Dr.
Maghboeba Mosavel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and
Behavioral Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, and the Director of the
Virginia Commonwealth University and University of KwaZulu-Natal partnership.
Dr. Mosavel is a health disparities researcher who conducts community-engaged
research. For the past two decades, she has conducted research with low-income
populations, both in the United States and South Africa.
Dr.
Mosavel was born in Cape Town, South Africa and has previously received funding
to conduct research in Delft, Cape Town. She has funded research from NCI that
focuses on cancer prevention and early detection of cancer among low-income
African-American females. Dr. Mosavel has extensive experience assembling a
diverse community-academic team and harnessing the expertise of each member to
address
the research questions and to develop effective implementation
and
dissemination plans.
Dr.
Mosavel also teaches a community-based participatory--service learning class at
VCU and her students provide community-engaged service at several local health
facilities.
Jasmine Abrams is a native of Norfolk, Virginia. She is a graduate of Virginia State
University where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and
graduated Summa Cum Laude. Miss Abrams has a Masters in Psychology from
Virginia Commonwealth University and is continuing her education in as a third
year in the Health Psychology doctoral program, where she is currently researching
psychosociocultural determinants of chronic illnesses, HIV risk behaviors,
gender roles among African Americans. Miss Abrams has worked persistently in
the fight against HIV/AIDS for the past five years. She has conducted research
on the topic, presented at numerous scholarly conferences, and facilitated
evidence-based prevention interventions for African American youth, men, women
and HIV positive individuals. In addition, Miss Abrams has hosted over 70
HIV/AIDS educational and awareness programs or sessions. Her passion for this
work continues through her work as the assistant project manager and lead
prevention specialist for the Raise 5 Project on the campus of VCU. Miss Abrams
is a humble woman who acknowledges that her work would not be possible without
God’s grace, mercy, and favor. Her philosophy of life is grounded in a quote by
Maria Robinson, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can
start today and make a new ending.”
Lisa Borcheller
My name is Lisa Borcheller, and I am currently
pursuing my Masters degree in occupational therapy (OT) here at VCU. I was
fortunate to be born the daughter of two Army veterans who share a passion for
traveling, cultures, and history and instilled that same passion in me. Six
weeks after I was born, we moved to Europe and I spent the next six years of my
life abroad. Twenty-six countries, 48 states, and six moves later, my family
settled down in Northern Virginia. I attended college at the University of Virginia,
where I majored in History and Italian and focused my thesis on a
cross-cultural comparison of social justice issues facing black women in South
Africa and the United States. After several career changes, I chose to become
an OT so I could learn how to empower people to live more meaningful lives. I
am passionate about improving the lives of others and I approach health related
issues from a holistic perspective, taking into account a
country’s history, culture, and current societal issues. I am particularly
interested in a new movement within my profession called “OT without Borders”
(OTwB) that calls on OT practitioners to expand its
scope of practice to working with historically marginalized populations-
survivors of war, refugees, prisoners, women, minorities, people with all types
of physical and mental disabilities- any group of people whose environmental
conditions violates their basic human rights and prevents them from
participating more fully and healthfully in their lives. Given apartheid’s legacy
of poverty and disability among large swaths of the South African population,
primarily among its black majority, the aims of OTwB and Building Global
Bridges appear to align very closely. Upon completing my Masters degree, I hope
to continue in a Ph.D. program abroad to build an international research career
using community-engaged research to explore issues of human rights related to
practicing OTwB. In doing so, I hope to become an advocate for marginalized
populations in need of a voice. This summer,
I look forward to serving the people of Kenneth Gardens in Durban, South Africa
and learning all that I can from them through the use of community-engaged
research. Overall, I am incredibly excited to learn from my VCU and UKZN
research peers so that I can contribute as much as I can to the mission of
Building Global Bridges while in South Africa and once back at VCU as a Global
Bridges ambassador.
Michelle Laws
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master of Arts degree from North Carolina Central University.
My long-term career goals are to make a significant
contribution as a social and behavioral scientist in the fields of medical
research and health communication with a specific focus on improving health
outcomes for poor and race/ethnic minority women. As a behavioral and social
scientist, I have worked on multiple research projects to improve social and
health conditions affecting the quality of life for poor and African American
populations, covering different health topics including HIV/AIDS, tobacco use
prevention, and mental health. The majority of my research experience has
focused on improving health promotion and interventions targeted at African
Americans applying the social-ecological model of health and the
community-based participatory research framework. Prior to returning to school to pursue my PhD in
Social and Behavioral Science at VCU’s School of Medicine in the Department of
Social and Behavioral Health, I spent more than a decade building a
professional record as an advocate for better health and education services for
poor women and children including as a legislative liaison and policy adviser
to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (NC) and the director of the
Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse; and
research associate for the LinCS2
Durham HIV/AIDS research project (a partnership among NCCU, Family Health International,
UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Durham Health Department). I also currently serve in
several leadership roles in the community that have informed my interest in
improving health disparities related to poor and race/ethnic minority women
including as the co-chair of the health ministry and associate minister to
women and youth minister at my church; and as an adviser to the NC State
Conference of the NAACP on health issues along with Dr. Allen Mask, MD (founder
and director of the Raleigh Urgent Care Center in Raleigh NC). I have long believed that the health
outcomes of individuals cannot fully be explained by genetics and biology alone
but must include an assessment of how social, environmental and political
factors intersect and influence the health behaviors and decisions. Furthermore, I am a proponent of
engaging communities in research as more than research subjects. I believe that community members can
offer a unique perspective as insiders that bench-science alone cannot. Community-engaged research is therefore
critical when developing interventions and attempting to move from a basic
science approach to health care to a translational science model.
Carrie Miller is a
second year Master of Public Health student and graduate of the VCU Honors in
Psychology program. Prior to
graduate school, Carrie worked in a variety of clinical research roles
in the private and public sectors.
Her research interests involve the intersection
of health and social, behavioral and psychological factors. She is specifically interested in
community level interventions that aim to improve the health of underserved
populations. Carrie is excited to
participate in the Global Bridges program, conduct research within the local
community, and experience the unique geography, shared interests and social
networks of people in Durban, South Africa. She believes it will be instrumental in shaping her future
career/education plans.
Morgan L. Maxwell
Morgan L. Maxwell is a Prevention Specialist at the Center for
Cultural Experiences in Prevention. She earned her bachelor’s degree in
psychology from Howard University in 2008, and in 2010 received a master’s
degree in Latin American Studies from Vanderbilt University. Currently she is a
second year doctoral student at Virginia Commonwealth University in the Social
Psychology program. Her primary interests involve improving the physical
and psychological well being of communities of African ancestry worldwide and
addressing the prevalence of colorist ideologies. Through evidence-based
preventive programs, it is her goal to examine society’s influence on
individuals’ sexual practices and to decrease the incidence of HIV within
minority populations.
Zoë Dehmer
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