Midwest LEADRS Program Fellows
Midwest LEADRS builds a collaborative community of scholars committed to advancing research on non-biological factors that influence health and improving health outcomes.
2026-2027 Cohort
Jeana M. Holt
PhD, DNP, MSN, RN, FNP-BC
Dr. Holt is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Nursing and Principal Investigator and Research Director of the Autism Brilliance Lab for Entrepreneurship (ABLE). She is a nurse educator, researcher, and community-engaged scholar. Dr. Holt’s work focuses on advancing health, well-being, and inclusion for autistic youth and young adults through strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming approaches. Her research explores creativity, arts-based learning, belonging, and community participation, with a particular emphasis on participatory and mixed-methods research. She collaborates closely with community organizations, including Islands of Brilliance, to develop and evaluate innovative programs that support the thriving of neurodivergent individuals and their families.
Elizabeth Harman
PhD, MT-BC
Dr. Harman is a postdoctoral research scholar in the School of Nursing at Indiana University, Indianapolis. Dr. Harman, whose work is currently funded by a National Cancer Institute K99/R00, focuses on the development and testing of music-based interventions for young children with cancer and other life-threatening illness and their parents. Prior to the K99, Dr. Harman completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship in Interdisciplinary Behavioral Oncology at IU and worked for over a decade as a bedside music therapist for critically ill children and their families at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Yuqing Zhang
PhD, RN
Dr. Zhang is an assistant professor at the College of Nursing, University of Cincinnati. Serving as principal investigator in funded research projects, she is leading interdisciplinary research at the intersection of oral health, diabetes, and digital health innovation. She holds a PhD and is a registered nurse with extensive experience in big data analytics using data from national health surveys. Her work focuses on reducing oral health inequities among adults with diabetes, particularly those facing socioeconomic disadvantage and limited access to dental care. Yuqing’s research interests include oral-systemic connection, human centered digital intervention design, and chronic disease self management with a focus on oral health. She currently directs a multi year oral health promotion and oral self-care intervention study for people with diabetes, mentors PhD students, and advocates for equity focused oral health initiatives.
Alyssa Mitchem
MSW, LCSW
Alyssa Mitchem is the MSW program director and a clinical assistant professor of practicum education and coordination at the Indiana University School of Social Work in Lafayette. She earned her Master of Social Work from Indiana University and is currently pursuing doctoral study in social work. Her professional and scholarly interests include maternal mental health, rural health access, sport and athlete well-being, clinical social work, and community-engaged research. Mitchem is also a practicing therapist specializing in DBT-informed care. Her current work includes developing community partnerships, expanding social work education and workforce opportunities, and conducting interdisciplinary research focused on improving health and well-being among underserved populations.
Jeanne Ward
PhD, RN, MPA
Dr. Ward is a T32 postdoctoral research fellow at the Indiana University School of Nursing. She earned her PhD in Nursing, MSN, BSN, and Master of Public Administration from the University of Louisville, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Marketing from Washington University in St. Louis. Her research focuses on rural health, cancer caregiving, mental health, suicide prevention, digital interventions and outreach, and the social determinants of health. She is particularly interested in improving health outcomes among rural residents, agricultural communities, informal cancer caregivers, and other underserved populations. Her current scholarship examines mental health needs, barriers to support, and culturally responsive digital interventions, outreach strategies, and decision-support tools that strengthen prevention, caregiving, and community-based health services.
Shamika Morales
LCSW, LCAC, CCM
Shamika Morales is a doctoral candidate at the Indiana University School of Social Work. With 20 years of clinical and administrative experience, her research examines the social and behavioral factors influencing healthcare utilization in patient populations across the lifespan. Motivated to improve access to person-centered care, she uses mixed methods to inform interoperability, care coordination, and patient safety. Her clinical expertise in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), and trauma-informed organizational practice helps contextualize her research. Her work aims to develop and implement sustainable practices that support improved patient outcomes and health system efficiency.
Vinita Sharma
MPH, PhD
Vinita Sharma is a tenure-track assistant professor at the Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at Indiana University Indianapolis. Her academic training, including her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees, is in public health. She completed the prestigious NIDA Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Florida's College of Public Health and Health Professions and College of Medicine. Her research focuses on solutions-oriented approaches at the intersection of substance use, mental health, and HIV. She is interested in partnering with community-based organizations across Indiana to conduct mutually beneficial work. This may include community-engaged research, program evaluation, and other service-learning opportunities.
