Doctoral
Student
Profiles

Demi Adelaja

Ms. Adelaja received an MPH degree from Emory University, with a focus on international health. She is originally from Nigeria. Her research interests focus on HIV prevention and determining the behaviors that put people at increased risk for infection. As such, she is interested in the various health models and how they influence healthy behavior. Ms. Adelaja would like to enhance her knowledge of health behavior change theories as well as the implementation and evaluation facet of HIV risk behavior change interventions. She aspires to become a behavioral scientist working to effectively facilitate HIV preventative changes that are culturally appropriate and sustainable for both HIV infected and un-infected individuals. During her undergraduate studies, she worked as a peer health educator counseling students at risk for HIV. And while working on her masters degree, she worked with Youth Leader in South Africa and Botswana. Through this experience she recognized the many social and mental health consequences of HIV/AIDS that were not being addressed through traditional care. She has identified that culturally competent social support addressing the health needs of people living with HIV is lacking both in developing countries and in the US to effectively treat the many dimensions of the disease. Ms. Adelaja served as a youth ambassador at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok and Toronto and speaks Yoruba and some Spanish.

Major Advisor:  Dr. Jeff Fisher

Deborah Dauser Forrest

Ms. Dauser received her MPH degree from Boston University in 1996, with a concentration in Epidemiology and Biostatistics.  She has worked at the UConn Health Center since 1997 as a Research Associate and a Biostatistician / Data Analyst for the Center for Biostatistics.  She has a strong statistical and epidemiology background, and is fluent in several statistical software programs.  She worked for 7 years at a prominent Health Maintenance Organization in Boston as a data analyst.  For the last 4 years she has worked on Fibromyalgia, and has an excellent understanding of the methodologies used to assess changes over time in Pain and Depression data.  Ms. Dauser wants to gain additional expertise in program development and evaluation, particularly in translational research.  She comes highly recommended by her supervisors at the UConn Health Center.

Major Advisor:  Dr. Susan Reisine

Heather Miller-Kuhaneck is an occupational therapist who has practiced in pediatrics for over 18 years, in rural and inner city schools, outpatient clinics specializing in Ayres' sensory integrative intervention (TM), early intervention settings, inpatient settings, and privately in children's homes. She received her BS in OT from Boston University, her MS in OT from Ohio State University and completed coursework for an MPH online through Walden University in order to apply to a doctoral program in public health. Mrs. Kuhaneck is the editor of Autism: A Comprehensive Occupational Therapy Approach, published by the American Occupational Therapy Association. She is the current secretary of the Connecticut Occupational Therapy Association and is the Quarterly Editor of the American Occupational Therapy Association's Sensory Integration Special Interest Section.  She has written a variety of chapters and articles on pediatric occupational therapy practice and intervention with children with autism and recently co-authored a new assessment tool for pediatric occupational therapy called the Sensory Processing Measure. Her current research interests include the functional impact of sensory processing disorders across the lifespan and the potential environmental triggers of autism spectrum disorders in children. 

Major advisor: Dr. Preston Brittner

Bonnie McRee

Ms. McRee completed her MPH degree from UConn in 1997.  She has worked at the UConn Health Center since 1987 as an Instructor and Senior Researcher in the Department of Community Medicine under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Babor.  Ms. McRee is a behavioral researcher in the field of substance use prevention and treatment.  For the past 20 years she has worked on NIH and private foundation – funded clinical trials and translational research.  Recently she has focused on screening and brief intervention models to identify individuals at risk of developing serious alcohol, tobacco or other drug problems.  She wants to build her skill base and expertise in this new prevention field.  Ms. McRee has a strong statistical background and excellent hands-on research experience.  She believes that by completing a PhD in public health she will be able to “hit the ground running” with more sophisticated research applications and to attract extramural funding.

            Major Advisor:  Dr. Thomas Babor

Chinekwu Obidoa

Ms. Obidoa is an international student from Nigeria who received her MPH and a Masters degree in Geography from Uconn. She is interested in health promotion and intervention (particularly related to HIV/AIDS) in countries in Africa. Ms. Obidoa is particularly interested in the contextual factors (social, political, psychological, economic and cultural) that determine the vulnerability of individuals and communities to HIV/AIDS and other health problems. She hopes that her involvement with public health programming in developing countries will help strengthen the capacities of local, regional and national health-care delivery systems. Ms. Obidoa worked at Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Service as a Program Development Coordinator.  This position afforded her the opportunity to work with displaced international populations from Bosnia, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Liberia, Burma and Sudan. This experience increased her knowledge about disadvantaged populations from settings she would like to serve in as a public health professional. In 2005/2006 she was selected as a Maternal and Child Health Student Fellow with the American Public Health Association (APHA). This position provided her the opportunity to obtain professional exposure to Maternal and Child Health section activities in the APHA.

            Major Advisor:  Dr. Steven Schensul

Tashonna Webster

Ms. Webster earned an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from SUNY Albany, and entered the doctoral program in Health Education at Columbia University where she excelled in her coursework.  She decided to transfer and apply to the new PhD in Public Health at UConn to “attend a university that places a stronger emphasis on research methodology”.  Ms. Webster is currently working at Yale University as a Research Associate where she is developing advanced research skills.  Her research interests focus on health disparities among African Americans affected with HIV/AIDS.  She aspires to be an effective researcher who can disseminate culturally-appropriate information to enable individuals and communities to adopt healthier behaviors. 

            Major Advisor:  Dr. Leslie Snyder