Spirituality  Research
• Community-based Participatory Research

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Erica T. Casper, MA
Science Writer/Editor
Maryland Center for Health Equity
School of Public Health
University of Maryland College Park
3302 SPH Building #255
College Park, MD 20742-2611

301.405.1464
301.405.2542 FAX
ecasper1@umd.edu

Erica Casper is the science writer and editor for the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Health.  Erica obtained a Master’s degree in marine science from the Boston University Marine Program in Woods Hole, MA.  She has worked for the State of Florida to improve the surface water quality in southwest Florida, and has worked at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science to develop molecular assays for the detection of human pathogenic organisms contaminating coastal marine waters.  At the Maryland Center for Health Equity she is responsible for scientific writing and editing of peer reviewed articles, creation of presentations, and preparing press releases for the center, among other things. She has a particular interest in science writing as a way to not only present research findings to the scientific community, but also to bring these findings and advancements to the greater public.

Susan Racine Passmore is Project Director at the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland (M-CHE). Her work has been in two fields—child welfare evaluation and health disparities research – reflecting a long standing engagement with vulnerable populations in the United States. In research, Dr. Passmore has explored health disparities regarding breast cancer, COPD, colorectal cancer and eye healthworking with faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Medicine.  She has also worked to understand the needs of aging populations along the US/Mexican border in a previous position with the University of Texas at El Paso.  Her knowledge of child welfare comes from eight years of evaluation research in support of U.S. Administration of Children and Families (ACF) programs. These include the Adoption Opportunities, Child Abuse and Neglect, and PSSF (Promoting Safe and Stable Families) Demonstration Grant Programs and the Early Head Start/Child Welfare Services Grants funded by the Children’s Bureau, and the ACF Healthy Marriage and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Initiative administered by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA).

Leah B. Curran, PhD
Study Coordinator
Maryland Center for Health Equity
School of Public Health
University of Maryland
3302 SPH Building #255
College Park, MD 20742-2611>

301.405.1464 
301.405.2542 FAX
lcurran@umd.edu

Leah B. Curran is a Research Study Coordinator in the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland (M-CHE).  She holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration with specialties in Health Equity, Gender Analysis and Urban & Social Policy from The George Washington University.  Dr. Curran’s work is rooted in critical epistemologies, and she considers how gender, race and class intersect to shape health behaviors, issues and policies.  Dr. Curran has done extensive research on sex education, teen pregnancy prevention and reproductive health issues in urban and minority communities, and she has worked on policy projects funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Fannie Mae Foundation and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.  Her work has appeared in Brookings Institution policy briefs, government reports, white papers and academic journals.

LaShae Green, MS, MBA
Business Manager
Maryland Center for Health Equity
School of Public Health
University of Maryland
3302C SPH Building #255
College Park, MD 20742-2611

301.405.7281
301.405.2542 FAX

Catherine Ann Pickles
Administrative Assistant
Maryland Center for Health Equity
School of Public Health
3302 SPH Building #255
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742

301.405.8859
301. 405.2542 FAX
cpickle2@umd.edu

Natasha A. Brown, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Maryland Center for Health Equity
School of Public Health
University of Maryland
3302 SPH Building #255
College Park, MD 20742-2611

301.405.8221
301.405.2542 FAX
nabrown@umd.edu

Natasha A. Brown, PhD, MPH is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the School of Public Health, University of Maryland. Dr. Brown completed her undergraduate studies at Howard University, majoring in community nutrition. She received her MPH from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health with an emphasis in behavioral and community health sciences and program evaluation, and she earned her PhD in social and behavioral sciences from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Brown’s primary research interests include racial and ethnic minority family environments, childhood obesity, and sociocultural influences on food decisions. Her recent work has focused on understanding the influence of culture and extended family networks on how children are socialized to adopt weight related behaviors.

Major Research Interests:

• Social and Cultural Influences within the Family Environment
• Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention
• Child Health