Who we are
Our Mission
Violence impacts people at all stages of life and is associated with a range of adverse social, economic, and health outcomes. From a public health perspective, the Wagman Lab at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health focuses primarily on interpersonal violence, including intimate partner violence or family/domestic violence, as well as sexual assault and dating violence.
Our goal is to stop violence before it begins, but because violence results from a variety of factors at multiple levels of influence, true prevention requires a deeper understanding of these factors. We want to educate and inform those at risk of interpersonal violence about the warning signs, and empower them to make better decisions and create healthier outcomes for themselves.
Our Team
Lab Director
Jennifer A. Wagman
Dr. Wagman earned her PhD in Reproductive, Perinatal and Women’s Health and her Master’s degree of Health Science in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and a Bioethics and Health Policy Certificate from the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.
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Her postdoctoral training, completed at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, was in alcohol and substance use, HIV and related infections. Since 2000, Dr. Wagman has collaborated with the Rakai Health Sciences Program to: examine the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV), reproductive health and HIV infection; create protocols for safe and ethical research on interpersonal violence; and lead intervention research to find effective, combination IPV and HIV prevention approaches in rural Uganda. More recently, Dr. Wagman expanded her research in Uganda to focus on the epidemiology of alcohol use and its association with IPV and HIV transmission, and throughout sub-Saharan Africa to examine the science of implementing proven successful violence and HIV prevention approaches. In California, Dr. Wagman leads UC Speaks Up, a public health research project to address and prevent sexual assault and dating violence on three University of California campuses. Since 2016, she has been the Director of Violence Prevention Research with the 10-campus UC Global Health Institute Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment Center of Expertise.
Staff Support
Katherine Morales
She/Her
Katt recently completed an MPH in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She has a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA where she double majored in Political Science and Latin American Studies. Katt has addressed sexual violence on college campuses as a trauma-informed victim-survivor advocate at the University of Southern California.
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She has also served as a certified advocate for predominantly Spanish-speaking immigrant communities at the East Los Angeles Women’s Center and staffed their domestic violence shelter. Katt has shifted her focus to research and interned for the California Department of Public Health’s Rape Prevention Education program. She seeks to center intersectional identities that have been historically marginalized and uplift vulnerable populations through her research. She plans to pursue a doctoral degree in public health. For self-care, Katt is a competitive bodybuilder in the bikini division for a national physique organization.
Sabrina Dou
Research Assisant
She/Her
Sabrina is a recent UCLA graduate in the Department of Psychology. Her areas of interests include sexual and reproductive health and discrimination within healthcare. She conducted a study on the sexual and reproductive health literacy of undergraduate students at UCLA and is currently assisting with the Domestic Violence Lethality Study. Sabrina plans to attend PA school and become a compassionate and educated healthcare provider. In her free time, Sabrina loves to go camping, attend music festivals, and take her dogs on walks.
Shirelle Mizrahi
She/Her
Shirelle Mizrahi recently graduated from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, where she received her MPH in the Department of Community Health Sciences. Her research interests include reproductive health and autonomy, sexual violence, and mental health.
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She is particularly passionate about the ways in which gender, sexuality, race, and place-based factors intersect to create barriers to health access and quality of care. Her current projects include drafting a proposal for research, titled “You See (U.C.) Lavender: Assessing University Readiness to Address Campus-Based Sexual Violence and Harassment Among Sexual and Gender Minority Students”, under Dr. Jennifer Wagman. She is additionally involved in research pertaining to PrEP usage, preferences, and adherence strategies among sex workers in West Bengal, India, under Dr. Dallas Swendeman and Dr. Anne Fehrenbacher. Shirelle plans to continue her career in implementation research in order to further investigate the ways in which stigma and discrimination pertaining to gender, race, sexuality, and other individual characteristics, can be dismantled. One fun fact about Shirelle is that she “accidentally” learned about the field of Public Health while enrolling in a Medical Anthropology class on a whim.
Stephanie Sumstine-Felice, MPH
She/Her
Stephanie is the Communications Specialist for the UC Global Health Institute and also serves on the UCGHI Black Lives Matter Task Force. Stephanie joins UCGHI from the UCLA Center for Community Health where she worked as a Project Director for six years working on research studies on substance use, sexual health, and addressing health disparities in historically underserved communities.
