Staff
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Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD Founding Director
Renée Boynton-Jarrett, MD, ScD Founding Director
Renée Boynton-Jarrett is a practicing primary care pediatrician at Boston Medical Center, a social epidemiologist and the founding director of the Vital Village Community Engagement Network. Through the Vital Village Network, she is supporting the development of community-based strategies to promote child well-being in three Boston neighborhoods. She joined the faculty at Boston University School of Medicine in 2007 and is currently an Associate Professor of Pediatrics. She received her AB from Princeton University, her MD from Yale School of Medicine, ScD in Social Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health, and completed residency in Pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her work focuses on the role of early-life adversities as life course social determinants of health. She has a specific interest in the intersection of community violence, intimate partner violence, and child abuse and neglect and neighborhood characteristics that influence these patterns.
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Ronda Alexander, MA Director of Operations - Project NOW
Ronda Alexander, MA Director of Operations - Project NOW
Ronda Alexander is a native Detroiter dedicated to working with communities to reach their desired goals by aligning and leveraging their resources. Ronda joins us from the United Way for Southeastern Michigan where she served as the Director of Corporate and Community Alignment on the organization’s College and Career Pathways team. In her role at United Way Ronda worked to help external corporate partners find meaningful ways to engage with both students and educators; as well as worked across teams within the organization to align and leverage resources. Prior to joining United Way Ronda worked on the premier education initiative of Ford Motor Company Fund – Ford Next Generation (Ford NGL) for nine years. While at Ford Fund Ronda served a variety of roles including Professional Development/Technical Assistance Specialist and Program Manager for STEM initiatives. In all of her roles with Ford Fund Ronda worked with and supported multiple communities across the country as they worked to transform their communities through education.
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Yusuf Ali Senior Network Coordinator
Yusuf Ali Senior Network Coordinator
Yusuf Ali grew up and has worked professionally in the communities of Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan over the last 8 years. Yusuf graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration from Florida A& M University in 2008. Yusuf is passionate about holistic healthy lifestyles and has focused his work towards empowering and providing families & individuals with resources in the areas of access to wealth, food access, and civic engagement.
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Diana Austria Rivera, MSW, MPH Program Manager - Project NOW
Diana Austria Rivera, MSW, MPH Program Manager - Project NOW
As a public health social worker, Diana is committed to advancing racial, economic, and health equity ensuring that our most vulnerable communities thrive in healthy communities of opportunity and are at the forefront driving policy and systems-level change. Born in the Philippines and raised in Houston, Texas, she graduated with a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University in 2008 and a dual Masters in Social Welfare and Public Health from University of California, Berkeley in 2015. Prior to joining the Vital Village team, she engaged in research, capacity building, and policy advocacy to build equitable food systems and inclusive health workforce policies at PolicyLink. Diana also brings experience in school-based health research, health career pathway programs, youth leadership development, community engagement, and immigrant health.
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Milan Chuttani Data Analyst
Milan Chuttani Data Analyst
Milan Chuttani is a public health professional focused on spatial analytics, data visualization, and web development. Milan graduated from Dartmouth College in 2018 with a B.A. in Government and a minor in Computer Science. Prior to joining Vital Village Network, Milan completed a fellowship at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developing web applications and GIS tools to support the COVID-19 pandemic response and public health initiatives for globally mobile populations. Milan enjoys transforming spatial, qualitative, and quantitative data into compelling narratives that promote health equity.
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Marisol De Ornelas, MSPH Research Associate - CK Ready Study
Marisol De Ornelas, MSPH Research Associate - CK Ready Study
Marisol De Ornelas has a Master of Science in Public Health at Boston University School of Public Health. Marisol’s passion for public health began while growing up in her home country, Venezuela, and experiencing first hand the devastating consequences of health inequity. She is passionate about the development, evaluation, and dissemination of public health interventions that focus on early childhood development and education. More broadly, her public health interests include environmental justice, translational research, public policy, Latinx communities, nutrition, and child and maternal health.
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Desiree Hartman Senior Program Coordinator
Desiree Hartman Senior Program Coordinator
Desiree (Desi) Hartman grew up in Minnesota and graduated from Colorado College in 2016 with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Global Health. During college, Hartman conducted field research on infant attachment in multiple caregiver settings and cultivated a GlobeMed partnership with the Western Organization for People Living with HIV/AIDS (WOPLAH) in Kenya. Desi is passionate about early childhood development, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), child rights, maternal child health, migration and working with local leaders in the pursuit of justice, dignity, and health equity for all children and families.
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Alexandria Jones Program Manager
Alexandria Jones Program Manager
Alexandria Jones is a relationship and mission-driven professional with a focus on systems thinking and its intersection with human-centered cultures and outcomes. Prior to Vital Village, she worked in higher ed administration and philanthropy, and has years of experience in the cultivation, coordination, and management of events, programming, and teams. As an alumna from Berklee College of Music, majoring in Music Therapy, she is passionate about music’s ability to empower others.
