Students in the CVD Epidemiology program come from diverse academic backgrounds, and Post-doctoral students include a mix of those with MD and PhD degrees. The program has historically promoted diversity - academic, ethnic, gender and cultural - in the selection of trainees.

Pre-Doctoral

Joseph Anthony

• 2nd Year MSPH/PhD
  
• BS, Biology, Alabama A&M University
  
• Hometown: East St. Louis, IL
  
• Research Interests: Cardiovascular Diseases, particularly heart failure and sudden cardiac death and social determinants of chronic disease.  Current projects include: outpatient heart failure within the ARIC study, and the Estimation of the association between prenatal depression and low birth weight in the Peripartum Asymptomatic Ventricular Dysfunction  (PAVED) study.
  

Daniel Caņos

• 4th Year PhD Student
• Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
• MPH, Concentrations in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The George Washington University
• BA, Psychology, University of Cincinnati
• Research Interests: My current area of research is the association of dietary micronutrient intake with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. I'm also interested in research pertaining to endothelial dysfunction in CVD, vascular imaging techniques, and genetics.

Randi Foraker

• PhD Student
• Research Interests: Socioeconomic status and CVD-related health outcomes, prehospital delay for myocardial infarction, and rehospitalization for heart failure

Katherine Mills

• 2nd Year MSPH/PhD
  
• BA, Chemistry, Colorado College
  
• Hometown: Chattanooga, TN
• Research Interests: My masters paper research is on myocardial infarction incidence and mortality and pesticide exposures within the Agricultural Health Study. I am also working on outpatient heart failure within the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. 

Emily O'Brien

• 2nd year MSPH/PhD Student
• BS, Psychology, Duke University
• Hometown: Charlotte, NC
• Research Interests: My master's paper research is on weekend arrival and 28-day stroke mortality within the ARIC Cohort. I am also interested in the epidemiological analysis of how large-scale policy implementation affects health outcomes over time.

Mehul Patel

• 1st year PhD Student
• MSPH, Epidemiology, Emory University
• BA, Sociology, University of South Carolina
• BS, Chemistry, University of South Carolina
• Hometown: Spartanburg, SC
• Research Interests: I am interested in the impact of neighborhood- and individual-level socioeconomic status over the life course on cardiovascular diseases.
  

Kristal Raymond 

• 3rd Year PhD Student
• MPH, Concentrations in Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Boston University
  
• BS, Health Education, Eastern Washington University
• Hometown: Coulee Dam, WA
• Research Interests: My dissertation examines electrocardiographic abnormalities and incident heart failure using the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. Also, I am currently involved in research assessing associations between socioeconomic status and the metabolic syndrome in the ARIC Study.

Calpurnyia Powell Roberts

• 4th Year PhD Student
• BS, Anthropology and Human Biology, Emory University
• MS, Master of Science in Epidemiology, Harvard University
• Hometown: Atlanta, GA
• Research Interests: Cardiovascular Diseases, particularly heart failure and and social determinants of chronic disease.  

Post-Doctoral

Anna Kucharska -Newton

• Postdoctoral Fellow
• PhD Biochemistry, Rush University, Chicago
• MPH Epidemiology, UNC-Chapel Hill
• Research interests: CVD Epidemiology, sudden cardiac death, diabetes, inflammation in CVD, commonality of pathways in chronic disease states

Tiana A. Garrett

• 1st Year MPH Student
• PhD, Cell and Developmental Biology, UNC-Chapel Hill
• BS, Chemistry, Virginia State University
• Hometown: Portsmouth, VA
• Research Interests: I am interested in understanding prenatal disease outcomes associated with aberrant vascularization in the female reproductive system and future cardiovascular disease events.
  

Laura Loehr

• Postdoctoral Fellow
• MD, Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• MS, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Epidemiology
• Dissertation Research: Obesity as a risk factor for heart failure and an analysis of the misclassification bias caused by using diagnostic codes for heart failure.
• Ongoing Research: Incidence and survival of heart failure in the ARIC (Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study).