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Meet the Team

Megha Ramaswamy, Ph.D., MPH

Megha Ramaswamy

Principal Investigator

What does (S)HE mean to you? 

Sexual health empowerment. The acronym comes from the parent grant that supports our primary research efforts: Sexual Health Empowerment for Cervical Health Literacy and Cancer Prevention ( National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute R01CA181047). This project was renewed for another 5 years, making it a 10-year long study. We are using the (S)HE name and website to describe our work in the community and with people currently incarcerated and leaving jails. This includes health department and jail linkage programs, reproductive health education and research, social justice and health literacy programs, and even voting registration projects we are doing in minimum security jails. It's all under the umbrella of empowerment.

3 things about you?

  • I was an extra in the movie Mississippi Masala.
  • I owned a coffee shop and cocktail bar.
  • I am a pretty decent house guest hostess.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

My primary contribution to public health is the development of evidence-based health promotion programs for implementation in jails. I worked on such projects in New York City ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963792/), and have been successful independently leading that work in Kansas City ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4306642/). I'd like to move my work into the development of more systemic interventions that focus not on changing individuals' behavior, but concentrate instead on changing the practices of systems, for example, criminal justice and public health systems. One such project in the works is to create a local health department-corrections linkage to facilitate HPV vaccine for those who want it. Ultimately I'd like my work to have broader public policy implications, but that's more of a 10-year plan.

Follow Megha on Twitter @Vaginographer.


Patricia J. Kelly, Ph.D., MPH, APRN

Patricia J. Kelly

Co-Investigator & Primary Collaborator

What does (S)HE mean to you?

As a recovering academic, (S)HE practice represents a radical change of support for both collaborators and participants. Collaborators who are actively working together to address health inequities, and participants, whose voices are not generally heard in academic circles, who share stories about their lives with us.
3 things about you?

  • Now “repurposed” and supporting brilliant junior colleagues
  • Travel/travel/travel; hike/bike/swim; wear great earrings
  • Editor of journal Public Health Nursing

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

Being a public health researcher is a great privilege. I have worked with amazing people: girls in juvenile detention, promotoras and community groups in San Antonio; women in the National Guard; SHE women; and now migrant families in Tucson. Public health is about improving health for all. To me, this means health in its broadest context, with special emphasis on populations that are often forgotten, overlooked or simply trashed. I'd love to see every public health and health science student read Paulo Freire and bell hooks and really think about how they could implement their ideas into their daily lives.


Joi Wickliffe, MPH

Joi Wickliffe, MPH

Project Director

(Formerly Health Educator and current Ethnographer)

What does (S)HE mean to you?

(S)HE started out as a project that focused on cervical cancer literacy and prevention.  Because cervical cancer is impossible to discuss without talking about sexual health, (S)HE has become an opportunity to freely share and discuss various sexual health-related issues in a way that is safe and non-judgemental. 

3 things about you?

  • I won female Class Clown my senior year of high school. 
  • My favorite animals are snakes.
  • The only time I am not singing is when I am asleep. 

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

I am very comfortable working with vulnerable populations. When I was the health educator, I always tried to remind our participants that they do not have to be ashamed of their life history especially as it pertains to sexual health. These relationships built over the past four years have allowed our team to learn and adapt our program to make it increasingly beneficial to our participants.  We are always looking for new opportunities to expand our work to not only include incarcerated populations, but those leaving jails, those who may be domestic violence survivors, and other highly vulnerable populations.  I am excited at the possibility that in 5 years, we can show that these types of programs have long-term successes that can be replicated.


Amanda Emerson, Ph.D., BSN

Amanda Emerson

Co-Investigator, Collaborator

What does (S)HE mean to you?

(S)HE means many things to me. I am a researcher, a writer, a nurse, a feminist, and a staunch believer in social justice. (S)HE has meant the opportunity to do socially and morally inflected research that touches on just about all of those identifications and investments. I view (S)HE as an opportunity to do socially constructive research with people rather than just “on” or about them. (S)HE acknowledges that in order to change dysfunctional systems, like the systems that marginalize people with criminal justice histories or people with mental health, addictions, or trauma issues—or simply people whose sexuality or skin color or social class don’t coincide with the dominant categories, it may first be necessary to cultivate community and build knowledge. (S)HE has meant being with people, simply talking, passing along some info, and then getting critical and forming action-mobilizing questions together. Now that SHE has become (S)HE I am excited to participate in the extension of our method into projects in new settings and with new populations!