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Stephanie was the Center Coordinator for UCGHI’s Center for Gender and Health Justice (CGHJ) for over five years where she managed communications and the Center’s education and training programs. She has supported the CGHJ’s signature research project on local and global campus-based violence prevention since 2018. She is passionate about health equity, reproductive justice, addiction prevention, and sustainability.
Taylor Thomas, MPH, MA
She/Her
Taylor Thomas is the Center Coordinator for the Center for Gender and Health Justice and the Program Coordinator for Wagman Lab in the Fielding School of Public Health-Community Health Sciences Department. Taylor completed her dual master’s program at UCLA, earning her MPH from Feilding’s Community Health Sciences Department and an MA from the International Institute’s African Studies Department. During her program, Taylor was an active fellow in both the Maternal and Child Health Fellowship Program and the Leadership Education in NeuroDiversity Fellowship Program.
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She is passionate about neurodiversity advocacy, sustainability, and the intersection of afro-indigenous medical systems and allopathic medicine. Taylor currently focuses on the prevention of violence and the promotion of sexual and reproductive health and rights through her coordination at Wagman Lab.
Victoria Gresbach
Research Assistant & Lecturer
She/Her
Victoria is a recent MPH graduate from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University, with a major in Human Biology and a minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She currently works as a high school science teacher in Pasadena, CA, and works with Dr. Wagman’s research group on projects related to sexual health, violence prevention, and consent education.
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She completed her undergraduate studies at Stanford University, with a major in Human Biology and a minor in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her research interests include sexual citizenship, consent education, and institutional betrayal.
Jodie Chen
She/Her
Jodie is a third year undergraduate studying Statistics and Cognitive Science. She is passionate about developing long-term solutions to support survivors of sexual assault on campus. Currently, she works as a web designer and assists with creating and managing websites to improve the publicity and accessibility of sexual health services.
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After graduation, she hopes to work in the intersection of design, data science, and healthcare and continue supporting accessibility and policy-making on sexual violence.
Amanda Miller, MS, PhD
Dr. Amanda P. Miller (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the NIAAA Science in the Practitioner Model T32 at SDSU/UCSD.
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She received her MS in Global Health Sciences from the University of California, San Francisco and her PhD in Public Health from the University of California, San Diego. Amanda’s research has primarily focused on the intertwined epidemics of HIV, substance use and related co-morbidities (e.g., poor mental health, intimate partner violence) that both increase risk of HIV infection and are associated with adverse health outcomes among persons living with HIV. Her dissertation research examined how alcohol use and intimate partner violence impact HIV care and treatment outcomes in Uganda. Her current work is focused on understanding drivers of alcohol use among pregnant women in South Africa to inform intervention programming to address this HIV risk behavior in a population that experiences a heavy burden of both alcohol use and incident HIV. She is also working to address the syndemic of HIV, alcohol use and IPV among men living with HIV and their pregnant partners through economic strengthening in uganda. She loves hiking, traveling and her two kiddos.
Brittnie E. Bloom, PhD, MS
Dr. Brittnie Bloom is a recent graduate of the Joint Doctoral Program (JDP) in Global Public Health at San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego. She has a MS in Public Health from the Fielding School at the University of California Los Angeles, where she was a recipient of the GRFP Fellowship.
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She also holds two BAs, in Psychology and English, from San Diego State University, where she was a Ronald E. McNair Scholar. As a doctoral student, Brittnie’s interests were in sexual violence and sexual harassment (SCSH) prevention on college and university campuses, comprehensive sex education as a violence prevention strategy, and in better understanding help-seeking behaviors post-SVSH. During her time as a doctoral student, Brittnie was also engaged in student activism and related diversity and inclusion efforts, including helping found two student groups – Tritons for Gender Equity and the JDP Student Group, which focused on amplifying diverse and historically underrepresented voices in the JDP program, forming more inclusive communities within the JDP, and pushing for reformed curriculum that included racism as a public health issue. Brittnie is interested in mixed-methods research and in utilizing research methodologies, such as participatory action research and student voice, as these techniques are in alignment with her approach to public health research and evaluation: “Nothing about us, without us.” Brittnie is currently working with Medi-Cal populations at Blue Shield of California as a Program Manager, teaching courses at San Diego State University, and is working to build an evaluation business (Side of Change Consulting).
