Principal Investigators

Associate Professor
School of Public Health, Div. of Epidemiology
San Diego State University

Shira Goldenberg, PhD (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health at the San Diego State University and adjunct faculty in the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. She also Co-Directs the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health (Epidemiology). Dr. Goldenberg has >16 years’ experience leading epidemiologic and mixed- methods studies on social-structural drivers and interventions of engagement with prevention and care for sexual and reproductive health, HIV, substance use, mental health, and related health inequities amongst marginalized women globally.

Dr. Goldenberg currently leads an NIMH-funded R34 to adapt and pilot- test a novel mental health prevention and positive parenting intervention for migrant mothers with young children; and the Maternal and Infant Health among Refugee and Asylum-Seeking Women (MIHRA) project, an SDSU and SD CFAR-funded mixed-methods project assessing sexual, reproductive, and HIV-related needs and their relationship to evolving risk environments faced by asylum-seeking women at the Mexico-U.S. border. She also leads An Evaluation of Sex Workers’ Health Access (AESHA), a NIDA-funded longstanding R01 community- based cohort study evaluating the impacts of structural interventions on HIV, STI, and overdose outcomes among women sex workers in Canada. Dr. Goldenberg is passionate about the role of community engagement and partnerships for ensuring ethical and effective approaches to research, programmes, and policy to advance the health and wellbeing of marginalized communities.

Kaylee Ramage, MSc, PhD is a qualitative researcher and social epidemiologist whose research focuses on exploring and addressing the marginalizing influences of socio-structural contexts on women’s and other marginalized populations’ sexual and reproductive health, decision-making, and healthcare access. Dr. Ramage earned a  Master of Science in Public Health (Health Promotion) from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom) (2014) and her Doctor of Philosophy in Community Health Sciences (Epidemiology) from the University of Calgary (Canada) (2021). She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at San Diego State University and is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Her research has examined health disparities related to socio-structural issues such as homelessness, poverty, forced migration, discrimination, and xenophobia in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. Her current qualitative and quantitative research explores the sexual and reproductive health and healthcare access of migrant women at the Mexico-U.S. border and in the U.S., ethical considerations for research with migrant populations in the U.S., and reproductive and contraceptive decision-making within the current socio-political climate.

Marissa Velarde is reproductive health equity research scholar who studies the structural, policy, and community determinants of sexual and reproductive health to address the persistent inequities in reproductive health access and outcomes found among marginalized communities. As a bicultural and bilingual researcher, she is particularly interested in research at the intersection of reproductive health and immigration status as it relates to Latina/es. Dr. Velarde is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow actively involved in studies led by Dr. Shira Goldenberg regarding the maternal, mental, and reproductive health of migrant women at the US-Mexico border as well as health inequities experienced by sex workers. She conducts quantitative and qualitative research and is passionate about engaging and partnering with community organizations and members in her work.

Erica Felker-Kantor, PhD, MSPH, MA is a social epidemiologist with a PhD from Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also holds a Master of Arts in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Development from the University of Florida and a Master of Science in Public Health from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has 16 plus years of experience working in public and global health research, program implementation, and teaching. Erica’s research, which has been funded by NIH, USAID, and the Tinker Foundations, centers on understanding andaddressing health disparities for women, migrants, and ethnic/racial minorities. She uses the socio-ecologic model to explain how social and environmental contexts influence disease syndemics. Erica is currently at the University of California San Diego, Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health where she is working on implementation science and intervention-based research with migrant women who are impacted by co- occurring health conditions in the U.S.-Mexico border region. She is also an NIH implementation science research fellow at Johns Hopkins. She previously worked as a Senior Research Advisor for an international NGO where she focused on health equity, climate, and reproductive health research and as a field epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tulane School of Public Health in the Department of International Health and Sustainable Development where she co-teaches a course on spatial epidemiology. In addition to research, Erica has extensive experience teaching, mentoring, and facilitating trainings for varying audiences including students, community-based partners, and ministries of health. Erica is fluent in Spanish, Haitian Creole, and French and has worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the United States.