We are a skilled and passionate team providing support to and evaluation of the prevention portion of the North Carolina Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant and other substance misuse prevention initiatives.
We receive funding from Community Wellness, Health Integration, and Prevention Section of the North Carolina Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services.
Dr. Rhodes is a professor in and chair of the Department of Social Science and Health Policy. He has published more than 250 articles and book chapters on the health of vulnerable populations, harnessing community-engaged research approaches such as community-based participatory research (CBPR).
An innovator in blending health equity research and practice, Dr. Rhodes has developed, implemented and evaluated more than 15 evidence-based behavioral and community-level prevention interventions for vulnerable and historically marginalized populations. Several are included in the CDC Compendium of Evidence-based Interventions and Best Practices for HIV Prevention.
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Dr. Ballard is an Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine. She is a developmental psychologist with multi-disciplinary training in psychology, education, and population health. Her research focuses on promoting positive youth development and amplifying the voices of youth in the settings that serve them to improve the health of youth and communities.
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Dr. McCoy is a Clinical Professor and Biostatistician for the Capstone College of Nursing at The University of Alabama. He has 20 years of experience as a study methodologist. He is an Accredited Professional Statistician (PStat) by the American Statistical Association. He has provided methodological, study design, data management and analysis support on several external/NIH funded projects, including in special populations for HIV prevention and substance misuse in youth and young adults.
He has contributed to over 145 publications in a biostatistician role. He is especially interested in helping to describe, analyze, and visualize data to assist communities reduce substance use and improve health for youth and young adult populations.
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Dr. Egan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Implementation Science at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Her overarching research agenda is dedicated to reducing harms associated with substance use through the implementation of interventions and policies within medical, community and academic settings.
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Mrs. Lasley is a Project Manager II in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy within the Division of Public Health. She has a multidisciplinary background in psychology, neurobiology, and gerontology, with specialized training in research administration. Her research experience focuses on wellness across the lifespan, with emphasis on substance misuse prevention, childhood development, cognitive aging. She collaborates on the evaluation of North Carolina's substance misuse prevention system, including the developing statewide surveys, supporting the implementation of prevention interventions and dissemination efforts.
Ms. Mann-Jackson is a Senior Research Associate in the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy. She has experience in qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, community engagement and community-based participatory research, cross-cultural health promotion and disease prevention, and intervention evaluation, particularly among young persons, rural communities, Spanish-speaking communities, and other populations impacted by substance use. She collaborates on the evaluation of North Carolina's substance use prevention system, including coordination of the North Carolina Statewide Epidemiological Outcomes Workgroup.