Jianchao Lai, MSW, Ph.D.
She/Her
Dr. Jianchao Lai (she/her) has earned her doctoral degree from the Department of Social Welfare at the Luskin School of Public Affairs, UCLA. Before joining UCLA, she completed her Master of Social Work (MSW) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and gained valuable experience working in various community and government-based welfare agencies. She currently serves as a research associate at the Agile Visual Analytics Lab at UCLA.
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Her primary research centers on the examination of community violence, with a particular emphasis on child maltreatment and gender-based violence within Asian American communities. Her dissertation project aims to challenge the model minority stereotype and bring attention to the frequently overlooked issue of child maltreatment within the Asian population in the United States using the CMS/CWS dataset. Additionally, she serves as the co-Principal Investigator (co-PI) of a funded research initiative, the Double Jeopardy Study, which collects mixed-method data and aims to comprehend the experiences of Asian American students in relation to sexual violence, service effectiveness, and help-seeking behaviors. Throughout her career, Jianchao has actively participated in multiple state-level evaluation projects, collaborating with institutions such as the Center on Children, Families, UCSpeaksUp project, and the Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Agile Visual Analytics Lab at UCLA.
Andi Levenson
She/They
Andi is a dual student earning her MPH in the Department of Community Health Sciences at UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and her MSW in the Department of Social Welfare at UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She received her undergraduate degree from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Psychology, with minors in Family Consumer Sciences and Child and Adolescent Development.
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Her current research interests focus on micro-level support and therapeutic techniques for young adults in High School and College who struggle from post-traumatic experiences. This past summer, Andi was able to travel to Maine to see the impressive SafeBAE summer institute program first-hand under Dr. Wagman’s guidance. After graduate school, Andi hopes to gain licensure to begin seeing clients. She is considering a PhD to create structural changes for individuals with disabilities who have been sexually assaulted but is very open-minded about her future.
In her free time, Andi loves reading fiction books and is always taking recommendations!
Eunhee Park, MPH
She/Her
Eunhee (pronounced as /ŭn-hiː/) Park is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Eunhee received her Master of Public Health from University of Hawaii specializing Social and Behavioral Health Sciences. Her research focuses on social determinants of health, gender-based violence, maternal and child health, and STDs/HIV.
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Her doctoral dissertation research is studying the epidemiology of syphilis in women and congenital syphilis in Los Angeles County between 2011 and 2020. She is leading the Double Jeopardy study as a principal investigator to address sexual violence and access to care among Asian college student population in California. Eunhee is aspired to promote gender equity and improve women’s health through her research. She love plants and flowers, cycling, camping, and personality tests like Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.
Jenny Lee
She/Her
Jenny Lee is an MPH student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Prior to graduate school, Jenny worked in a community based organization implementing a gender-based violence prevention program for AAPI high school youth using a peer education model. She received her B.S. in Public Health Sciences, with a minor in Gender and Sexuality Studies, at UC Irvine.
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She is interested in exploring the intersections between race, gender, sexuality, and sexual violence using data and evidence-based community-led frameworks. She is currently part of the “You See (U.C.) Lavender: Assessing University Readiness to Address Campus-Based Sexual Violence and Harassment Among Sexual and Gender Minority Students” and “Double Jeopardy: Asian Students’ Experiences of Sexual Violence and Xenophobia” study under Dr. Wagman. She hopes to use the skills developed through research to promote gender-equity and reproductive justice.
As a first-generation student, Jenny is also passionate about helping other students navigate their academic and professional journeys. She has served as a mentor for high school students of low socioeconomic backgrounds at UC Irvine, for fellows in the SF Human Rights Commission, and for undergraduates in the PILOT (Public Health Initiative: Leaders of Tomorrow) program at UCLA. One fun fact about Jenny is that she finds joy in brewing and flavoring her own Kombucha!
