A RICH VI: HSRP-VI Leadership

Noreen Michael, PhD

Noreen Michael is Research Director, Research Associate Professor, and Director, Research Core, Caribbean Exploratory (NIMHD) Research Center of Excellence (CERC), School of Nursing. She is lead PI on the Human Services Research Partnership: USVI project (2014-2017), spearheading the entire research process, participating integrally in data collection and analysis efforts, and leading the development of the Environmental Scan Report, one of the products of the project. Michael also served as co-PI on the St. Thomas East End Medical Center Corporation Comprehensive Community Health Needs Assessment project (2015); and co-PI on the conference planning grant, Eliminating health disparities in minority communities through translational research, targeted policy revisions, community-based participatory research, and capacity building (2015-1016). Her research interests include the role of social determinants of health in health outcomes and health equity; health literacy and its impact on health outcomes; factors impacting health and lifestyle choices; the impact of policy on health disparities; and the use of community-based participatory research to advance health disparities research and research capacity in the US Virgin Islands.

Gloria B. Callwood, PhD, RN, FAAN

Dr. Callwood is Associate Professor of nursing and Director of the Caribbean Exploratory NIMHD Research Center (CERC) on Health Disparities, and Co-PI on the A-RICH_VI project. Under her leadership, CERC has initiated a number of studies on health issues in the Virgin Islands. Dr. Callwood has served as UVI Dean of Nursing, an item writer and member of the Examination Committee of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools, and is a grant reviewer for HRSA and NIH. She serves on Region II Health Equity Council, has served as president of the Virgin Islands State Nurses Association, president of Mu Eta Chapter, Chi Eta Phi Nursing Sorority, Inc, and Regional Director of the Caribbean Nurses Organization. Dr. Callwood received her BSN from Hampton (Institute) University and her MN and Ph.D from the University of Florida.

Janis Valmond, MS, DrPH

Dr. Valmond earned a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences from the University of Texas, School of Public Health (UTSPH), Health Science Center at Houston and recently joined the full-time staff at the Caribbean Exploratory (NIMHD) Research Center of Excellence at the University of the Virgin Islands School of Nursing as Research Coordinator effective May 2014. In addition to her work in health disparities and co-Investigator on the USVI Human Services Research Partnership project, Dr. Valmond’s research interests include community based participatory research, socioecological determinants of health impacting adolescents and their families and development of culturally relevant measures, as well as health education and health promotion interventions for Caribbean populations.

E. Aracelis Francis, ACSW, PhD

Dr. E. Aracelis Francis is an Associate Professor of Social Work in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas campus. She is a former member of the Board of the All Saints Cathedral School, a reviewer for the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Center for Scientific Review and on the Editorial Board of the Caribbean Journal of Social Work. She has held a variety of social work positions in the Virgin Islands and the United States mainland during her social work career. She received her undergraduate degree from Inter American University in San German, Puerto Rico and her social work degrees from the University of Chicago and Columbia University. She also taught at Adelphi University in Long Island, New York, the University of Maryland and Howard University in Washington, DC. She has been a member of NASW since graduate school and has served in a variety of positions in the Virgin Islands and District of Columbia chapters.

Deborah Brown, PhD

Dr. Deborah Brown is our Post-doctoral Research Fellow. Her training in Public Policy and Cultural Studies is congruous with the goal of the project: to improve the overall quality, delivery and outcomes of human services in the USVI. In her role, she undertakes research and supports capacity building for the partners of A RICH VI. Dr. Brown has experience as a researcher, teacher and sociologist. Her work in collaboration with the rest of the team. will provide policymakers with a better understanding of the Head Start/Early Head Start and TANF programs and serve to inform evidence-based decision making in the territory.

Academics