Dr. Rebecca Schnall

Dr. Schnall is a nurse scientist and informatician who leads an independent research program focused on understanding the information needs of vulnerable patient populations and developing informatics tools to promote health and prevent disease. The fundamental question underlying her program of research is “How do we capture information and deliver it to consumers from underserved communities so that they can access it and make informed decisions about their health?” Dr. Schnall leads several federally (CDC, NIH, AHRQ) funded research projects focused on reducing health disparities through public health and nursing research. She has also broadly disseminated her work through over 180 peer reviewed publications. Her research is characterized by its solid theoretical foundations, rigorous and innovative mixed methods and collaboration across disciplines. In addition, her research has impact on healthy policy, as the consumer health informatics tools that she develops and evaluates have high potential to improve cost-effectiveness, enabling more streamlined efficient health care on a wide scale and in the most underserved communities.

Dr. Schnall is committed to mentoring the next generation of nurse scientists. She uses a tailored approach to mentoring combined with an ongoing feedback loop, both of which she believes are required for effective mentoring and mentee success. Dr. Schnall focuses on ensuring mentees progress toward tailored goals throughout a long-term mentoring relationship, contributing to research through analysis and dissemination. Dr. Schnall has an exemplary record of mentoring undergraduate, masters and pre-doctoral and post-doctoral students and has a strong commitment to mentoring junior scientists in their path to independence.

Dr. Julie Ward

Dr. Julie Ward is Assistant Professor of Medicine, Health, and Society and Public Policy Studies at Vanderbilt University and affiliate faculty with the Center for Research on Inequality and Health. She is also a Registered Nurse and Board Certified Advanced Public Health Nurse with nearly 20 years’ experience in emergency medicine, community health promotion programming, occupational health and wellbeing, and nursing education.

Dr. Ward’s primary research goal is to understand and prevent injury and violence-related trauma in community spaces, with a translational goal of informing the development of more equitable public health and safety systems. Her research has been featured on 2 covers of the American Journal of Public Health, covered by multiple national news outlets, and cited in 2 US Congressional hearings (focusing on the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Pandemic Response and Upgrading Public Health Infrastructure). She was co-author on the Journal of Urban Health’s 2022 Best Paper and is nominated for the Greenwald Family Award for Firearm Violence and Injury Prevention Research Excellence. Dr. Ward’s current research is funded by the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dr. Ward completed her PhD at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, in affiliation with the Center for Gun Violence Solutions. She also holds a Master of Nursing in Community Health Systems and Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of Washington, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Washington, and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Oregon.

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