Krupa Varghese
She/Her
Krupa is a first-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Prior to joining graduate school, Krupa worked in the space of maternal and child health in India, where she headed M&E and Knowledge Management at The Antara Foundation. Her work and research interest lies in maternal health in low resource settings, specifically around quality of care, person-centric care, community-based service delivery, and health system strengthening for improved maternal health outcomes. Krupa graduated with a Masters in Development Studies from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in India.
Kyle Wu
He/Him
Kyle Wu is a current Ph.D. student in the Department of Biostatistics at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Kyle previously received a B.S. in Statistics and Data Science with a minor in Mathematics from UCLA.
Nicole Montañez, MSW
Nicole is a junior investigator and community health scientist with research and programmatic interests including identifying gaps in clinical research for improvement, training on coping skills for those living with an acute or chronic disease (i.e., TB and HIV) mental health distress and/or disability, stigma, violence, the incorporation of social and behavioral sciences and mindfulness within research through creating informed, diverse, equitable, and inclusive studies and trainings to enhance community and participant experiences and outcomes. Nicole is a consultant and full-time doctoral student in Community Health Sciences within the Fielding School of Public Health at UCLA. Nicole holds a Master of Social Work Health-Care from the University of Pretoria.
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Nicole is an investigator of record within the International Maternal Pediatric Adolescent AIDS Clinical Trials (IMPAACT) Network. Nicole’s public health background spans over ten years of domestic and international experiences with infant, adolescent, and adult populations.
Sean Sugai
He/Him
Sean Sugai graduated with a double major in Human Biology and Society (BS) and Anthropology (BS) and a minor in Public Health. Broadly, Sean’s research interests include medical, psychological, and queer anthropology, urban sustainability, critical race and queer theory, LGBTQ+ violence prevention, decolonial praxis, and the cultural politics of race, racism, racialization, and deracialization.
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He is currently involved in several research studies with the UC Speaks Up lab, the UCLA Heat Lab, the UCLA Department of Anthropology, the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the UC Global Health Institute, and the UCSB Center for Publicly Engaged Scholarship. As a through line between each of these projects, Sean critically examines how biomedicine and health conform to cisheteronormative and White standards of the body, which actively naturalizes, enables, and promotes health inequities across, within, and between queer communities of color.
Theoretically, Sean focuses on the promotion of Whiteness and anti-Blackness to understand how gender and sexuality are constrained and enabled in everyday life. That is, he aims to understand how racial inequities inform the construction of gender and sexuality, which makes the liberation of women and queer people of color a matter of racial justice. Empirically, Sean engages in community-led and intersectional research practices and critical ethnography to build rapport and empower the communities he works with. He ultimately plans to matriculate into an MD/PhD program in Medical Anthropology to further develop his ethnographic and public health skills and to be a vocal advocate in the medical community for more holistic, community-based clinical practices to undo the legacies of medical racism, discrimination, and inequalities.
As a first-generation college student, Sean is also passionate to use his experiences and training at UCLA and beyond to reduce the academic barriers experienced by other first-generation and out-of-state students by being a mentor and supportive friend. One fun fact about Sean is that he can recite the entire court scene from Legally Blonde by heart!”
Seda Shirinian
She/Her
Seda is pursuing a MS in Epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She has previously worked as a Program Coordinator for the Wagman lab and a Pre-Award Specialist for the Department of Community Health Sciences.
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Seda received her undergraduate degree in Human Biology & Society from UCLA.
Samantha Cheney
She/Her
Samantha is a MPH student in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She received her BA in both Sociology and Feminist Studies with a minor in Applied Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Samantha’s research focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights. After completing her MPH, Samantha plans to continue working with vulnerable populations to promote sexual and reproductive health and education. In her free time, Samantha enjoys going on hikes and spending time outdoors.
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She received her BA in both Sociology and Feminist Studies with a minor in Applied Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Samantha’s research focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights. After completing her MPH, Samantha plans to continue working with vulnerable populations to promote sexual and reproductive health and education. In her free time, Samantha enjoys going on hikes and spending time outdoors.
