Drexel University

Drexel Dornsife School of Public Health and Drexel College of Nursing and Health Professions

Our program supports the career advancement of 12 early-career faculty focused on understanding and eliminating health disparities in cross-cutting thematic areas or clusters: aging, chronic disease, and/or environmental determinants. As a culture of inclusive excellence is fundamental to rigorous science and effective action, we seek to create and sustain institutional practices/policies that promote diversity and inclusion across Drexel University.

FIRST Cohort Leadership

Laura N. Gitlin, PhD, FGSA, FAAN

Distinguished Professor; Dean, College of Nursing and Health Professions (CNHP); Executive Director, AgeWell Collaboratory

Drexel FIRST MPI

Ana Diez Roux, MD, PhD, MPH

Distinguished Professor; Dean, Dornsife School of Public Health (DSPH); Director, Urban Health Collaborative

Drexel FIRST MPI

Loni Tabb, PhD

Associate Professor of Biostatistics and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs

Drexel FIRST Faculty Development Core Co-Lead

Jan Eberth, PhD

Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy

Drexel FIRST Faculty Development Core Co-Lead

Brisa Sanchez, PhD

Dornsife Endowed Professor of Biostatistics and Associate Dean for Research

Drexel FIRST Co-Investigator

Girija Kaimal, EdD, ATC-BR Edit

Associate Professor, Creative Arts Therapies Department; Assistant Dean for Special Research Initiatives; Interim Chair

Drexel FIRST Evaluation Lead

Renee’ Moore, PhD

Research Professor; Director of the Biostatistics Scientific Collaboration Center (BSC); and Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

Drexel FIRST Co-Investigator

Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, RN, FASPEN, FAAN, FGSA

Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Research, College of Nursing and Health Professions

Drexel FIRST Co-Investigator

Erin Horvat, PhD

Professor and Interim Dean, Drexel School of Education; Senior Vice Provost, Faculty Advancement

Drexel FIRST Co-Investigator

FIRST Cohort Faculty

The FIRST Faculty Cohort includes interdisciplinary early-stage assistant professors whose work has a primary goal of ultimately eliminating health disparities. Their research spans one or more of the three 3 pillars of health disparities research: detecting disparities (define/measure); understanding disparities (identify causes); and reducing disparities (intervene, evaluate, translate, scale). They are committed to inclusive excellence as critical to impactful science.