Kelly O’Donnell, an economist by training, conducts interdisciplinary applied research and policy analysis focusing on local and regional economic development and improving outcomes for disadvantaged populations through public policy and investments in education, workforce development, and healthcare.   Her specialties include program evaluation, economic impact analyses, and fiscal policy. She also consults nationally on the economics of early childhood education. Prior to academia, Dr. O’Donnell held a series of leadership roles in New Mexico state government including Director of State Tax Policy, Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development, and Superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. Kelly also served as research director for New Mexico Voices for Children and director of New Mexico Kids Count. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University of New Mexico.

Shannon's research interests lie in the social determinants of health, particularly how racism impacts Latina women's health.

Dr. Handal earned a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado-Boulder.  She earned a M.P.H. in Epidemiology-International Health and Ph.D. in Epidemiological Sciences from the University of Michigan, where she was a Rackham Merit Fellow and a doctoral fellow in the Center for Research on Ethnicity Culture and Health, and a Fulbright Fellow.  Dr. Handal completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development in Bethesda, MD. 

Nick’s research focus is innovation implementation in healthcare—including statistical quality methods, cost-effectiveness, and psychometrics/survey design. Prior to joining the faculty at UNM, Nick was the Assistant Director at the Center for Health Organization Transformation (CHOT)—a National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center based out of Texas A&M University, Georgia Tech, Northeastern University, Penn State, and University of Alabama at Birmingham. Dr. Edwardson received a PhD in Health Services Research from Texas A&M University and an MS in Public Policy & Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Nicaragua from 2006-2008.
 
Nick teaches in the Masters of Healthcare Administration program in the School of Public Administration. He teaches healthcare analytics, health information technology, health economics, and organizational design.

Sara Niedzwiecki is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of New Mexico. She received her BA in International Studies from the Universidad Torcuato di Tella (2005) and her MA (2010) and PhD (2014) in Political Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, specializing in comparative politics and methodology. Her work on the politics of social policy and on multilevel governance has been published by Oxford University Press, Latin American Politics and Society, International Political Science Review, and editorials in Brazil, Germany, and Spain.

Anita Y. Kinney, PhD, RN is the Associate Director of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.  She is a Professor in the Division of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Preventive Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, holding the Carolyn R. Surface Endowed Chair in Cancer Population Sciences. Dr. Kinney earned her PhD in epidemiology from the University of Texas School of Public Health at Houston and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.   Kinney’s overarching research goal is to understand variation in cancer risk and determinants of risk and outcomes, and to use this information to develop effective interventions that facilitate informed decision-making and healthy behaviors and preventive care delivery.  

Dr. Alok K. Bohara is a Full Professor of Economics and the founding director of the Nepal Study Center at the University of New Mexico (UNM).  He has a Masters degree in Statistics and taught at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado (Boulder) in economics (1986).  After spending a year at CU as a visitor, he joined UNM in 1987. He is a senior research fellow at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico.  His research focus is in the areas of environment, (global) health, and development, and the state of the art econometric methods and application in both primary and secondary data.  He has published close to ninety peer-reviewed papers in the US and European journals.  He has mentored several PhD students with a successful placement in both academic and non-academic positions.  He has worked on various projects funded by the National Science Foundation. 

Jami Nelson-Nuñez is an assistant professor of political science.  Her work focuses on the challenges of development and extending basic services to the poor in developing contexts.  Her recent project explores the political effects of non-governmental organizations on local politics in developing contexts, investigating the ways that NGO service provision affects local government’s support for public health services.  As a policy area, Dr. Nelson-Nuñez focuses on water, sanitation and health, especially the goal of achieving universal access to drinking water and improved sanitation.  Her research is based in the Peruvian Amazon where she directed a four-year NSF-funded project with an interdisciplinary team of engineers and social scientists to explore the sustainability of water and sanitation infrastructure in rural and peri-urban communities.

Racial and economic inequality, neighborhoods and crime