Undergraduate Student Researchers
Alejandro Gutierrez
He/Him
Alejandro Gutierrez is a fourth-year Psychobiology major with ambitions to direct attention towards the need for comprehensive queer and transgender healthcare. His experiences as a transgender, first-generation UCLA student have helped construct the scaffolding from which he continues to advocate for institutional changes and advancements in transgender medicine.
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A deeply held belief in the rights of marginalized individuals to bodily autonomy has propelled Alejandro’s interest in continuing research on issues relevant to transgender and gender non-confirming (GNC) communities. He aims to foster community within UCLA and beyond that supports the needs of BIPOC LGBTQ+ students.
Georgia Lavery Van Parijs
She/Her
Georgia is a third-year undergraduate student studying English and Gender Studies at UCLA. She is interested in improving policies surrounding reproductive justice, and sexual, gendered, and domestic violence, with the goal of pursuing a career in law or academia. She has previous experience with related research projects, such as a recently completed analysis of the legal history of birth control regulations in the United States.
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She is currently interning at the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center where she focuses mainly on research, education, and outreach with the UCLA campus. As a research assistant for Dr. Jennifer Wagman, Georgia hopes to provide recommendations for more accessible, comprehensible, and approachable resources for survivors of sexual assault so as to promote a safer campus at UCLA.
One fun fact about Georgia is that she owns a horse and is president of the Western Equestrian Team at UCLA.
Joanne Sarsam
She/Her
Joanne is an undergraduate student majoring in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. She is passionate in engaging in research that explores the intersection between human health and human society, and thus has a vested interest in exploring public health issues such as sexual health literacy and food insecurity. As a first-year, she looks forward to gaining experience in the world of research under the mentorship of her peers in the lab.
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Following her graduation from UCLA, Joanne hopes to pursue a career in the healthcare field where she can apply the public health knowledge she gained from the Wagman Lab to be a more inclusive and effective healthcare provider.
One fun fact about Joanne is that she loves to crochet! Ask her about anything yarn-related 🙂
Julianne Lempert
She/Her
Julianne Lempert is a third year undergraduate student at UCLA pursuing a double major in political science and economics. Outside of the Wagman lab, she works as a policy chair for IGNITE at UCLA, a women’s advocacy organization. Julianne is passionate about sexual assault care access and American voting behavior, and executes both qualitative and quantitative research. In the Wagman lab, she is developing her skills in research design and best research practices for sensitive subjects.
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Julianne plans to pursue a PhD or masters program in political science after she graduates from UCLA. In her free time, she enjoys skateboarding and playing with her dog.
Natalie Saham
She/Her
Natalie is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of California Los Angeles studying History. Her current research interests focus on sexual assault prevention across UC campuses as well as addressing gaps in sexual assault education and prevention within UCLA Greek life. Natalie is currently assisting Dr. Wagman on a qualitative survivor research study that works to address barriers and deficiencies in access to care and survivor-related resources in the aftermath of sexual assault.
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After graduate school, Natalie hopes to attend law school to gain the skills to advocate for assault survivors and lobby for policy reform. In her free time, Natalie enjoys hiking and going to the beach!
Nicholas Pwee
He/Him
Nick is an undergraduate student within the Department of Political Science at the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences. Within the study, Nick is extremely passionate in studying the dynamic between fraternities/sororities and their varying viewpoints on differing societal issues. Belonging to a fraternity himself, he hopes to refute the stereotypes and stigma surrounding Greek life as a whole. Nick plans on attending law school after graduation with a focus on healthcare law and public policy—fields that will effectively utilize the research skills he has developed under Wagman’s mentorship and tutelage. A fun fact about Nick is that he plays the cello.
Shaan Goel
He/Him
Shaan is an undergraduate student in the College of Letters and Sciences at UCLA. He has yet to declare a major, but he is interested in Public Health and potentially going to law school after he graduates. As a research assistant for Dr. Jennifer Wagman at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Shaan currently assists on a study focused on sexual assault and violence in the Greek-life system.
