Meet the Awards Committee Co-Chairs
Yusuf Ransome
Yusuf Ransome, Dr.P.H. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. He earned his doctorate in public health from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He completed an Alonzo Smythe Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Ransome’s research focuses on the intersection between social connectedness and spirituality and how to harness these social determinants of health to positively transform mental health, well-being, and socioeconomic prosperity for individuals, organizations, and communities. He does this work through quantitative, qualitative, geospatial methods, and public health entrepreneurship. Dr. Ransome’s mission is to empower underserved communities domestically and globally to access holistic well-being and long-term prosperity. His work is “Guided by Spirit, Rooted in Experience, and Supported by Science.”
Kellee White Whilby
Kellee White Whilby, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, Program Director of the Health Equity Concentration, and Assistant Director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. As a social epidemiologist, her work aims to elucidate and subsequently address mechanisms that produce patterns of racial/ethnic health inequalities over the life course. Towards this end, she has crafted a research agenda that includes the following three foci: 1) examining racism and population health; 2) evaluating the development and implementation of racial equity and social justice policies; 3) identifying structural risk and resilience factors shaping aging-related outcomes and inequities. Her research has been published in leading public health and medical journals and has been supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer’s Association. Additionally, Dr. White Whilby has mentored numerous undergraduate-, master-, and doctoral-level students and junior faculty. She is committed to using her empirical research to partner with communities and stakeholders to design, implement and evaluate policies that advance health equity across the lifecourse.