3 things about you?

  • I have no children, but I have an eleven-year-old niece with whom I share initials, a birthday, and a soccer habit.
  • When I was in fourth grade, I led a grade school group of friends in a playground campaign in which one of our platform items was the Equal Rights Amendment and our main activities were carrying signs, chanting slogans, and kicking boys we didn’t like.
  • I have a prior Ph.D. (2004) in American literature for which I wrote a dissertation on the myth of equality and American exceptionalism as it was developed in the letters of the Revolutionary through the antebellum period.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

Working with SHE since 2014, I have used interview and storytelling methods to help shape a rich record of ways that women with a history of criminal-legal system involvement overcome barriers to access preventive and other health services—especially screening and vaccination to prevent cervical cancer. In the next five years, I will be seeking to document how the phenomenon of accelerated aging impacts the health of middle and older adult women with criminal-legal system involvement and what the criminal-legal health system (e.g., jail, prison, transition) does to manage older women’s health risk and promote their healthy aging. The work will inform future multilevel interventional study to increase availability and improve access to key services, like screening for certain cancers and cardiovascular risk, in aging adult women with a history of incarceration.  


Jason Glenn, Ph.D.

Associate Professor

Jason Glenn

What does (S)HE mean to you?

For me, (S)HE means women, who have previously been knocked down, standing up, finding their voice, and building new lives better than the ones that were broken.

3 things about you?

  • For the past 10 years, I've helped run the Alcohol/Drug Abuse Women's Center in Galveston Texas for indigent women seeking recovery in a long-term residential setting.
  • I have also filmed, produced and edited two short documentary films related to my work.
  • I'm also a bass player, playing all things funky.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

My contribution to public health is to work toward the decriminalization of substance use disorders, which are grounded in histories of trauma and social neglect, and which has been the major contributor to mass incarceration over the past 40 years. I have worked on this goal by expanding access to drug courts, residential treatment centers, and community re-entry programs for the formerly incarcerated. Over the next 5 years I would like to see the gradual obsolescence of these services with the expansion of rich life opportunities and community mental health centers in underserved communities. For me, (S)HE means women, who have previously been knocked down, standing up, finding their voice, and building new lives better than the ones that were broken.


Sharla Smith, Ph.D., MPH

Research Assistant Professor

Sharla Smith

What does (S)HE mean to you?

SHE is an opportunity to destigmatize sexual health among a very vulnerable population. The SHE project also presents an opportunity to remove system barriers and stereotypes to assure reinstatement into the community and improve women's health. It is a privilege and an honor to become a voice for women and create a healthy more equitable community for vulnerable women.  

3 things about you?

  • In high school, I wrote poetry and won the award for best actor in a summer camp play.
  • I love to travel, watch movies, and bake.
  • My first research project was in the field of cancer biology.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years? My primary contribution to public health is examining public health delivery system's financing, collaborations, and association with health outcomes. In five years, I would like to expand my research to examine the impact of incarceration on the sexual health of children. Additionally, I would like to identify and remove systematic barriers that prevent these children from the receipt of HPV preventive treatment.


Michelle Pickett, M.D., M.S.

Associate Professor of PediatricsMichelle Pickett

What does (S)HE mean to you?

As a pediatrician, SHE means empowering women about sexual education who can in turn empower their children/teenagers. I want all people, especially teens, to be more knowledgeable and self-efficacious about sexual health, especially sexually transmitted infections.

3 things about you?

  • I'm the only SHE team member that lives in Wisconsin. I work as a pediatric emergency medicine physician in Milwaukee.
  • In addition to my research interest in adolescent sexual health, I am also interested in mental health, in particular suicide screening. I have implemented universal suicide screening in our emergency department (and was even featured on 60 Minutes). I’m currently working with a local school district to reduce mental health stigma in Black and Hispanic students and implement pilot universal suicide screening.

  • I'm a reality TV junkie.


What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

I have a medical degree and master's in clinical and translational research--public health is new to me. I think I bring a different perspective to public health and can help merge the public health-individual health realms. My interest in managing and researching adolescents sexually transmitted infections really does play a huge role in public health. Adolescents and young adults have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections and in five years, I would like to see the numbers starting to decline as we, as a whole, provide better education and prevention to this age group.