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Shaan is passionate about spreading awareness and preventing sexual assault, and his interest in public health, as well as his involvement in Greek-life on campus, drives Shaan to collect qualitative data on sexual-assault through interviews of other members of the Panhellenic and Inter-Fraternal Greek-life system. Ultimately, Shaan seeks to use the perspectives he gathers to shift the campus culture of sexual assault and violence by changing the norms within Greek-life and by addressing fundamental flaws in the way society handles instances of sexual assault. A fun fact about Shaan is that he has been to six continents, and his life goal is to make it to Antarctica one day!
Wafa Khan
She/Her
Wafa is an undergraduate student studying Comparative Literature while simultaneously pursuing the premed track. Her interests lie in sexual and reproductive health, health literacy, and the role of cultural competency in the healthcare system. Under Dr. Wagman’s guidance, Wafa is assisting with the Student Activity Advisory Board and the Domestic Violence Lethality Study. Apart from Public Health and advocacy, Wafa is also interested in the growing field of Narrative Medicine.
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Her interests lie in sexual and reproductive health, health literacy, and the role of cultural competency in the healthcare system. Under Dr. Wagman’s guidance, Wafa is assisting with the Student Activity Advisory Board and the Domestic Violence Lethality Study. Apart from Public Health and advocacy, Wafa is also interested in the growing field of Narrative Medicine.
Alumni
Allison Massey
She/Her
Allison recently graduated from the Luskin School of Public Affairs with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Affairs and a minor in Professional Writing. She is very passionate about Title IX reform and has studied sexual violence and harassment on campus and hopes to make a real difference at the University of California and make it a better place for survivors. She was a research assistant for the UC Speaks Up Double Jeopardy Study on Asian college students’ experiences of sexual violence and xenophobia during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Allison will be moving to New York City after graduation and will be working in Human Resources. She is excited to make meaningful change in her workplace and create a better working environment for her colleagues! Outside of academics and research, Allison loves to read, bake, and explore Los Angeles!
Ariana Schieferle
She/Her
Ari graduated from UCLA with a major in Biochemistry and a minor in Gender Studies. As a Research Assistant for Dr. Wagman in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, Ari was a co-lead for a research project that assessed the post-COVID-19 return to campus to prevent sexual violence within Greek life at UCLA. Ari will teach high school chemistry in LAUSD through Teach for America.
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Ari also assisted Dr. Wagman on projects regarding STI’s, intimate-partner violence, and public health initiatives within college campuses. She is passionate for sexual-violence based advocacy and is thankful for the research skills she has developed in the Wagman research group! Outside of research, Ari enjoys volunteering at local hospitals, going to concerts, and watching horror movies.
Chloe Manavi
She/Her
Chloe is a recent graduate of UCLA. She is passionate about mental health and sexual/reproductive health literacy. Chloe plans to attend a clinical psychology PsyD program and anticipates that the research skills she has developed with Dr. Wagman will enable her to practice clinically and contribute to ongoing research in the psychology field. A fun fact about Chloe is that she loves to dance!
Claire Amabile
Claire Amabile, MPH, MSW ggraduated in 2023 from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Social Welfare. She received her undergraduate degree in Global Studies, with minors in English and Feminist Studies, from UC Santa Barbara. She currently works for UCLA’s Campus Assault, Resource and Education program (CARE), where she serves as a confidential advocate for students, faculty, and staff impacted by sexual violence
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Her research interests focus on sexual and intimate partner violence prevention and intervention across the globe. She has worked with Dr. Wagman for four years, coordinating several sexual violence prevention projects. Eventually, Claire aims to pursue Doctoral level training in social welfare, continuing to focus on preventing violence and supporting survivors’ healing processes. Outside of the office, Claire enjoys going on outdoor adventures, playing billiards, attending live music events, and spending time with her adopted cat, Spoon.
Claudia Brewer
She/Her
Claudia graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology with a Minor in Society and Genetics and is now pursuing her M.D. at the UCSF School of Medicine. Her interests lie in health education, sexual and reproductive health, and social determinants of health. Claudia founded the SRH Literacy Research Initiative under SWC SEARCH in order to assess the SRH needs of UCLA undergraduates in a by-students, for-students manner. She also is interested in men’s engagement with SRH and is on the Youth Advisory Board at Male Contraceptive Initiative.
