Senior Professorial Lecturer and Associate Chair of Health Studies

You are here: 玉米视频 University College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Melissa Hawkins

Melissa Hawkins Senior Professorial Lecturer and Associate Chair of Health Studies CAS | DHS | Health Studies

Degrees: Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University
M.H.S., Johns Hopkins University
B.A., Emory University
Bio: Melissa Hawkins is the Associate Chair in the Department of Health Studies at 玉米视频 University. Dr. Hawkins is an epidemiologist with experience in the application of public health methodologies to government and private sector challenges. Her expertise is in maternal and child health, with an interest in improving pregnancy outcomes. Currently, her research addresses the integration of Community Health Workers (CHW) in the U.S. health workforce, in both clinical and community-based teams. She is also the co-PI on a DC Health funded project to improve health literacy in Washington DC and a DC Health funded evaluation of the Safe at Home program to prevent falls among older adults in Washington DC. Before joining 玉米视频 in 2015, she served as Research Director for TMNcorp, a public health communications organization, where she lead the design, conduct, and analyses for epidemiological investigations related to women, infant, and children鈥檚 health.听She also served as a Senior Epidemiologist with Epidemiology International, a contract research organization, where her research focused on resolving methodological and data collection issues in study design and evaluation. Her work focuses on translating data to improve community health. Dr. Hawkins holds a Ph.D. and M.H.S. in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University, where she previously taught undergraduate and graduate students before coming to 玉米视频 University.

For the Media: To request an interview for a news story, call 玉米视频 Communications at 202-885-5950 or submit a request.; 玉米视频 Experts

Teaching

Fall 2024

HLTH-340 Fundamentals of Epidemiology

Spring 2025

HLTH-340 Fundamentals of Epidemiology
HLTH-394 Comm Service Learning Project: Fundamentals of Epidemiology

Scholarly, Creative & Professional Activities

Selected Publications

*student research assistant

Hawkins M,听Rumeld J, McClave R, Yonamine K, Varga L, Arno CA, Snelling A. (2025)听Community Engaged Health Literacy Events with Faith-Based and Community-Based Organizations:听H别补濒迟丑听Equity and听AdvancingH别补濒迟丑听Literacy-DC (HEAL-DC).听Journal of Health Care for Poor and Underserved.听

Hawkins M, Goldhammer T, McClave R, Jenkins-Smith, E (2024)听Evaluation of a fall prevention program to reduce fall risk and fear of falling among community-dwelling older adults and adults with disabilities.听Clinical Interventions in Aging.听19:375-383.听丑迟迟辫蝉://诲辞颈.辞谤驳/10.2147/颁滨础.厂448196

Snelling A,听Hawkins M, McClave, Belson SI (2023). The Role of Teachers in Addressing Childhood Obesity: A School Based Approach.听Nutrients. 15(18), 3981.听丑迟迟辫蝉://诲辞颈.辞谤驳/10.3390/苍耻15183981听听

Hawkins M, Mallapareddi A, Misra DP. (2023) Social mobility and perinatal depression in Black women. Frontiers in Health Services. 3:1227874. doi: 10.3389/frhs.2023.1227874

Hawkins M, Clermont M*, McClave R, Wells D, Alston M, Snelling A. (2022) Food Security Challenges and Resilience during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Corner Store Communities in Washington, D.C. Nutrients. 14 (15), 3028. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu14153028 听

McClave R, Snelling A, Hawkins M, Belson SI (2022) Healthy Schoolhouse 2.0 strides toward equity in obesity prevention. Childhood Obesity.

Hawkins M, Belson SI, McClave R, Kohls L*, Little S*, Snelling A, (2021) Healthy Schoolhouse 2.0 health promotion intervention to reduce childhood obesity in Washington, DC: A feasibility study. Nutrients, 13. 9, 2935. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13092935

Hawkins M, Fuchs H*, Watts E, Belson SI, Snelling A. (2021) Development of a nutrition literacy survey for use among elementary school students in communities with high rates of food insecurity. Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition.

Bertrand A*, Hawkins M, Cotter EW, Snelling A (2021) Interest in receiving nutrition information through social media among food security program participants in Washington DC. Preventing Chronic Diseases. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd18.200596.

Hawkins M, Misra D, Zhang L, Price M, Dailey R, Giurgescu C. (2020) Family involvement in pregnancy and psychological health among pregnant black women. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. Special Issue: Social Determinants of Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.09.012

Hawkins M & Panzera, A. (2020) Food insecurity: A key determinant of health. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. Special Issue: Social Determinants of Health. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2020.10.011

Hawkins M. (2020) Quarantine bubbles limit coronavirus risk and help fight loneliness. Delaware Journal of Public Health. 8:2B

Rao R, Hawkins M, Ulrich T, Gatlin G*, Mabry G*, Mishra C.* (2020) The evolving role of public health in medical education. Frontiers in Public Health. 8: 251. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00251.

Hawkins M, Watts E, Belson SI, Albershardt R, Snelling A. (2019) Design and implementation of a 5-year school based nutrition education intervention. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior; 52(4): 421-428. doig: 10.1016/j.jneb.2019.12.005.

Invited Articles

Hawkins M. How effective are vaccines against omicron? The Conversation, December 15, 2021.听听

Hawkins M.听Yes, we should be keeping the healthier听hand-washing听habits we developed at the start of the听pandemic.听The Conversation, October 18, 2021.听听

Hawkins M. How to host a safe holiday meal during coronavirus - an epidemiologist explains her personal plans. The Conversation, November 10, 2020.

Hawkins M. What the huge undercount in COVID-19 testing in the U.S. means. The Conversation, August 5, 2020.

Hawkins M. The U.S. isn鈥檛 in a second wave of coronavirus-the first wave never ended. The Conversation, June 30, 2020. 听

Hawkins M. Quaranteams-when done right-limit coranavirus risk and help fight loneliness. The Conversation, June 17, 2020. 听

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