Liana Petruzzi
Principal Investigator

Dr. Liana Petruzzi is a dually appointed assistant professor in the Health Studies Department of the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Education. She is a health equity researcher and licensed clinical social worker. She has worked in healthcare and hospital settings for over a decade, with a focus on interdisciplinary intervention implementation, evaluation, and healthcare policies.
 
Her research is focused on how interdisciplinary interventions with community health workers, social workers, doulas and other care professionals can improve health and mental health outcomes among marginalized populations. She is particularly interested in improving healthcare access and reducing health inequities among pregnant and postpartum individuals.

Victoria Arevalo Arana
Graduate Research Assistant 

Victoria is a master’s student in Clinical Psychology at American University, with a focus on stress and resilience. She has conducted research on smoking behavior and vaping decision-making. Her research interests include cross-cultural interventions, policy-relevant mental health research, minority health, substance use, and the promotion of resilience across diverse populations. 

As a graduate research assistant, Victoria is currently supporting Dr. Petruzzi’s K01 grant, which includes the preparation and management of the IRB application and clinicaltrials.gov for the Aim 3, feasibility study. She is also involved in the quantitative data analysis of Aim 1’s community assessment survey on the perinatal mental health and social needs of Latinas in Central Texas. 

Diorfely Gomez
Research Assistant 

Diorfely is a 2025 American University graduate with a major in psychology and a minor in neuroscience on the pre-med track. Her research interests are in health equity, maternal and child health, and community-centered research. She has supported the K01 project in several roles including undergraduate research assistant and part-time research coordinator. Her role included developing qualitative interview guides, creating quantitative surveys in Qualtrics, notetaking at CAB meetings, and conducting literature reviews. She is also contributing to the writing of a paper based on the needs assessment survey in Aim 1. 

Diorfely is interested in addressing health disparities through practical, community-informed research and plans to pursue a career in medicine that combines clinical care with research. 

Jacqueline Guajardo
Research Assistant 

Jacqueline Guajardo is an undergraduate student at American University pursuing a B.S. in Public Health on the pre-med track as part of the accelerated Public Health Scholars Program. Her academic work centers on health equity, with a strong focus on maternal and reproductive health, particularly among underserved and Latina populations. She is especially interested in how community-based interventions and policy changes can address structural barriers in healthcare. Her long-term goal is to become an OB-GYN physician who integrates clinical practice with community-based research to improve maternal health outcomes. 

As a research assistant in the INSPIRE Lab under Dr. Liana Petruzzi, Jacqueline contributes to community-engaged research focused on improving maternal health outcomes and access to care, including the K01 project. Her work includes literature reviews, preparing training and intervention materials for a feasibility trial, cleaning qualitative data, and supporting manuscript preparation.  

Alex DillerResearch Assistant

Alex is an international relations student and Community-Based Research Scholar at American University, focusing on East Asia and global health. His research interests lie in the application of the CBPaR model in communities, and how community engagement influences policy development. He has conducted research on language barriers preventing access to housing and social services and provider perceptions of healthcare transitions from pediatric to adult care in the cerebral palsy community. 

As a research assistant, he is supporting the writing of several qualitative and mixed methods manuscripts from Dr. Petruzzi’s CHW and SW National Workgroup study. His role includes the introduction’s literature review and secondary qualitative analysis.

Hope Neyer
Research Assistant 

Hope has a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health from American University. As a member of the INSPIRE Lab, she has co-led a systematic review focusing on the role of community health workers in STI treatment, management, and prevention.  

Starting in fall 2026, Hope is attending the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine. Her research interests include HPV screening and vaccination, family planning, and the prevention and management of HIV.  

Ragini Khullar
Research Assistant

Ragini is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently completing her degree in Public Health (B.S) with a minor in business administration and plans to get her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology. Her areas of interest are based on her experience as a third-culture kid who has seen health inequity first-hand. After graduation, Ragini is attending Johns Hopkins University to pursue an MSPH in Epidemiology. 

Ragini is passionate about maternal healthcare and research, and supports the HRSA-funded, Healthy Start Central Texas project. Her key role is maintaining data quality through the creation of a data entry guide and data management training, along with regular data cleaning. She will also support the mixed-method evaluation of Healthy Start Central Texas including qualitative data collection and analysis.
 

