Meet The Team
It takes a special team to do what we do. The Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology Lab includes undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, post-docs, and community partners all coming together to design equitable public health interventions. We welcome scholars, postdocs, and students from any field to get involved in any of our ongoing projects.
Program Manager
Jennifer Jackman, MPA
jjjackma@asu.edu
Jennifer Deprey Jackman earned a Master of Public Administration from the Henry W Bloch School of Management. She spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Kansas City, Missouri and began a career in community service and education. Jennifer is certified to teach elementary education and has worked in Title 1 and charter schools as a principal and teacher. Jennifer is currently a Program Manager on the ASU COVID-19 Case Investigation and Community Response Team. Her passion is connecting others with community health opportunities and working in underserved communities.
Manager of Operations
Jasmine Truong, MSPH
In her current role, she collaborates with MCDPH to determine the workforce capacity of the ASU COVID-19 Case Investigation team and optimize programmatic operations to support COVID-19 cases, accounting for fluctuations in the epidemic curve. She currently holds a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in International Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a BS in Biological Sciences from Arizona State University.
Research Specialist Principal
Laura G Meyer, MSW
lgmeyer@asu.edu; @lauragracemeyer
I joined the ASU COVID-19 Case Investigation Team as a founding member in early June 2020. My background in social work, human services management, crisis response, and training development provided relevant preparation for joining Dr. Jehn's management team. Developing this team with our original core team was an unforgettable experience and seeing how we have grown and changed (with new members and new directions) since then has been inspiring. I have felt lucky to have been on this team since day one!
My research interests center on empathic communication, patient-provider relationship, and health workforce development. Specifically, I develop research-based empathic training tools for health providers (such as COVID-19 Case Investigators) to help them feel prepared for the difficult, emotional situations that arise in their practice. With Dr. Jehn's lab, I am involved in projects related to training, workforce development and communication training. In addition to my work with Dr. Jehn, I am currently pursuing my Ph.D. in Health & Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado, Denver.
Senior Research Analyst, Data Analytics
Tim Dennehy, PhD
Tim is a PhD Candidate in Anthropology currently working to defend his dissertation in November of 2021. Prior to beginning graduate school, Tim worked in the nonprofit healthcare sector in New York, including as a Cancer Information Specialist for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. At the same time, he began to develop an interest in anthropology and archaeology, particularly the evolution of social inequality, which he pursued with a Master's degree at Hunter College of the City University of New York. Shortly after finishing that degree, he joined ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change as a PhD student. Over the next several years, Tim worked as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) for several projects, honing skills in project management, data analysis and visualization, and academic writing. His most recent GRA appointment in August 2020 found him working for Dr. Jehn as a Line Supervisor for ASU SORT's Case Investigation project. Based on his prior experience working for a healthcare-related helpline in NYC and his data analytics skills, he was invited to join the team in January 2021 as a Senior Research Analyst.
MCDPH Case Management Lead
Kim Prete
I graduated from ASU in May 2020 with bachelors degrees in both Biomedical Sciences and Family Studies. I started on this team in July of 2020 as part of the Guadalupe field team. We did home visits to do case investigations and provide resources. I transitioned onto the supervisor line until July 2021 when I took over Case Management Lead. I am interested in telling the story of the Guadalupe specifically showing how all of community members came together to help a town in need.
Program Manager, Community Response
Gloria Karirirwe, MBCh.B, M.Sc
My name is Gloria Karirirwe, and I am the Program Manager, Community Response
For the past year, I have overseen the activities of the field epidemiology team in Guadalupe for which I am grateful because we have positively impacted the public health response in Guadalupe through education, information sharing and provision of isolation resources.
I am originally from Uganda, and I’ve been in Arizona for 3 whole years! We moved here in 2018 and prior to this move, I had completed medical school and was working in a clinician-administrator role at one of the largest clinics in East Africa caring for HIV/AIDS patients. Upon moving to Arizona, I knew I wanted to continue to practice in a role that involved public health and that is why I enrolled for a master’s degree in health service delivery at ASU in the College of Health solutions. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made as I enjoyed my year-long study of health care and understood what good health care should look and feel like. Apart from enjoying my studies, I got to make life friends and meet great professors who keep in touch till this day.
When the opportunity to join this team arose in June 2020, I immediately applied because working with this team would provide me a platform to actively support equitable access to healthcare for communities fighting COVID-19.
I have learned a lot from this team especially about professionalism, efficiency, and teamwork. This team challenges me to do better and be a better person as I go about my work and personal life. My areas of interest are public health, pandemic response, and community engagement.
Research Assistant/Teaching Assistant
Lexi White, J.D.
Lexi is a Ph.D. candidate at ASU's School of Human Evolution and Social Change. She has been working with the team since July 2020. She is interested in the intersection of law, ethics, and public health.
Research Assistant/Teaching Assistant
Camila Tompkins
I am a Global Health PhD graduate student focusing on the resilience of socialecological systems to vector-borne disease outbreaks. I am is particularly interested in how social factors at the individual, household, and community scale, generate different levels of adherence to prescribed interventions. My current research focuses on dengue and the response to interventions currently occurring in Saint Lucia. I have an undergraduate degree in Microbiology where I spent 3.5 years performing laboratory research for my honors thesis. I additionally have a Masters in Education and a Masters in Public Health: Applied Epidemiology. While obtaining my two masters, I also spent 6 years teaching and creating curriculum for Biology and Biotechnology at the high school level.
Research Assistant
Julia Jackman
Julia Jackman is a research assistant for the ASU COVID-19 Case Investigation and Community Response Team, where she previously worked as a case investigator and supervisor since August 2020. Julia received a BS in Biochemistry and a BA in Global Health from Barrett, the Honors College at ASU and was recently awarded a Fulbright graduate study and research grant. This led to her relocation to Trondheim, Norway, where she is currently pursuing a master's degree in global health from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.