Sherri Anderson, M.A.

Project Manager

Sherri Anderson

What does (S)HE mean to you?

SHE represents opportunities. The opportunity to work with a supportive, cohesive team. The opportunity to reach out to an underserved population. The opportunity to teach, share, learn and grow. The opportunity to make a difference.

3 things about you?

  • I like to name my pets after food. My most recent dogs have been named S’mores and Chocolate Chip
  • I love reading and have been in the same book club for over 25 years.
  • I play handbells in my church choir.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

I have been privileged to spend a few years interacting and getting to know the women in the SHE-Women study. I would like for the foundation that we are laying today to manifest itself in women using the information we provide in a way that not only represents an increase in knowledge but will allow them to take control of their own sexual health and well-being for the betterment of themselves and those around them. It would be wonderful if in 5 years to know that we were a part of an overall increase in preventive measures used around sexual health and a decrease in sexual diseases and cervical cancers.


Bernard Schuster, M.S.

Research Associate 

Bernard Schuster

What does (S)HE mean to you?

(S)HE means that the public health education and research community is reaching out to women, who may have previously made mistakes or been ignored, to help them improve their health situation and enjoy greater success in their future. It provides some of their input, experience, priorities, and knowledge to the healthcare system and its decision-makers in a scientific format.

3 things about you?

  • I once jumped out of a perfectly good airplane...while it was in flight!
  • I was a full-time sports photographer for three years.
  • I completed 20 virtual 5Ks in the last three years.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

As a volunteer, I once helped a non-profit public health organization design a needs assessment survey, and I provided a report of the results. I was on the research team for the Army Integration of Human Service Support Activities/Quality of Life project and wrote the human service needs assessment survey for it which as later published by the Army. I worked as a psychometric Research Associate helping to develop certification tests for nursing specialties. I served as a volunteer CPR instructor for the American Red Cross in Colorado Springs. In 5 years I would like to see the meaningful findings that we are generating applied and implemented to make this world a better place.


Robert P. Armstrong Jr

Robert Armstrong

Juris Doctor Policy Advisor-Consultant

What does (S)HE mean to you?

(S)HE represents our responsibility to educate and implement strategies to improve sexual health. It also represents our ability and commitment to advocate for those who need it most. We have the fortitude to present sex as a vital health topic and to change negative connotations associated with it through research, discourse, and advocacy, intending to create a progressive culture.

3 things about you?

  • I am addicted to traveling.
  • I plan to be a polyglot.
  • I have to play basketball at least once a week.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

My current contribution to public health is to analyze and develop policies to improve access and remove barriers to healthcare for minority, disadvantaged, and high-risk populaces. In the next five years, I hope to facilitate meaningful change within the healthcare, education, and criminal justice systems.


Shawana Moore DNP, APRN, WHNP-BC

Shawana MooreWhat does (S)HE mean to me?

Uplifting and amplifying the voices and health of women disproportionately impacted by health

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

My contribution to public health is serving communities of the women’s health and gender related population using a lens of equity from classrooms to board rooms. Ensuring the next generation of advanced practice providers understand the importance of caring for diverse populations of people and that national organizations create education program offers and advocacy for diverse populations as well. My hope is there will be health equity throughout our healthcare systems and communities.


Sierra Stites, MPH

Sierra Stites portraitWhat does (S)HE mean to me?

Sexual Health Empowerment means giving power back to folks. We are all the experts of our own lives and the experts of our own bodies. Our role as researchers is not to tell people what to do, but to help folks uncover and discover their own truths.

3 things about you?

  • The two happiest days of my life were marrying my husband and visiting my local NPR station (KCUR 89.3)
  • All the pets in my family have been named after Star Trek characters.
  • I studied literature in college and wrote my thesis on Les Misérables.

What is your contribution to public health and where would you like to see it in 5 years?

On the (S)HE team, I organize a community advisory board focused on effecting policy change to improve health outcomes for folks with criminal legal system involvement. In five years, I would like to see improved reentry support for returning citizens and increased access to quality health care.

(S)HE: Sexual Health Empowerment

Joi Wickliffe
Project Director
jwickliffe@kumc.edu
(913) 588-2646