Dr. Thomas Tobin is an Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences and the Associate Dean for Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at the Fielding School of Public Health. She is also a Faculty Affiliate of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and holds a join appointment in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA. Dr. Thomas Tobin’s research examines the social, psychological, and biological (i.e., biopsychosocial) pathways to health and longevity among Black Americans.

Lauren recently began her MPH studies at UCLA within the Community Health Sciences department. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a B.A. in Political Science and a minor in Business Administration. In the years leading up to her current academic pursuits, Lauren worked in various industries, initially as a Field Organizer for a 2020 presidential campaign and later as a research assistant in cardiac imaging/technology research. Before beginning her studies at the Fielding School of Public Health, she also spent time volunteering for the Canadian Courage Project, a non-profit organization that supports and provides services for unhoused youths. Through these experiences, Lauren cultivated a passion for being of service within the community through means of direct action and community-level interventions. Her research interests include mental health, childhood/adolescent development, racial disparities, and interventions for underrepresented, marginalized communities. Lauren is excited to join the CRAAWL Lab to work alongside peers and mentors with similar interests and goals to provide a more equitable and healthy future for all.
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Christy Atangana (she/her) has a Bachelors of Science in Biology and Society from Cornell University and is currently pursuing her MPH in Community Health Sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health. She is interested in researching maternal and child health, the impacts of incarceration, structural racism and how weight stigma impacts the health of Black women and adolescents. When not in class, her hobbies are playlist-making and learning how to DJ.

Dae-zhane (she/her) is a second-year Doctoral Student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Urban and Community Studies, and her master’s degree in Applied Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests include sexual, reproductive, and maternal and child health disparities, reproductive justice, trauma, gendered racism, and sexual decision making among Black women and girls. Besides academia and research, Dae-zhane enjoys going out with friends and cuddling with her Shih tzu Mya Evangeline while watching movies in bed.

Sarah J. Cousins received her Master of Public Health degree, with a concentration in community health sciences, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). As a project director, Ms. Cousins has been involved in all phases of research, from evaluation questions and hypothesis generation to implementation and management of research protocols, as well as report and manuscript writing. Her present research interests include macro-level influences (including structural factors like structural racism and whiteness) on health (in particular, substance use disorder), policy and discrimination effects on substance use disorder outcomes as well as access to substance use treatment among undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County. Driven by her personal experiences, her current research projects 1) assess how whiteness and immigration experiences reinforce social structures to unfairly advantage and disadvantage communities and 2) how structural racism widens racial/ethnic SUD-related mortality disparities. Ms. Cousins also earned a B.A. and B.S. in Political Science and Sociology with a minor in Psychology at the University of California, Riverside. For enjoyment, she enjoys exploring, hiking, and spending time with her family.

Shirley De La Cruz is a full-time Staff Research Associate in UCLA’s Division of Population Behavioral Health and an assistant in the CRAAWL Lab. She has worked within community and student organizations for underserved Black, Indigenous, Latine/x, and communities of color and aims to contribute toward translational mental health research in partnership with these communities. Shirley completed her undergraduate studies at UCLA, earning a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Central American Studies in Spring of 2023. Drawing on her lived experiences of growing up in a low-income and mixed-status family in South Central LA, she aspires to enhance the accessibility of mental health interventions and services within the context of social drivers of health and oppressive systems. Her interests include liberation psychology, healing justice, social drivers of health, and community-based participatory research methods. Beyond research, she enjoys jogging, visiting botanical gardens, creating nostalgic playlists, and trying out new foods with her friends.
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Alette is a fourth-year undergraduate psychobiology major pursuing a career in dentistry. Believing it crucial for other pre-health students to be aware of the racial healthcare disparities discussed in her Spanish in Healthcare meetings, she and Tamara Nogueira-Ramirez were selected to develop and facilitate an undergraduate course on anti-racism in healthcare under the guidance of Dr. T. Alette hopes that with her work in the CRAAWL lab, she can contribute to the public health field's understanding of the racial health inequities that she hopes to address. Outside of the CRAAWL lab, she strives towards her goal of equity in healthcare through her work as co-director of PUPPIES, providing free pre-health mentorship for first-years of all backgrounds, and as the organizer of Dermatological’s translation project, increasing the accessibility of presentations on skin cancer and health given at Title I schools.
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Naomi Hammonds is a 4th year undergraduate majoring in psychobiology with minors in cognitive science, entrepreneurship, and African American studies. As the USAC Student Body President, I continue to advocate alongside my peers to enhance our experiences, and ultimately our success on this campus through the betterment of diversity, inclusivity, equity, collaboration, and retention. Outside of student government, I'm one of the few undergraduate TAs in the Life Science Department and work to increase equity in the classroom through the Learning Assistant Program as well. In relation, as a McNair Research Scholar, I am exploring the sense of belonging of Black STEM undergraduates, specifically looking at aspects of social capital and positive science identity. I was introduced to the CRAAWL Lab through the Bunche Fellows Program as I am interested in learning more about health disparities and interventions for historically excluded communities. In conclusion, some fun facts about me include that I was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada and I still enjoy building Lego sets. Anyone around me gets to experience my wide range in music as I’m always singing and debate with me on the best food places around.

James Huỳnh (he/him) is a PhD candidate in Community Health Sciences with a graduate concentration in Gender Studies at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He is a Health Policy Research Scholar, a fellowship funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to translate research into actionable policies that foster a culture of health. His scholarly and activist commitments focuses on kinship-making and coalition-building within social movements as paths to transforming community health and well-being. Prior to graduate school, James was a Fulbright Fellow in Việt Nam. James earned his MA in Asian American Studies and MPH in Community Health Sciences from UCLA and a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University.

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Cindy Le (she/her/hers) is a doctoral student in the Community Health Sciences department at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health minoring in Information Studies. Driven by her lived experiences and desire to center community, she studies how racism impacts the mental health of communities of color and how communities of color resist oppressive systems through collective memory and storytelling. Cindy earned her M.P.H. in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan and her B.S. in Public Policy with a minor in Health and Society. Outside of academia, she enjoys astrophotography, arts and crafts, digital design, music, and eating delicious foods.

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Kyani is a 2nd-year MPH student in the Community Health Sciences department. Her research interests include racial health equity, the social determinants of health, maternal and child health, and health across the life course. Upon completion of her MPH, she intends to pursue her MD/PhD and desires to use her training in both fields to inform disease prevention work and aid in reducing health disparities.

Rebecca Woofter (she/her) is a doctoral student in the Community Health Sciences department at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History and Political Science from Emory University and a Master of Public Health degree in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on reproductive and maternal health, and particularly access to and quality of reproductive healthcare. Her mixed-methods dissertation focuses on perinatal mental health and healthcare in the postpartum period. Outside of academia, she enjoys reading, hiking, and spending time with her dog Cosi.

Malajia Wilson (She/Her/Her’s) is a former UCLA graduate that majored in Psychology while also holding her Associates Degree in Sociology and Biology. She was apart of UCLA honors program while also being Pre-medicine. Driven by her personal experience with healthcare she studies how racism impact women of color and maternal health. She’s pursuing to become a future Holistic Obstetrician Gynecologist. Outside of academia, she enjoys dancing, reading, meditating, hikes, and traveling.