SPER’s Executive Committee is comprised of eight officers and includes a President, a President-Elect, an Immediate Past-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer, and four Members-at-Large, a Trainee Representative, and an International Representative. The President of the Society shall be the Chairperson of the Executive Committee. All officers of the Society must be members and are elected by majority vote of the members voting by mail or e-mail ballot.
Penelope (Penny) Howards
Past President
Penelope (Penny) Howards is an Associate Professor in the Epidemiology Department at Emory University. She describes herself as a reproductive epidemiologist with methodological interests. Most recently, her research has focused on the reproductive health of birthing people with chronic conditions including cancer survivors, people with lupus, and people with sickle cell disease. She is also passionate about teaching epidemiologic concepts and mentoring trainees to help them achieve their individual goals. Read more
- PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004
- MS, (Geography), Pennsylvania State University, 1994
- AB, Dartmouth College, 1990
CONTACT
1518 Clifton RD NE, CNR 3029
Emory Universit
Atlanta, GA 30322
Phone: 404.727.8499
Email: penelope.howards@emory.edu
Edwina Yeung
President
Edwina Yeung is a Senior Investigator in the Epidemiology Branch of the Division of Population Health Research in the Division of Intramural Research at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She is a perinatal and pediatric epidemiologist. Her primary research interests are in the developmental origins of health and disease. She is also exploring the possible mechanisms underlying these associations, including epigenetics. She has served as principal investigator of a longitudinal cohort which recruited newborns from New York State and followed them into middle childhood. She has been an active member of SPER since 2009.
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PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2008
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ScM, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2005
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BA, Johns Hopkins University, 2003
CONTACT
Address: 6710B Rockledge Dr, MSC 7004
Bethesda, MD 20817
tel: 301-435-6921
Email: edwina.yeung@nih.gov
Dawn Misra
President-Elect
Dawn P. Misra, PhD is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. Her research endeavors to contribute to a fuller understanding of the pathways which lead to optimal perinatal health and close the gap in disparities. Dr. Misra’s current work investigates how racism acts as fundamental cause of adverse maternal and infant outcomes for Black families. That work has included examining social and biologic factors. Read more
- MS, PhD, Epidemiology, Columbia University, 1993
- MHS, Maternal and Child Health, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1989
- BA, Johns Hopkins University, 1988
CONTACT
Dawn P. Misra, MHS, PhD
Professor and Chair
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
MSU College of Human Medicine
909 Wilson Road Room B645
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: 517-884-3963
Email: misradaw@msu.edu
*insert personal info here*
Helen Chin
Secretary
Helen Chin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Community Health. Her research interests are centered around investigating factors that adversely affect the reproductive health of women and girls, as well as their offspring. Her current focus is studying how endocrine disrupting exposures affect ovarian development and function. Read more
- Doctor of Philosophy , Epidemiology, Emory University
- Master of Public Health, Epidemiology, University of South Florida
- Bachelor of Science, Biology, University of South Florida
CONTACT
Department of Global and Community Health
College of Public Health
George Mason University
4400 University Drive, MS 5B7
Fairfax, VA 22030
703-993-5388
hchin4@gmu.edu
Candice Johnson
Treasurer
Candice Johnson is an assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Michigan State University. She studies how work-related exposures and policies affect the health of workers and their families. Her research interests include employment during pregnancy, access to paid leave, and occupational health inequities.
- PhD, Emory University, 2012
- MSc, University of Ottawa, 2008
CONTACT
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Michigan State university
909 Wilson Rd
East Lansing, MI 48824
Email: candice@msu.edu
Stefanie Hinkle
Member at Large
Stephine Hinkle
Stefanie N. Hinkle is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics at the University of Pennsylvania. Stefanie is a nutritional and perinatal epidemiologist. Her research focuses on the nutritional status of women and birthing people with the goal of reducing the risk for adverse birth outcomes and advancing their long-term health.
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PhD, Emory University 2012
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BS, University of California at Santa Cruz 2006
CONTACT
Stefanie N. Hinkle, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics
Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
423 Guardian Drive
812 Blockley Hall
Philadelphia, PA 19140
Phone: (215) 746-4218
Email: Stefanie.Hinkle@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
(she/her)
Kari Weber
Member at Large
Kari Weber
PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2016
MHS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2011
BA, University of Southern California, 2007
Kari Weber is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health. She is a perinatal epidemiologist with a focus on environmental health. Her current research focuses on environmental exposures during pregnancy and adverse birth outcomes.
CONTACT
4301 W. Markham St. #820
Little Rock, AR 72205
501-526-6694
kweber@uams.edu
Kristen Rappazzo
Member at Large
EPA researcher Dr. Kristen Rappazzo works on projects investigating potential links between health outcomes—including birth defects, preterm birth, and mortality—and environmental exposures.
- Ph.D, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013
- MPH, Drexel University School of Public Health, 2005
- BA, University of Rochester, 2001
CONTACT
rappazzo.kristen@epa.gov
Stephanie Leonard
Member at Large
Stephanie Leonard is an Assistant Professor in the Dunlevie Maternal-Fetal Medicine Center at Stanford (https://dunleviemfm.stanford.edu/) and is Research Faculty with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative (CMQCC; https://www.cmqcc.org/). The overall goal of her research is to advance equitable, positive health experiences and outcomes for pregnant individuals. Her current research focuses on hypertensive disorders during pregnancy.
- PhD, University of California-Berkeley, 2017
- MS, University of California-Los Angeles, 2014
- BS, Cornell University, 2010
CONTACT
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Stanford University School of Medicine
453 Quarry Road | MC 5317
Stanford, California 94305
650-724-1824
stephanie.leonard@stanford.edu
Neda Razaz
International Representative
Neda Razaz is a reproductive and perinatal epidemiologist at Karolinska Institutet. Her team specialize in linking and analysing large datasets in Sweden and Canada to understand the role of maternal and paternal chronic illness during pregnancy, and medication use for mothers and babies, during pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period, and beyond throughout the mother and child’s life course. Furthermore, they examine neonatal and treatment factors that influences the risk of neurodevelopmental and somatic outcomes in childhood and early adulthood.
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University of British Columbia, PhD in Epidemiology, Dec 2015
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University of British Columbia, Master of Public Health, Dec 2010
Sara Stephens
Trainee Representative
Sara Stephens is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital. Her research focuses on the role of physiologic markers, genetic anomalies, and social determinants of health in children and women with congenital heart disease. She is passionate about improving long-term outcomes while advancing health equity among children and women with chronic disease.
CONTACT
Sara.Stephens@bcm.edu