We are pleased to announce the promotion of Lauren "Laurie" Samuels to research associate professor, effective January 1. Dr. Samuels earned her bachelor's degree in religious studies at Yale University, enrolling at Vanderbilt after seven years in the workforce for an MEd in secondary education. After serving in Americorps, tutoring Bowie Reading and Learning Center students in math and science, and supporting Vanderbilt's Center for Evaluation and Program Improvement as a research assistant, data manager, and SAS programmer, Dr. Samuels joined our doctoral program and graduated with her PhD in 2017.
Since her initial appointment as a research instructor in 2017 and subsequent promotion to research assistant professor in 2018, Dr. Samuels has proven herself to be a valuable, versatile, and highly engaged collaborator on both research investigations and pedagogical initiatives. She is co-investigator on two R01-funded projects led by Dr. Bill Heerman, "COACH: Competency Based Approaches for Community Health" and "The ADAPT Trial: Adapting Evidence-Based Obesity Interventions in Community Settings"; first author of papers in Statistics in Medicine and Observational Studies; and a current participant in the Fleming Society Academy for Excellence in Education Mentorship Program. As a passionate advocate for health equity, Dr. Samuels is a leader of the department's Ethical Responsibilities Regarding Race in Research working group and presented "Keeping up with changing understandings of sex, gender, race, and ethnicity" as an invited speaker at the International Conference on Health Policy Statistics.