Jackie Mukam
Research Assistant

Jackie Mukam recently graduated from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a minor in Psychology on the Pre-Med track. Her research interests lie at the intersection of medicine and public health, particularly in maternal and child health, mental health advocacy, and healthcare equity for historically underserved populations. She is passionate about improving access to healthcare and addressing disparities through community-based interventions and multi-sectoral collaboration.
As a research assistant, she actively supports two projects addressing health disparities through social care interventions. First, she is co-leading a systematic review on community health worker interventions for sexually transmitted diseases. Second, she is exploring perinatal support service utilization among pregnant and postpartum individuals at Medstar Midwifery Clinic through secondary qualitative analysis.

Imaan Hassan
Research Assistant 

Imaan Hassan is a senior undergraduate student at American University where she is completing a Public Health (B.S.) degree with a minor in Public Administration. Her research interests lie in global health, equitable health policy, and community health programming. After graduation, Imaan is attending Columbia University to pursue an MPH in Health Policy and Management. 

As a research assistant, she is co-leading the qualitative analysis of barriers and facilitators to community based participatory research (CBPR) in academic medicine based on the CAP-HEP project from Dr. Petruzzi’s postdoc work at UT Austin.  

Nidhi Monga NakraGraduate Research Assistant

Nidhi Monga Nakra is a researcher and consultant working at the intersection of health and social systems to advance equity. Her expertise includes vaccine policy, coalition capacity-building, and community engagement. She has experience in public, private, and international sectors, and has held leadership roles with The Immunization Partnership, CDC, and Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Her past research focused on reducing disparities in vaccine uptake among racial and ethnic minority groups through community-engaged research and interdisciplinary collaboration. Nidhi is pursuing her DrPH in Health Equity and Social Justice at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. 

Nidhi first started working with Dr. Petruzzi during her practicum on qualitative methods, which included training in community-engaged qualitative data analysis and was the primary coder of the CHW and SW National Workgroup study. She presented some of the findings at the American Public Health Association 2024 and is working on several publications from this study.

Asia AliResearch Assistant

Asia Ali is a second-year Public Health student at American University on the Pre-Med track, with a keen interest in maternal and infant health. As a research assistant, she contributes to community-driven projects, including her current work with Healthy Start Central Texas (HSCT), a multi-organization initiative to identify and eliminate disparities in perinatal health among Black women in Central Texas.

Asia brings experience in synthesizing data and developing actionable plans to address the systemic inequities and inequalities in maternal health outcomes. Her academic and professional journey is deeply rooted in her commitment to improving maternal health equity, which aligns with her long-term goal of becoming an Ob-Gyn specializing in reproductive health.

Sophia Ayala
Research Assistant

Sophia is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is completing a Psychology (B.S.) and Latin American Studies degree under the Liberal Arts Honors program. Her areas of interest surround mental health interventions, maternal mental health, and health equity for the Latino population and other underrepresented populations.  

As a research assistant, she is supporting a systematic review of social work interventions in perinatal settings. Her role included reviewing abstracts and full-text articles, data extraction and manuscript writing.

Emma Abraham
Research Assistant

Emma Abraham is an undergraduate student at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is completing a Plan II Honors degree and a Public Health degree under the Dean’s Scholars Honors Program. She works at the Department of Population Health at Dell Medical School as a student researcher, and her areas of interest surround maternal health, nutrition, global food access, and sustainable food systems.

As a research assistant, she is supporting a systematic review of social work interventions in perinatal settings. Her role included the introduction’s literature review and manuscript writing.

Rishit YokananthResearch Assistant

Rishit is an undergraduate neuroscience honors student at the University of Texas at Austin. He is invested in the intersectionality between biotech, public health, and policy to create a more equitable healthcare system. Rishit has done research on maternal health outcomes, healthcare delivery, AI in healthcare, mental health, and HIV. 

As a research assistant, he led a secondary analysis of mental health outcomes among a sample of postpartum Latina individuals in Central Texas (PI: Marissa Burgermaster). He also co-presented the findings at the American Public Health Association 2024 with Dr. Petruzzi.