2022 Health Equity ARC Members
Welcome to our Health Equity ARC members page. Get to know our members below and the incredible work they are doing across the Americas.
Luciana Cordeiro, OT, PhD
I am a professor at Federal University of Pelotas in Brazil. As an Occupational Therapist teaching, assisting and developing research in the critical paradigm I have been conducting participatory research for 11 years with workers in the healthcare, social assistance, and educational fields. My work and research are based on Paulo Freire thoughts and also on Historical Materialism theory. Following the Latino American tradition, I am a defender of social justice and the Collective Health movement. In my post-doctoral fellowship at University of Sao Paulo in Brazil I have deepened my knowledge of evidence-based practice implementation in a Human Factors study funded by the World Health Organization.
Kimberly S. Cox, MS, RN, NE-BC
I currently serve as the Accredited Provider Unit Director at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio (UTHSA). I lead the nursing continuing professional development program in accordance with the American Nurses Credentialing Center guidelines ensuring quality educational activities for nurses’ and other health professionals’ lifelong learning. As the Registered Nurse (RN) Refresher Course Coordinator and Instructor, I assist RNs in returning to practice after career breaks. Prior to joining UTHSA, I retired as a colonel after serving 30 years in the United States Air Force in various clinical and executive roles. As a doctoral candidate at the University of the Incarnate Word I am an emerging action researcher interested in health equity and disparity. My dissertation seeks to explore ways to intentionally build productive, trusting, and transparent relationships in collaborative action research initiatives between university, city, and community actors.
Nelly Gomez, RN, MSN
I am a nurse educator at Vancouver Community College in Vancouver, Canada. I am trained as a clinical psychologist in Colombia where I worked with families and indigenous groups displaced by civil war. I have 14 years of Canadian nursing experience which is strongly based on nursing theories that are drawn from feminist and anti-oppression lenses that helped me recognize the importance of working from a decolonization and intersectoral frameworks. My views and academic work are informed by feminist critical theory, trauma and violence informed care, social justice, human rights, activism, advocacy, harm reduction, cultural safety, and health policy. My nursing practice background involve a variety of settings from emergency and critical care medicine, social pediatrics, mental/community health to education and Indigenous women’ health and intimate partner violence research. I am fully committed to advancing ethical, equitable and trauma-informed health care as well as on acting on the root cause of the social determinants of health which have helped me gain a deeper understanding of the conditions that contribute to disparities in health care within marginalized and vulnerable populations.
Shari Laliberte, RN, PhD
I consider myself first and foremost a fellow community member. I take very seriously that I am a settler with French ancestry living on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples/colonial states-political jurisdictions that are referred to as Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada. As a member of several co-operatives and the B.C. Co-operatives Champions Network, I also consider myself a co-operator within the co-operative economic movement. My education and professional practice experiences have focused on child and youth mental health nursing, family therapy/family nursing from a social justice perspective, and population health promotion with a focus on addressing the socio-economic determinants of youth mental health. I am a faculty member in the nursing program of the School of Health Sciences at Vancouver Community College and on the Board of the Basic Income Canada Network. I am passionate about co-creating transformative socio-economic policies and processes that liberate caring, thriving communities with the leadership of/in collaboration with Indigenous Nations and diverse young people, community groups, and nursing students/peers through the alignment of nursing care with community organizing and policy advocacy work and critical, community based-participatory action research.
Nancy Murphy, NP, PhD (CHAIR)
My career trajectory in nursing has been based on equity, quality, patient autonomy and ethical decision making, within a biopsychosocial frame. I am an experienced clinician, patient advocate, implementation specialist and educator. My clinical practice has been with diverse populations impacted by negative socio-economic determinants of health in areas related to primary care, HIV, sexually transmitted infections and mental health/ substance use disorders. As a practitioner action researcher, I have conducted several "inside action research" projects, to study and improve practice and services in organizations where I have also been providing patient care as a nurse practitioner or as a faculty member in academic environments. Given the profound retrogression in abortion care in the US, I am currently seeking possibilities of becoming clinically active in sexual and reproductive health.
Abe Oudshoorn, RN, PhD
I am a nurse researcher specializing on issues of health equity and homelessness. I am an Associate Professor and Associate Director in the Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing and the Arthur Labatt Family Chair in Nursing Leadership in Health Equity. As the Managing Editor of the International Journal on Homelessness I try to support global researchers in addressing the human right to adequate housing. My own research includes participatory approaches with youth, people experiencing homelessness, and Indigenous peoples.
Michelle C. Vasquez, MAA
I am a communications coordinator and Ph.D. student pursuing a concentration in adult education, social innovation, and entrepreneurship in the Dreeben School of Education at the University of the Incarnate Word (UIW) in San Antonio, Texas. I have over 15 years of experience working as a digital communication professional in the higher education industry. My research interests include disabilities, health equity, inclusion, social justice, and advocacy. I am is currently leading an action research study using digital storytelling as an arts-based research method focused on learning how parents of children with disabilities gain access to federal programs, social services, and support. I am also a grant recipient of the Social Security Administration’s Analyzing Relationships between Disability, Rehabilitation and Work (ARDRAW) Small Grant Program and a member of the UIW Graduate Studies Department’s Action Research Initiative. I recently joined the Texas Parent to Parent Board of Directors and was accepted to the Texas Partners in Policymaking cohort.
Past Members
Mary Canales, Eau Claire, WI (mk2canales@gmail.com)
Gennifer Holt, Durham, NC, (genniferholt@yahoo.com)
Maggie Pharris, St. Paul, MN, (mdpharris@stkate.edu)
Erin Yeagley, Arlington, VA, (eyeagley@email.gwu.edu)
Erika Turley: Seattle, WA, (erickaturley@gmail.com)
Michele Livich Roberts, East Windsor, New Jersey (mml223@sn.rutgers.edu)