Jill C. Hoxmeier, PhD, MPH
Instructor
Program Director for Public Health Practice

Jill's research focuses on understanding college students’ experiences as bystanders to sexual violence risk situations, including psychosocial influences on prosocial intervention behavior and engagement in initiatives aimed to promote intervention actions. Her work aims to investigate whether, and how, bystander-based prevention models align with primary prevention for violence. Her academic and teaching interests include health promotion program planning and evaluation, theories of health behavior, health policy, and sexual and women’s health issues.

Veronica Irvin, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor

Veronica’s research focuses on the idea that how medical and science information is presented can change someone’s behavior. Her first project assesses health literacy and communication methods in order to better understand how people manage their health. In her second project, she evaluates the content of information on clinical websites and consent forms in terms of accuracy, reading level and sentiment.

Sunil Khanna, PhD
Professor

Sunil's research interests include the complex interrelations of biology, culture, gender, ethnicity and health in South Asia and the United States. He uses diverse yet complementary field techniques such as ethnographic research and qualitative methods, microdemographic survey and nutritional anthropometry in his research studies.

Sarah E. Rothenberg, DEnv
Associate Professor

Sarah's research uses a multidisciplinary framework, including environmental monitoring, risk assessment, and epidemiologic studies, to fully understand the dynamics of mercury cycling and methylmercury exposure. She also investigates interactions with other trace metals, which co-occur with mercury in the environment.

Ellen Smit, PhD, RD
Assistant Professor

Ellen is a nutritional epidemiologist. Her research is focused on diet, metabolism, and physical activity in relation to both chronic disease and HIV infection in diverse populations. Studies include cohort designs, multi-center studies, survey analysis of national databases, and linking of registry data sets.

Hanako Justice, MPH, MSW, CHES
MPH Administrative Director

Hanako is the COH MPH administrative director. Hanako graduated with her MPH and Master in Social Welfare (MSW) degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2021, with a focus on community health sciences and child and family welfare.

She led a research project on sexual health education resources and relevance for autistic young adults, and has been heavily involved in expressive arts-based education for social and emotional learning and mental well-being. Hanako is also a certified heath education specialist (CHES) and a member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

Tonya Johnson, MPH
MPH Internship Coordinator

Tonya brings nearly 25 years of experience in the field of community health, working for both academic and public health agencies in Oregon, Washington and New York City. She has engaged students in a variety of opportunities to help them strengthen their public health competencies, including developing program plans, facilitating evidence-based programs, providing technical assistance to community-based coalitions, and conducting evaluations.

Peggy Dolcini, PhD
Head, School of Nutrition and Public Health

In her associate dean role, Peggy oversees the MPH program, including the MPH online option. She works closely with faculty, the MPH administrative director, and the MPH internship coordinator and is a resource for future and current students.