Meet the Presenter
Event
NIH 101: An Introduction to NIH and How Grantmaking Happens
Dr. Sundania Wonnum
Dr. Sundania Wonnum is a Social and Behavioral Sciences Administrator in the Division of Clinical and Health Services Research at the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). She oversees and conducts research to advance the science of child and maternal-child health and health care across biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and health system domains. Prior to joining NIMHD, Dr. Wonnum was a child mental health policy consultant at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she collaborated with leaders and stakeholders and provided technical assistance on policies, programs, and research to enhance children’s well-being statewide, to include school-based health centers, systems of care networks, and mental health workforce development. She was a Scholar in Residence for the Society of Research in Child Development, during which she examined state and federal health policies’ provision of comprehensive health and mental health care for children. Dr. Wonnum is also a U.S. Air Force Reserve officer serving in the Office of the Air Force Surgeon General. Dr. Wonnum leverages her multilevel experiences in health care research, administration, education, and clinical practice to highlight health care access inequities and to elevate health care quality for vulnerable children and mothers. As such, she applies an intersectional lens to the study of health disparities and health care delivery, modalities, curricula, policies, and systems using quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
Dr. Wonnum earned her Ph.D. in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University. She holds a postgraduate certificate of health professions education from the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, a Master of Social Work degree from Valdosta State University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and biological sciences from Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Deborah E. Linares
Dr. Deborah E. Linares is a health scientist administrator (program official) and the behavioral sciences lead in the Division of Integrative Biological and Behavioral Sciences at the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). She focuses on promoting research to understand behavioral, environmental, and interpersonal factors contributing to resilience and susceptibility to adverse health conditions across the life course among disadvantaged and underserved populations. She oversees a broad portfolio of research, training, and center-based grants at NIMHD in behavioral health, the life course, family health, women’s health, and child development. Prior to joining NIMHD, Dr. Linares worked as a health scientist/program officer at the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, where she managed maternal and child health research programs. Dr. Linares holds a Doctor of Philosophy in community health from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Arts in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles. She has received the HHS Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service and NIH Director’s Awards for her efforts in leading and supporting mission-critical NIMHD research initiatives to understand and address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among populations experiencing health disparities.
Dr. Vanessa Marshall
Dr. Vanessa Marshall is a Social and Behavioral Scientist Administrator Program Officer in the Office of the Director at the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Her research focuses on improving health outcomes and promoting research to understand and address the multilevel determinants of factors that play a role in health disparities. She provides expertise in key research areas including minority health, health disparities, health services research, community engaged research, clinical trials, public health, interventions, quality improvement, implementation, and evaluation. She has fostered innovative collaborations and partnerships to promote and support evidence-based research to inform clinical practice and policy. Dr. Marshall’s experiences have allowed her to work at local, regional, national, and international levels to investigate risk and protective factors among various populations to address health disparities.
Dr. Suzanne Le Menestrel
Director of Science Affairs, Society for Research in Child Development (Moderator).