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In her free time, she loves getting outdoors with her roommates and doing yoga.
Daphne Marvel
She/Her
Daphne Marvel is an MPH-MSW graduate from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and Luskin School of Public Affairs. She currently works as a clinical social worker in Los Angeles. While completing her graduate studies, she worked with Dr. Jennifer Wagman for two years on a domestic violence pilot program. Prior to graduate school, Daphne worked at Berkeley Media Studies Group, a program of the Public Health Institute, where she conducted research on how public health and social justice issues are framed in the news. Daphne graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in Psychology and Spanish.
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Daphne’s research interests include intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and gun violence prevention. As a graduate student researcher, she supported Dr. Wagman’s work on the lethality assessment program pilot, an intervention to prevent intimate partner homicides in Los Angeles. Daphne has way too many plants but is always on the lookout for more!
Eva Levingston
She/Her
Eva earned her MPH in June 2023 from the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. She has a B.S. degree in Health Science from California State University, Dominguez Hills with a specialization in community health. Eva specializes in youth engagement and empowerment. Her past experiences include facilitating health education workshops in South Los Angeles high schools, and designing and leading a mentorship program for boys of color.
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During her graduate studies at UCLA, Eva served as a UCGHI Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment COE research fellow. In the summer of 2022, Eva conducted a qualitative research project titled, “Creating a Public Health Leadership Pipeline for Young Women: Strengthening UCLA’s Partnership with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s Youth Advisory Council.” This project assessed the existing Youth Advisory Council Program and also aimed to strengthen partnership between students, staff and faculty at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the leadership, staff and youth advocates involved in the Los Angeles Department of Public Health’s Youth Advisory Council.
Fun Fact: Eva is an avid gamer. Her favorite franchise is Pokémon and will consistently give her money to the cute, furry creatures.”
Grace Nguyen
She/Her
Grace recently graduated from UCLA with a B.S. in Physiological Sciences with plans to attend dental school. She has conducted research on domestic violence restraining orders and firearm relinquishment in Los Angeles County, developing her research interests in policy surrounding intimate partner violence and its intersection with health. She plans to use the skills she has developed to continue doing research in dental school and will approach dentistry with a public health, community-centered focus.
Madi Logan
She/Her
Madi recently graduated from the Department of Communication at the UCLA College of Letters and Science. She is passionate about environmental sustainability, fashion, countering domestic and sexual violence. Madi plans to attend law school and pursue a career in sex crimes. She wants to give assault and abuse survivors the opportunity to use their voice and demand the justice they so rightfully deserve. The research skills she has developed through this study will aid in her future work with domestic violence and sexual violence. A fun fact about Madi is that she loves lizards and frogs.
Marisa Imbroane
She/Her
Marisa Imbroane is a medical student at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. During her time at UCLA, she was a Research Assistant for Dr. Jennifer Wagman in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health, working on sexual violence prevention and education in the Greek life community. A fun fact about Marisa is that she has sung in Notre Dame in Paris.
Mira Joan Qureshi
She/Her
Mira Qureshi graduated from UCLA in June 2022 with a major in Human Biology and Society and a minor in Global Health. Now she is working as a Perinatal and Pediatric Coordinator at the William Jenkins Health Center of LifeLong Medical Care in Richmond, California. During her junior and senior years at UCLA, Mira was a scholar in the Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) Undergraduate Student Training in Academic Research (U-STAR) Program, a high-caliber research training program funded by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Wagman was her MARC/U-STAR mentor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
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Mira is also the president of The Global Uplift Project where she started a sustainable initiative to provide school girls in Yemen with reusable sanitary menstrual kits, so they are able to continue their education. Mira aspires to use her research skills and knowledge regarding global health that she has acquired in Dr.Wagman’s lab to become an OB/GYN and empower women through providing them with equitable access to sexual and reproductive health services. As part of the Wagman lab, Mira worked on the EMERGE project, focused on gender equity and intimate partner violence in Uganda during COVID-19. She led data analysis and interpretation and developed a paper titled “Women’s Access to Family Planning and Experiences of Reproductive Coercion During the COVID-19 Lockdown in Uganda: Findings from the APHS Cohort.”
