Collaborators

Collaborators:
Ranea Banks	Ranea Banks, Med MBA Renea Banks holds a Master of Education and a Master of Business Administration and serves as Chief Strategy Officer. In this role, she leads enterprise strategy and organizational transformation, with a portfolio spanning strategy, innovation, and growth, as well as data and analytics, information systems and people operations, and board governance. Renea oversees the strategic deployment and management of organizational resources to ensure alignment with impact, performance, and long-term sustainability. Her work is centered on connecting strategy to execution—integrating vision with the infrastructure, governance, and operational capabilities required to move organizations forward. With responsibility across multiple functions, Renea focuses on aligning people, systems, and resources to strengthen decision-making, drive measurable outcomes, and position the organization for continued growth and impact. She brings a systems-level perspective to leadership, ensuring that strategy is not only defined, but effectively operationalized across the enterprise. Email: [email protected]
Kierra Barnett	Dr. Kierra Barnett is a Research Scientist at the Center for Child Health Equity and Outcomes Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Her work focuses on the impact of structural racism, stress and social determinants of health on racial and ethnic inequities. Prior to joining NCH, Dr. Barnett completed a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University, were she collaborated with state, county and city public health departments, as well as non-for-profit organizations, to assess health outcomes and make policy and practice-based recommendations to address the disparities. Dr. Barnett received her Ph.D. in Public Health from The Ohio State University. She also holds a Masters of Public Health from OSU and a Bachelor’s of Science in Community Health from the University of Illinois
Gabriella Conti	Dr. Gabriella Conti is Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and the Social Research Institute at University College London, and Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. She has collaborated with David Olds since 2013 in the analysis of the follow-ups of the Memphis Nurse Family Partnership RCT, and is a co-Investigator of the Age 30 Follow-up funded by NIH. Gabriella is an internationally-recognized expert in the economic evaluation of early interventions: among others, she is working on the Family Nurse Partnership, Building Blocks, and Universal Health Visiting in England, and on the Pro Kind in Germany. She is a strong believer in the importance of a preventative developmental approach to health policy to sustain the durability of national health systems Email: [email protected]
Deena Chisholm	Dr. Deena Chisolm is the Nationwide Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Equity Research, Director of the Center for Child Health Equity and Outcomes Research, and Vice-President for Health Services Research in the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. She is also a Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at The Ohio State University. Her research focuses on improving health and healthcare for children and families with over 100 peer-reviewed publications on pediatric health services, outcomes, and disparities. Her current projects explore how health literacy, health policy, and social factors influence the health of at-risk adolescents transitioning to adulthood. Her research is funded by agencies including the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Dr. Chisolm is the immediate past Chairman of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health and serves as a Board member for the Health Policy Institute of Ohio. She earned her B.S. in Biological Science Education from Miami University, M.S. in Preventive Medicine, and Doctorate in Public Health from The Ohio State University.
Sue Groth PhD, WHNP-BC, FAANP – Co-PI for Memphis 30-year follow up & RCT of NFP for Multips	Dr. Groth is a Professor in the University of Rochester School of Nursing. She centers her research on the study of obesity and behavioral, genetic, and environmental factors that contribute to this complex disease. Dr. Groth is particularly interested in weight gain among pregnant women and the long-term effects of that weight on mothers and their children. Her research has been funded by both NINR and NHLBI. Dr. Groth’s work is informed by her career as a women’s health care practitioner, primarily caring for low-income underserved women and teens. Dr. Groth’s contributions to the science include: 1) expanding the knowledge base of gestational weight gain effects on weight and health; 2) uncovering the views and beliefs of low-income, pregnant, minority women related to diet, physical activity and gestational weight gain; 3) capturing the behavioral context and complexity of the lives of pregnant women; 4) identifying biologic factors that influence post-pregnancy obesity development; 5) combining biological and behavioral components to identify shared influences on obesity development; 6) measuring effects of an online intervention to limit gestational weight gain and weight retention; and 7) determining the correlation of gene single nucleotide polymorphisms with systemic inflammation in pregnancy. As a result, these separate studies combine to create a picture of obstetrical risk, much of it shaped by culture and health behaviors, a picture that is critically important to clinical practice, informing what can be done to help mothers optimize pregnancy outcomes. Dr Groth has been associated with the New Mother’s Study in Memphis, TN since her doctoral student days in the late 1990’s and currently serves as the Site PI for the 30 year follow-up of this intervention trial. Projects: Memphis trial, Multips Trial Email: [email protected]