Juanita E. Darby
PhD, DC, MBA, MSHIM, MSN, RN
Dr. Darby is a postdoctoral research associate in the College of Nursing at the University of Illinois Chicago. She holds a PhD in Nursing Science and brings interdisciplinary training in nursing, chiropractic medicine, health information management, and business leadership. Her research focuses on social determinants of health, health equity, chronic pain, and sickle cell disease, with particular interest in improving outcomes for adults and communities disproportionately affected by structural inequities. She is currently engaged in NIH-supported clinical and pragmatic research, scholarly dissemination, and the development of community-informed, implementation-focused approaches to equitable whole-person care.
Teresa M. Imburgia
PhD, MPH
Dr. Imburgia is a Vera Bradley Scholar and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Epidemiology at the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on cancer prevention, screening, and survivorship, with an emphasis on women's health and reducing disparities in cancer outcomes. Her work spans HPV natural history, cervical cancer prevention, breast cancer epidemiology, and high-grade endometrial cancer survivorship. She is currently developing an independent research program in molecular cancer epidemiology while collaborating on multidisciplinary studies that improve cancer prevention, early detection, and survivorship.
Wei-Lin Xue
PhD, RN
Dr. Xue is a postdoctoral fellow at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University. She earned her dual-title PhD in Nursing and Gerontology from Purdue University and brings a clinical background as a Registered Nurse. Her research focuses on older adult health and well-being, with core expertise in elder mistreatment, interpersonal relationship dynamics, and family caregiving. Currently, her scholarly work examines how caregiver commitment influences the risk of elder abuse, aiming to develop targeted interventions that mitigate mistreatment risk and better support caregiving families.
Jennifer Alwine
BSN, RN
Jennifer Alwine is a research assistant at Indiana University School of Nursing in Indianapolis who is pursuing her PhD in Nursing Science. Her research focuses on diabetes prevention among young adults with family histories of type 2 diabetes. By learning about this population’s health beliefs about diabetes prevention and the current National Diabetes Prevention Program, she aims to address the growing number of cases of early-onset type 2 diabetes with upstream preventative strategies, primarily targeted towards young adults. She is currently conducting and analyzing interviews with young adults with family histories of type 2 diabetes for her dissertation, focusing on their diabetes prevention-related health beliefs.
Haleigh Kampman
MPH
Haleigh Kampman is the director of the Regenstrief Center for Health Equity Research (RCHER), an embedded research center at Eskenazi Health. Prior to this role, she held several leadership positions guiding organizational analytics strategy. She holds a master’s degree in public health and is completing her PhD in Health Policy and Management at Indiana University's Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health. Her research spans community health worker program effectiveness, unmet mental health and substance use treatment needs, disparities in clinical workflows for identifying and addressing health-related social needs, and the integration of primary care with behavioral health and substance use disorder treatment models. Her work translates rigorous evidence into actionable guidance for health systems and policymakers working to advance equitable outcomes for underserved populations.
Yehui Zhu
PhD
Dr. Zhu is an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Nursing. She earned her PhD in Nursing from the University of Pittsburgh and her master's and bachelor's degrees in nursing from Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University, respectively. Her research focuses on the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying pain and symptom burden in cancer survivorship, with an emphasis on improving symptom management and quality of life for breast cancer survivors receiving endocrine therapy. Her work integrates nursing science, neuroscience, genetics, and behavioral medicine to advance precision symptom management. Dr. Zhu is committed to interdisciplinary collaboration, mentoring future nurse scientists, and promoting equitable, patient-centered cancer care.
Brittany Ferrell Young
PhD, MPH, RN
Dr. Ferrell Young is a nurse scientist and registered nurse with more than a decade of clinical experience spanning high-risk labor and delivery, community health, and trauma and medical critical care. She completed her PhD in Nursing Science at the Goldfarb School of Nursing in August 2026 and also holds an MPH from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a BSN from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Her dissertation examined the feasibility and acceptability of Perinatal Havening, a psychosensory stress management technique, among pregnant Black women, using a mixed-methods pilot design grounded in Lazarus and Folkman's Transactional Theory of Stress and Coping. Her broader interests sit at the intersection of reproductive and population health, with particular attention to how the bodily experiences of Black people are recognized and responded to in clinical settings. These include uterine fibroids, patient perceptions of provider communication and pain management in critical care, and stress and coping across the perinatal period. She is also a documentary filmmaker whose current project focus on the pregnancy and childbirth journeys of three Black individuals in three different geographical locations.
