Samantha Filby, is an Economics PhD candidate at University of Cape Town (South Africa) and is sponsored by a Fulbright Scholarship to visit the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. She serves as a member of the research team at the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products, based at her home university.
Dr. Philbin is a social and behavioral scientist who uses mixed methods to examine how social policies and clinical practice shapes inclusion and health equity with a focus on substance use and HIV/AIDS. She has worked in the field of health disparities for over 15 years conducting research that explores how community-, institutional-, and state-level factors drive health outcomes among sexual and gender minority (SGM) young people and pregnant people. Dr.
Andre Luiz Oliveira da Silva, PhD received his doctorate from Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública Sergio Arouca in 2019 with a specialization in public health. Dr. Oliveira da Silva joined the CTCRE in June 2022. As the Tobacco Center's first Briger Fellow, he anticipates spending one year in the Tobacco Control Research Fellowship both gaining from our faculty's expertise and sharing his rich experiences in tobacco control research from his homeland of Brazil. Dr. Oliveira da Silva will be mentored by Stella Bialous, DrPH, FAAN, also from Brazil.
Joshua Miller is a political scientist that focuses on the intersection of public health policy and vulnerable populations. Joshua received his Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America in Politics.
Scarlett Lin Gomez, M.P.H. and Ph.D. in Epidemiology, is Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and a member of the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, where she is Co-Leader of the Cancer Control Program and a member of the Prostate Cancer Program Leadership Committee. She is Director of the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry, a participant in the NCI SEER (Surveillance, Epidemiology, End Results) program and the California Cancer Registry.
J. Alton Croker III, PhD, received his doctorate in Health Services & Policy focusing on cannabis policy, health outcomes, and health disparities. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021, where he served as a research investigator for the Cannabis and End-of-Life Study, along with research associate roles within the RUPRI Center. He previously worked in public affairs at GLAD (GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders), an impact litigation firm focusing on social equity for LGBTQ persons, people living with HIV/AIDS, and their families.
Poonam Rao, MD, graduated as a MBBS from Pt. B.D Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, India in 2016. After graduation, she worked for some time as a General Physician in rural India. She moved to the United States in 2017 to pursue higher education as a physician-scientist, and complete clinical observerships in Jackson Health System, Miami, and Cleveland Clinic, Florida. As she wants to stay at the boundary between research and clinical practice in the long term, after some clinical training, she pivoted towards research.