Lara Ho	Lara Ho, MHS, PhD, RN Dr. Lara Ho is the Nurse-Family Partnership Director at Changent. Lara has worked for over two decades as a nurse and public health professional experienced in HIV and end of life care, social and behavioral community-based intervention research, and health systems strengthening. Currently based in Washington, DC, Lara served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mongolia, and has lived and worked in China, Canada, Tanzania, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Chad, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, and Switzerland. Over fifteen years at the International Rescue Committee she held a variety of roles ranging from program management to technical advising and leading the health research team and strategic projects. She was also the Chief Operating Officer at DuPont Clinic, an all-trimester abortion clinic in DC. She holds an BA from Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, a BSN from Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, and an MHS and PhD from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Email: [email protected]
Susan Jack Professor of Nursing, McMaster University	Susan Jack is Professor, School of Nursing & Associate Member, Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact, McMaster University (Canada) and the Global Nurse-Family Partnership Research & Evaluation Director. Globally, Dr. Jack has championed for and amplified nursing policy, practice and research contributions that advance healthcare responses to address gender-based violence. This has included the development, evaluation, and implementation of a nursing intervention for the Nurse-Family Partnership program to recognize and respond to intimate partner violence. As part of a multidisciplinary research team, she has led or contributed to multiple studies focused on adapting, piloting, and evaluating Nurse-Family Partnership within the Canadian healthcare context. Her advocacy for trauma-and violence-informed approaches to care has been an important strategy for promoting health equity and to promote this goal, she has been invited to speak or teach on this topic with nurse home visitors & public health nurses across the United States and Canada. As an active educator and consultant, she provides training nationally and internationally on mixed methods and applied qualitative health research methodologies. Email: [email protected] Projects: NFP Global replication, IPV
Meghan E. López	Dr. Meghan E. López, DNP, FNP-BC Chief Program and Network Officer, Nurse-Family Partnership and Child First National Service Office Dr. Meghan E. López is the Chief Program and Network Officer at the National Service Office for Nurse-Family Partnership and Child First, where she leads a network valued at $439M through 279 partner organizations serving nearly 60,000 families across 42 states, territories and tribal nations. In this role, she oversees program quality, network health, policy and government affairs, and strategic growth for two of the nation's leading evidence-based home visiting models. Dr. López brings over 25 years of experience in public health, humanitarian response, and early childhood development across the United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Her clinical foundation as a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner, Registered Nurse, and Birth Doula informs her commitment to evidence-based, family-centered practice. Her doctoral research at Johns Hopkins University examined transgenerational trauma and the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on parenting and child development, earning the Johns Hopkins Innovation in Health Research Award in 2019. Dr. López holds a Doctorate in Nursing Practice, a Master of Science in Nursing, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Johns Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Dartmouth College. She serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. Email: [email protected]
Kate Sauder	Kate Sauder, PhD, is a Multiple Principal Investigator of the Colorado-Wake site of the ENRICH consortium. She is an Associate Professor of Implementation Science and Pediatrics at Wake Forest University. Dr. Sauder oversees all study activities in North and South Carolina and participates in committees at the consortium level. Dr. Sauder’s favorite part of the ENRICH study is engaging with the local Nurse-Family Partnership agencies and hearing about their experiences serving clients
Pamela Scorza	Pamela Scorza, ScD, MPH’s research centers on the perinatal period as a unique window of opportunity for interrupting intergenerational transmission of health risk in populations exposed to concentrated adversity, including extreme poverty, racism, and marginalization. Dr. Scorza has conducted fieldwork with pregnant women and children in Ghana, Rwanda, Burundi, Peru, Argentina, and the United States, where she has implemented and evaluated perinatal mental health interventions and refined cross-cultural mental health measurement tools. Her current research examines behavioral (maternal-infant relationship quality) and biological (DNA methylation) markers of the upstream formation of infant health and developmental trajectories. She then incorporates these markers of intergenerational transmission in the perinatal period to assess the impact of perinatal interventions on child development. Email: [email protected]
Deirdre Web NFP Global Director	Deirdre is responsible for developing strategic direction and expansion of NFP and ensuring that NFP Global Collaborative Guidance Group is working effectively to maintain quality of NFP in all implementing countries. She led the implementation and establishment of Nurse Family Partnership / Family Nurse Partnership Program in Northern Ireland (her home country) thirteen years ago and has remained the Clinical Lead for the program ever since 2010 Projects: NFP Global Contact: email: [email protected]