Nate Price
He/Him
Nate Price graduated from UCLA with a major in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics (MIMG) and a minor in Biomedical Research. He is very passionate about public health and epidemiology, and hopes to pursue a PhD in the field. Apart from public health, Nate is also interested in microbiology and disease prevention and works in a lab that conducts research on pandemic potential viruses, such as COVID-19. Outside of science, Nate enjoys hiking, drawing, and plays lead guitar in a punk band.
Nox Yang
She/Her
Nox Yang is a freelance filmmaker and photographer based in Los Angeles. In 2022, she graduated from UCLA, where she majored in sociology and completed a minor in the Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media Studies. She is passionate about social justice, racial/gender inequalities, cross-cultural communications. Combined with her interest in storytelling and documentary filmmaking, Nox aims to use her work to inform and inspire the public on issues that she cares deeply about.
Olivia Almon
She/Her
Olivia Almon graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in Sociology and a minor in Public Health. She is currently an MPH student at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in the Department of Population and Family Health with a certificate in Health Policy. At UCLA, she was a research intern for UC Speaks Up and various other research projects that examined sexual violence prevention, intervention, and community health. Her research interests include women’s and reproductive health and rights, violence prevention, criminal justice reform, health equity and health policy. Upon completion of her MPH, Olivia hopes to work toward advancing health policy and equity in reproductive health.
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She is passionate about social justice and understanding social determinants of health that affect all forms of violence, particularly in how violence impacts individuals disproportionately based on lived identities and experiences. She aims to take an abolitionist approach to violence prevention work, bringing transformative justice efforts to more survivors across communities. The Wagman lab’s intersectional approach to violence prevention research helped grow Olivia’s knowledge of and ability to utilize an intersectional and transformative justice lens to actualize alternative solutions to public health issues like sexual violence. After graduation from UCLA, she plans to receive a Master of Public Health and pursue a career in violence prevention and intervention work with the skills she developed in the Wagman lab. Olivia loves hiking and has made great use of Southern California’s beautiful terrain, but misses the Rocky Mountains of her home state Colorado greatly!
Rujuta Sathe
She/Her
Rujuta is a UCLA graduate in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. She has extensive experience in wet-lab and quantitative work (R-programming) from her prior projects on embryonic development and was awarded UCLA’s Undergraduate Research Scholars Program (URSP) Grant for her project proposals. Rujuta is also a Student Ambassador on the Women’s Health and Gender Empowerment track at the UC Global Health Institute and is currently co-leading a research study under the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
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The study uses a mixed-methods approach to assess student perspectives on the affordability, accessibility, and quality of reproductive and gynecological services at UCLA’s Women’s Health Clinic. She sees this study as an opportunity to address potential health disparities affecting the student population and to use her passion for women’s health to create positive change on campus. After graduating from UCLA, Rujuta plans to attend medical school and wishes to apply the research skills she has developed in the Wagman Lab to support her career goals as a physician and clinical researcher.
Fun Fact: Rujuta recently took the 23&Me test and found out she’s related to Mal’ta Boy – a famous 4-yr old boy whose remains date back 22,000 years ago to Paleolithic Siberia!
Samantha McNeill
She/Her
Samantha graduated from UCLA with a major in Psychobiology. She is passionate about educating those involved in Greek life. During college, she held a leadership position in her own sorority. Samantha worked as a Research Assistant for Dr. Jennifer Wagman in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health, and assisted in conducting research aimed at improving the education system in place in Greek life settings on college campuses. Samantha is currently pursuing an MA in Marital and Family Therapy at the University of San Diego.
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The skills that Samantha developed as an undergraduate researcher will help her practice clinically and serve as a strong foundation for future involvement in research.
Simran Athwal
She/Her
Simran is a recent UCLA graduate with a B.S. in Biology and double minor in Society & Genetics and Global Health. During college, she was well-involved in various organizations and programs that are offered at UCLA. Her passion for addressing housing insecurity and advocating for mental health and women’s health is what motivated her to be part of organizations that have missions pertaining to her passions. Her aspiration is to become an Ophthalmologist and be involved in her community and contribute back as a philanthropist.