Research Team

  • Jeni Hebert-Beirne, PhD, MPH | jheber1@uic.edu
  • Dolores Castaneda, MPH | dcasta20@uic.edu
  • Edgar Gutierrez, MPA | egutie28@uic.edu

Graduate research assistant:

  • Jordan Angel | jangel32@uic.edu

Grant/Research Funders

Funder: Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Faculty Fellows

This research was conducted through the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Faculty Fellows Program- which enables faculty to conduct a research project to address important questions concerning Student Affairs at UIC.

We want to thank members of the UIC Chicago Community Health Response Corps (CHRC) [US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership #1204299] team that made the Life Scholars program possible:   Emily Stiehl (Co-PI of the UIC role in the Chicago Community Health Response Corps),  Guddi Kapadia, Nadine Peacock, Sage Kim, Alisa Velonis,  Ronald Hershow,  Edgar Gutierrez, Maggie Acosta, Linda Forst,  Uchechi Mitchell, Angela Ellison, Brenikki Floyd, Alexis Grant, Mark Dworkin, and Wayne Giles. Special thanks to Concetta Reda, MPH and Naseem Parsa, MPH UIC programmatic leads of CHRC deliverables, and the dozens of students who worked on CHRC since July 2020

Thanks to representatives from the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH),  Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership, Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) and Malcolm X Colleges who were partners in this 4-year effort. We want to thank and acknowledge the 584 Corps members and 31 community-based organizations who have been our partners as part of the Chicago COVID-19 community response. Special thanks to CDPH’s Patrick Stonehouse and to Melissa Martin, MPH who helped to conceive of the Life Scholars initiative and who is deeply committed to public health workforce development.

UIC Partners

  • School of Public Health Collaboratory for Health Justice
  • School of Public Health, Division of Community Health Sciences
  • Institute for Healthcare Delivery Design |Associate Director- Hugh Musick, MBA; Senior Design Researcher- Ann Kauth; for the generosity of space
  • Library of the Health Sciences | Head librarian- Rosie Hanneke, MLIS; Facilities Operation Coordinator-
  • Samantha J Rosa
  • Creative and Digital Services | Director of Operations- Rob Hoff
  • Associate Vice Provost for Advising Development- Josephine “Joey” Volpe
  • Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student Health and Well-being &
  • Executive Director of the UIC Counseling Center- Raphael D. Florestal-Kevelier, PhD, MPH
  • Associate Vice Chancellor for Equity and Belonging- Nadine Peacock, PhD

Community Partners

  • Exhibit catering | Imee’s Kitchen | https://imeeskitchen.com/
  • Photography consultant | Abel Uribe | https://www.abeluribe.com/
  • Videography | Alfonso Villanueva
  • Chicago Department of Public Health
  • Chicago-Cook Workforce Partnership

Exhibit Helpers

  • Emily Etzkorn, MPH
  • Celeste Charchalac-Zapeta, MPH
  • Aram Kang, MS, Doctoral Student

Friends and Family

Thank you to Ayinde Keshiro and all the family and friends whose support was critical in the development of this research effort.

Thanks to all the UIC students who have served the CHRC project since July 2020!

McKinley Anderson

Marissa Joanne Catalano

Mayra Diaz

Diana Ghebenei

Alexis Grant

Jeehye Jun

Marjorie Kersten

Eunhye Lee

Michael Gabriel Mercado

Amanda Rose Montgomery

Kiela Moreno

Haewon Oh

Aram Kang

Sarah Davis

Leticia Diaz

Sanguen Lee

Rashida Balogun

Aeysha Chaudhry

Jordan Angel

Ayokunle A. Olagoke

Sungwon Park

Kelli Wozniakowski