Stefanie Friedhoff
Associate Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice and Co-Founder and Director of the Information Futures Lab, Brown University School of Public Health
Stefanie Friedhoff serves as the faculty sponsor and primary investigator for the STAT Network. She is a leading media and global health strategist, and an expert at knowledge translation, information creation and co-creation, and verification. From July 2022 to May 2023, Stefanie served as a senior policy advisor on the White House Covid-19 Response Team, focusing on population information needs, health equity, community engagement, and medical countermeasure uptake. At Brown, Stefanie studies information ecosystems and the relationships between information needs, information inequities, and health outcomes. Previously, she was Director of Content and Strategy at the Harvard Global Health Institute and led Programs and Special Projects at The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. A journalist by training, Stefanie has 25+ years of experience in international media and higher education.
Ashley Hill
Associate Director
Ashley Hill joined the STAT team in February 2022. Previously, Ashley was a State Assistant Administrator at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, where she served in a variety of operational capacities in Michigan’s COVID-19 response, including scaling up contact tracing, school and community testing, and standing up the state’s FEMA mass vaccination site in Detroit. Prior to her work on COVID, Ashley worked on behavioral and physical health integration for Michigan’s Medicaid population, and at Well Being Trust, an Oakland, CA-based national foundation dedicated to improving mental health and well-being.
Diné Butler
Assistant Director for Projects and Operations
Diné joined the STAT team in August 2023. She previously served as the Statewide COVID Testing Project Manager for the Louisiana Department of Health, where she used data analytics, technology, and stakeholder engagement to ensure the most vulnerable populations were served. She also managed Louisiana’s K-12 Reopening Schools project which used unique communications and incentives to reach high engagement and participation. Before that, she worked in New York, focused on the intersection between community development, climate protection, equity, and workforce development. Best of all, she is a former STAT member!
Zill Patel
Student Intern
Zill joined the STAT team in July 2023. Zill is a junior at Brown University, studying Biochemistry & Molecular Biology and Economics on the Public Policy track. At Brown, Zill is involved in extracurricular activities such as the Brown Undergraduate Journal of Public Health and the Sheridan Tutoring Center. Being part of the STAT team has been a great learning experience. By being exposed to the function of public health in the US, she has learned real-world applications of public health and is excited to continue deepening her understanding of the field.
Pierre Jolin
Student Intern
Pierre joined the STAT team in September 2024. He is a junior at Brown University, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Public Health, with a certificate in Data Fluency, and is enrolled in the 5-year UG-MPH program. Pierre is actively involved with the Brown Journal of Healthcare Advancement and has research and internship experience with the California Department of Public Health as well as the Center for Gerontology and Healthcare Research at Brown. He is excited to contribute as a Public Health Policy Intern at STAT, where he aims to support impactful policy initiatives and engage with leaders and experts addressing pressing public health issues.
Scott Rivkees
Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice and Associate Director of the Accelerated Master of Public Health Program, Brown University School of Public Health
Dr. Scott Rivkees has served as the lead facilitator for the STAT Action Networks since March 2022. Scott is a pediatric endocrinologist and physician-scientist who served as Florida’s State Surgeon General and Secretary of Health between 2019 and 2021. As State Surgeon General, Scott also served as State Health Officer for the Florida Department of Health. From 2012 to 2019, Scott served as chair of the department of pediatrics at the University of Florida College of Medicine and physician-in-chief of UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital. He also served as academic chair of pediatrics at Orlando Health and the University of Florida College of Medicine pediatric chair at Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Sacred Heart in Pensacola. Scott has worked with the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on drug safety issues and is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Connecticut Academy of Science and a fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. He is past chair of the Board of Scientific Counselors for the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, past chair of the Advocacy Committee of the Association of Medical School Pediatric Department Chairs, past treasurer of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and past member of the Pediatric Policy Council.
Lee Taylor-Penn
Associate Director
Lee joined the STAT Network in October 2024. Most recently, Lee was the Principal Consultant at Taylor-Penn Strategies, a consulting firm focused on creating equitable health policy solutions in public health, maternal and child health, and behavioral health. Lee has worked at several nonprofit policy organizations, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the Maternal Mental Health Leadership Alliance, Families USA, and the National Governors Association. She holds a dual master of public administration and public health from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Sarah Brigid Konefal
Senior Research Assistant
Sarah Brigid joined the STAT team in October 2024. Before STAT, Sarah Brigid served Oasis Free Clinics in Brunswick, Maine as a Bowdoin McKeen Center Fellow, where she focused on Medicaid expansion and engaging with the local community. Sarah Brigid was then a Program Coordinator with NYU Grossman’s Internal Medicine Residency Program, where she managed projects to improve resident physicians’ well-being. Sarah Brigid graduated with her Masters in Medical Sciences from Brown University in 2024 with a capstone project that focused on the intersection of people experiencing homelessness, health, and the criminal-legal system. She is passionate about public health, programming to improve adverse social drivers of health, and health equity.
Brian Nguyen
Student Intern
Brian joined the STAT team in September 2024. Brian is currently a senior at Brown University, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Health & Human Biology with a focus on Social Determinants of Health. He has previously held intern and research assistant positions at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, Stanford Medicine, and Brown University’s Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies. Brian is excited to contribute as a Program Evaluation Intern at STAT, where he aims to apply and enhance his analytical skills, helping public health leaders across the country share and implement solutions to pressing health challenges.
Strategic Advisor
Ashish Jha
Dean of the School of Public Health and Professor of Health Services, Policy, and Practice, Brown University School of Public Health
Dr. Ashish Jha serves as a strategic advisor to the STAT Network and served as the lead facilitator for the STAT Action Networks from January to March 2022. From April 2022 to June 2023, Ashish served as the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator. Before joining the Brown School of Public Health, Dr. Jha was a faculty member at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health since 2004 and Harvard Medical School since 2005. He was the Faculty Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute from 2014 until September 2020. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the Dean for Global Strategy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Ashish is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as health policy research and practice.
Our Advisory Council
- Anne Zink (Alaska)
- Sameer Vohra (Illinois)
- Steven Stack (Kentucky)
- Natasha Bagdasarian (Michigan)
- Dan Edney (Mississippi)
- Kody Kinsley (North Carolina)
- Bruce Vanderhoff (Ohio)
- Michelle Hofmann (Utah)
- Paula Tran (Wisconsin)