Meet the Brancati Center Team
Faculty Directors
Tanjala Purnell, PhD
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Transplant Surgery Education Director Dr. Purnell is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Transplant Surgery at Johns Hopkins University. She has over a decade of expertise focused on implementing patient- and community-engaged initiatives to promote health equity. She has a particular focus on transplantation and cardiometabolic conditions, including kidney disease, hypertension, and diabetes. Her research has helped to shed light on the dual impact of COVID-19 and systemic racism on existing health and health care disparities in the United States. Dr. Purnell has served in multiple educational leadership roles, where she has facilitated research mentoring opportunities for over 150 diverse scholars; organized novel seminars for over 7,000 academic and community members; and developed health equity research methods courses for over 4,500 learners at Johns Hopkins and other institutions worldwide. She is a four-time recipient of the Teaching Excellence Award from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. |
Nisa Maruthur, MD, MHS
Associate Professor, Medicine Community Program Implementation Director Dr. Maruthur is an Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at The Johns Hopkins University. She is a general internist with an active primary care practice. She researches diabetes prevention and the individualization of diabetes care. She is committed to the widespread implementation of Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle change programs, especially in community-based settings. She is also developing and testing a virtual/online Diabetes Prevention Program with colleagues in the Brancati Center. Dr. Maruthur also studies how to improve diabetes prevention in primary care. |
Maya Venkataramani, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Medicine Associate Community Program Implementation Director Dr. Venkataramani is a general internist and pediatrician, and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from Johns Hopkins and completed her residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the Harvard Brigham and Women's Hospital/Boston Children's Hospital Combined Med-Peds residency program. She then completed a general internal medicine research fellowship at Johns Hopkins, during which time she earned a Master's in Public Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health as a Sommer Scholar. She is committed to improving the well-being of underserved communities. She provides primary care to the East Baltimore community through her clinical practice. Her research interests include improving the delivery of primary care and preventive services through community-based and family-oriented approaches and her work has included studies on parental health promotion in primary care and the impact of national policies targeting parents on the healthcare use of their children. She has also been engaged in volunteer efforts to enhance community health through her involvement in organizations such as Charm City Care Connection. |
Brancati Center Staff:
Shannon Adams, CHW; Community Outreach Specialist Jennifer Bennett, MS; Lifestyle Interventionist Megan Brown, MBA; Program Director Sahirmayi Chalimila, MS, PharmD; Research Data Manager Emily Clark, CHES, CHW; Lifestyle Interventionist Nicole Cronin, MA; DPP Coordinator Kat Dustan Stokes, CHW; Community Outreach Specialist Debra Gayles; Recruitment Coordinator Ashley Good; Community Outreach Specialist Christin Hayward, MS, CHES; Behavioral Specialist Paris Jones; Lifestyle Interventionist Julie Kurtz; Sr. Administrative Coordinator Sophie Lauver, MS, RD, LDN; Director of Community DPP Abigail Mateo, MD; Lifestyle Interventionist May Thu Thu Maw, MBBS, MPH; Sr. Research Data Analyst Kathy Michalski, RDN; Director of Intervention Batya Moses, MS; Research Coordinator Alexandra Oldham, MS, CMPC; Lifestyle Interventionist Rossana Perez; Lifestyle Interventionist Tracy Powell; Community Liaison and Lifestyle Interventionist Rebecca Price, MS; Lifestyle Interventionist Tonya Rosebrough, CHW; Community Outreach Specialist |
Associate Members:
Zackary Berger, MD, PhD Otis Brawley, MD Seun Falade-Nwulia, MBBS, MPH Kimberly Gudzune, MD, MPH Heidi Hutton, PhD David M. Levine, MD Kathleen Page, MD Selvi Rajagopal, MD Melinda Sawyer, DrPH, MSN, RN, CNS-BC Katie Shaw, MD |