I am a Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Researcher specializing in Community Engaged Research (CEnR) approaches.  I have an extensive background in community engaged research that spans over the past fifteen years in the city of Flint. My research interests include: racial and ethnic health disparities research, workforce development, health equity and community based participatory research.  I am an expert in building equitable relationships between community and academic partners for health research and elevating community-identified health priorities to the research enterprise.  I work to ensure the cultural competence, cultural appropriateness, and cultural translation findings are embedded in the structure and design of research projects.  I will help to engage minority populations in Flint who may not traditionally engage in research due to historical and cultural apprehensions. As a liaison bridging both academia and community together to create ethical and equitable collaborative relationships in research, I am the founder of the Community Ethics Review Board in Flint, Michigan and a founding Co-Director for the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center.  I am a 2017 Fellow for the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leaders Program.

James McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, which contains a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. Trained initially in Forensic Anthropology at the University of Maryland and then formal demography at Georgetown University, Dr. McNally developed an interest in gerontology while at Brown University and in policy application of demographic data while at Syracuse University’s Center for Policy Research. McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998, significantly increasing the holdings of the data repository with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement, and international aspects of aging. In addition to lifecourse research, he has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a focus on specialized application of incomplete or deficient data, the enhancement of secondary data for research applications, and the safe distribution of health information and clinical data.

Dr. Tarraf is a gerontologist, methodologist, health services researcher, and policy analyst. His research evaluates disparities in health, health behavior, and healthcare access and use among race/ethnic minorities in the United States, and investigates the social determinants of health and healthcare. His work relies primarily on analyses of large complex data sets. Currently, he is an affiliated investigator on the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL), the largest epidemiological study of diverse Hispanic/Latinos in the US. He is the director of analytics for the SOL-INCA Lab, which is a joint lab (WSU/UCSD) with members located at Wayne State’s Institute of Gerontology and the University of California, San Diego, Department of Neurosciences. Through SOL-INCA he is the site Principal Investigator (Statistical Analyses Core) and lead biostatistician on three NIA-funded (R01) ancillary studies focused on cognitive aging and ADRD risk factors among Latinos, and two exploratory (R21) grants funded by NIA and NHLBI to examine sleep as a risk factor for unhealthy aging among Latinos. Additionally, he is the Analysis Core co-leader for the NIA-funded Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) and a faculty affiliate with the Michigan Center for Contextual Factors in Alzheimer’s Disease (MCCFAD). These two Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research are primarily focused on training the next generation of researchers in minority health and enhancing the diversity of the aging research community. His research career has been devoted to the analyses of population health data with a particular focus on minority populations, evaluating disparities in health, cognitive function, health behaviors, and use of healthcare among race/ethnic minorities in the US, and investigating the social determinants of health and healthcare use among minorities.

Dr. Ilardo is the Director of Research Initiatives for the Michigan State University (MSU) College of Human Medicine where she facilitates faculty collaborations in health services research. Her research includes systems of care, especially the intersection of healthcare systems and community-based resources; aging network services; patient-provider partnerships in chronic disease management; and caregiver services and supports. She is active with several statewide and local coalitions that address health disparities and access to services, patient self-management of chronic conditions, and service coordination. 

Dr. Ilardo earned a Bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master’s of Social Work and PhD in Social Work from Michigan State University.

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