Natalie Guerrero
MD, PhD, FAAP
Dr. Guerrero is the daughter of Mexican immigrants and was born and raised in Chicago. She earned her B.A. in Neuroscience with a minor in Music from Pomona College and completed her medical and doctoral training through the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences. Her graduate work examined maternal depression and child behavioral outcomes, building on earlier projects focused on healthcare trust, cancer screening, and food insecurity in minoritized communities. She completed pediatric residency in the Pediatrician Scientist Training and Development Program at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by fellowship training in Adolescent Medicine at Indiana University as part of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program. During fellowship, she expanded her research on how racial-ethnic discrimination impacts Latine adolescent mental health and how caregiver support and racial-ethnic socialization may buffer these effects. Dr. Guerrero is now an assistant professor in the Divisions of Adolescent Medicine and Children’s Health Services Research at Indiana University School of Medicine. She has received national and institutional recognition for her work, including the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Implementation Grant and the Dr. Chaniece Wallace Health Care Disparity Research Award at IU School of Medicine. She is committed to advancing partnerships with community organizations, scholars, and families to improve adolescent well-being.
Katelyn Leggio
PhD, RN, CMSRN
Dr. Leggio is an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. She earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research and professional interests include heart failure self-management, wearable health technologies, digital health interventions, nursing education, and chronic disease management. Her work focuses on adults living with heart failure and other chronic health conditions. Current scholarly activities include research on wearable activity trackers in adults with heart failure, mentoring undergraduate nursing research, and teaching undergraduate nursing courses.
Erika Janssen
PhD, MSN, RN
Dr. Janssen is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh College of Nursing. Her research focuses on improving women’s health before conception and across the reproductive lifespan. Her scholarship examines how nutrition, healthy weight trajectories, prenatal factors, and broader social conditions shape maternal and infant health. Her dissertation explored pregnancy-related weight variations, prenatal care factors, and infant birth weight, which led to a broader interest in prevention beginning much earlier in life. Her current interests include adolescent and rural women’s health, nutrition and microbiome-related factors, preconception and interpregnancy health, and community-based prevention. She is especially interested in qualitative, mixed methods, and community-engaged approaches that elevate lived experience and help translate research into meaningful prevention strategies. Her long-term goal is to develop community-responsive interventions that support healthier trajectories before pregnancy and across the lifespan.
Sayonara Barbosa
PhD, RN
Dr. Barbosa is an assistant professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing. Originally from Brazil, she brings more than 25 years of academic and clinical leadership, most of it at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, where she was a full professor and co-founded Brazil's first multiprofessional master's program in health informatics. She earned her PhD from the Federal University of São Paulo and was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing during her doctoral training, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in nursing informatics at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. Her research and professional interests center on the integration of nursing, health informatics, artificial intelligence, and data science. Drawing on an extensive background in critical care, she develops and evaluates digital health technologies, predictive models, and mobile health solutions designed to improve nursing workflows, patient safety, and health outcomes. Her scholarship also examines electronic health record data, process mining, and the responsible use of generative AI in nursing practice, education, and research. Through interdisciplinary collaboration and mentorship, Dr. Barbosa works to translate health informatics research into equitable, clinically meaningful solutions for diverse populations and health systems. She currently leads a study of generative AI literacy among nursing students and faculty, and her work was recognized with the 2026 Education and Scholarship Leadership Award from the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She has held international leadership roles with the IMIA Special Interest Group on Nursing Informatics and the Brazilian Society of Health Informatics.
María del Carmen Graf
PhD, MSN, RN, CTN-A
Dr. Graf is an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. She earned her PhD in Nursing from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree as a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at UW–Milwaukee. Her work focuses on mental health access and violence prevention among women of color, trauma-informed care, and culturally responsive nursing education. She is particularly interested in the health and well-being of women of color and Hispanic communities. Dr. Graf works with colleagues in the United States and internationally on nursing education, cultural care, and health equity. She is currently co-authoring the book Transcultural Healthcare for Health Equity and developing research partnerships with universities in Colombia, Peru, and Mexico.
Sarah R. Martha
PhD, RN
Dr. Martha received her BSN and PhD from the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing and holds a BS in Biology from Portland State University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Omics and Symptom Science NIH T32 training program at the University of Washington's School of Nursing. Dr. Martha is an assistant professor at UIC College of Nursing, Biobehavioral Nursing Science Department. Her primary research interest is in advancing our understanding of pathophysiology of stroke and the trajectory of recovery in order to improve patient symptoms and outcomes. In addition, her research includes work on stroke rehabilitation, specifically fatiguability, fall prevention, and physical activity post-stroke.