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Hassan Lubega Research Coordinator - CK Ready Study
Hassan Lubega Research Coordinator - CK Ready Study
Hassan Lubega graduated from Boston University in 2020 with a bachelor's in science in Behavior & Health from the Sargent College of Health Sciences and Rehabilitation. He particulary focused his studies on minority health disparities, and he values the importance of bringing an intersectional lens to healthcare. After working on the CK-Ready Team as a research intern, he joined the permanent staff and is excited to have the opportunity to continue to work with the study.
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Lisa Marquez, MA Program Coordinator
Lisa Marquez, MA Program Coordinator
Lisa Marquez is from Corpus Christi, Texas, and received her Master’s in Migration Studies at the University of San Francisco in May 2019. In the past eight years, Lisa has lived in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Bay Area, California, Mexico City, and Washington, DC. While living in each of these areas, she gained hands-on experience working at various nonprofit organizations that provided emergency food assistance. Lisa gained community-based research experience while conducting her Master’s thesis research in the Bay Area, California, and doing research with the Smithsonian Institution and DC Hunger Solutions in the DC immigrant and Latinx communities. Lisa is dedicated to creating a more just food system through her research efforts.
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Sarah X Rojas-Rogalewicz, MS Research Associate - CK Ready Study
Sarah X Rojas-Rogalewicz, MS Research Associate - CK Ready Study
Sarah X. Rojas-Rogalewicz is a healthcare professional with research interests that focus on the relationship of race and ethnicity to language, cognition, and health-related quality of life. She previously worked in diverse capacities in pediatric neuroimaging research, EEG research, and social work services outside Philadelphia. Most recently, Sarah assisted in multiple MRI studies including (ECHO) Environmental Influences on Childhood Outcomes at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Born in Colombia and raised in Miami, Florida, she received her MS in Neuroscience at Columbia University, and BS in Communication Science Disorders from Pennsylvania State University. Her experience and passion for language justice is multifaceted involving advocacy, multilingualism, cultural awareness, and interpretation. Currently, Sarah is a Master of Speech Language Pathology candidate at Boston University with a commitment to helping marginalized populations with limited resources and accessibilities.
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Ryham Saleh Senior Financial Administrator
Ryham Saleh Senior Financial Administrator
Ryham graduated from Suffolk University in 2010 with a Bachelor’s in Arts in Public Relations. She joined Boston Medical Center in 2016 as an Administrative & Financial Assistant for the Director and Department of the Division of General Academic Pediatrics. Shortly after she took on an additional position as a Grants Specialist. She began to work remotely in 2018 which joyfully led her to her current role as a Senior Financial Administrator at Boston Medical Center Vital Village Network.
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Amy Sanchez Community Partnerships Program Coordinator
Amy Sanchez Community Partnerships Program Coordinator
Amy Sanchez (she/ella) was born and raised in the Dorchester & Roxbury community. She received a BA in Latin American studies and Educational Policy & Practice from Mount Holyoke College. Amy has brought her relationship centered approach through her work with various community organizations and companies including SquashBusters, UWander Inc. & Chica Project. From communities in Boston to Dominican Republic, Amy advocates for the impact on communal healing, youth leadership & storytelling. She is passionate about multicultural studies, promoting sexual health & advocacy, and addressing social injustices.
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Clare Viglione, MPH, RDN Research Manager - CK Ready Study
Clare Viglione, MPH, RDN Research Manager - CK Ready Study
Clare graduated from Columbia University in 2013 with an MPH. At Columbia, Clare worked in the Population and Family Health Department on the Getting Ready for School project and on SKIP!, the toddler physical activity intervention in Early Head Start. Clare has also held research positions with Harvard Prevention Research Center and New York University in addition to health education roles with Harlem Children’s Zone and the Department of Health. Clare also recently completed a Dietetic Internship at Brigham and Women's Hospital to become a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). Clare ultimately plans to pursue a PhD to develop cost-effective familial interventions targeting social-emotional development and childhood obesity.
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Hailun Wang, MS, MPH Data Analyst
Hailun Wang, MS, MPH Data Analyst
Hailun Wang is a Master of Public Health candidate with a focus on Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation, at Boston University. She has diverse experiences in integrating Geographic Information System (GIS) into program design and evaluation, such as urban planning, disaster response, and health education. She is passionate about helping people live a healthier life by implementing health programs in less privileged communities. With this goal and the strengths and skillsets that she has obtained from her previous experiences, she is committed to increasing access to healthcare in under-resourced settings through community empowerment and mobilization.
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