Preety Gadhoke, PhD, MPH, is a global health equity expert for culturally tailored, community-driven, multi-level, multi-component program planning and evaluation. She is an Associate Professor of Public Health in the Department of Pharmacy Administration and Public Health, College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences at St. John’s University, Queens, New York. She is also a Fulbright Research Scholar and Adjunct Fellow at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. Her research lies at the intersectionality of social determinants of health, food and nutrition, chronic disease prevention and health promotion, and sustainable development. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Gadhoke has been leading a study to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the social determinants of health among underserved, marginalized Indigenous and ethnically diverse communities in the greater New York City metropolitan area.

Barrett P. Brenton, Ph.D., is a nutritional/medical anthropologist with expertise in the areas of food security, food justice, health equity, and sustainable food systems. He is a Faculty Engagement Coordinator in the Center for Civic Engagement, and an Affiliated Senior Research Scholar in Anthropology and Affiliated Faculty in Public Health at Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York. In addition, he is an adjunct Professor of Anthropology at St. John’s University, Queens, New York. Dr. Brenton is currently assessing the impact of COVID-19 on food insecurity and the social determinants of health among underserved, marginalized Indigenous and ethnically diverse communities in the greater New York City metropolitan area as a part of Dr. Gadhoke’s study.

Saloumeh Sadeghzadeh, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Management at Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York. Her research interests lie at the intersection of stochastic modeling, optimization, and data analytics methodologies, with a particular focus on data-driven decision-making in healthcare and public policy domains. She is currently working on the analysis of Dr. Gadhoke’s New York City COVID-19 study administered during NY On Pause.

Salome Pemberton, RD, MPH, is a Registered Dietitian with a focus on pediatric nutrition, where she promotes healthy household eating habits through counseling families and leading nutrition workshops, and training teachers, developing creative school menus, and facilitating hands-on cooking and nutrition workshops in schools. Ms. Pemberton joined Dr. Gadhoke’s team in 2017 through AmeriCorps Vista to develop formative and outcome assessments and analysis for the “Promoting Access to Healthy Lifestyles” pilot project for low-income and homeless New Yorkers. Her role as a Community Dietitian at a local food pantry and soup kitchen developed out of the success of this pilot study to develop culturally sensitive and relevant programs. She serves as a Research Assistant on Dr. Gadhoke’s New York City COVID-19 study.