About

I am a professor in the Department of French and Italian Studies and Associate Dean for Equity, Justice, and Inclusion in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington. After graduating from the joint MA/BA program at New York University and the Institute of French Studies, I received my PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in Romance Languages and Linguistics. My scholarship broadly focuses on the intersection of racial and linguistic identity formations among marginalized groups in the African diaspora, particularly in the postcolonial Francophone world.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Surgery
• Internal medicine
• Psychiatry
• Family medicine
• General surgery
• Traditional medicine
• Biology
• Pediatrics
• Intensive care medicine

Selected publications

• Chiropractic students’ force-time parameters for chiropractic adjustments at the beginning and end of an academic term

  Journal of Chiropractic Education · 2025-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Objective: To evaluate changes in chiropractic students' spinal manipulation force-time parameters from the beginning to end of an academic term and compare pre-post differences by students' level of self-reported training outside of required class time. Methods: Students were recruited using campus-wide flyers and club announcements. Participants performed 12 mannequin adjustments and total peak force, impulse peak force, and time to peak force were measured using force sensing table technology. Changes in pre and post data were assessed with paired t-test and signed-rank tests. The rank-sum test was used to test the association between out of class practice time and changes in adjustment parameters. Alpha was set at p ≤ .001. Results: Twenty students agreed to participate and pre-post data were collected for 17 students. Average time to peak force decreased and impulse peak and total peak forces increased over the academic term. Statistically significant changes were observed for cervical adjustment time to peak (mean decrease of 38 ms, SD = 59 ms) and thoracic adjustment total peak force (mean increase of 86 N, SD 113 N). No statistically significant differences were observed between students based on practice time. Conclusion: Using force sensing table technology in this doctor of chiropractic program, student changes in adjusting force-time parameters were documented. Future research, with a larger sample size, is needed to evaluate student characteristics associated with changes in student adjustment parameters.

  PublisherDOI

• Point-of-Care Stethoscope Disinfection Improves Hand Hygiene Compliance

  American Journal of Infection Control · 2024-06-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Chiropractic faculty experiences of burnout and the COVID-19 pandemic

  Journal of Chiropractic Education · 2024-01-05 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) is frequently used to assess occupational burnout and the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII) is a new tool for assessing pandemic impacts. This study's objective is to describe chiropractic faculty members' experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, their burnout as professional educators, and their strategies for coping with stress. METHODS: A Qualtrics survey link was emailed to 73 current faculty and 10 previously employed faculty from 1 chiropractic school. The survey included 22 MBI, 31 EPII, and 2 questions about coping strategies. Faculty were given several weeks to complete the survey, were reminded via emails and meeting announcements, and were given paper surveys to increase participation. Responses were analyzed in STATA17. RESULTS: Forty-three faculty completed the survey (response rate = 52%). Of these, 25.8% reported testing positive for COVID-19, 30.23% reported difficulties transitioning to working from home, and 25.5% scored high on the MBI subscale for emotional exhaustion (EE) (mean 15.79, SD 13.68). Higher EE was associated with pandemic-related increases in mental health and sleep problems. Common coping strategies included self-care and social support. CONCLUSION: The majority of faculty reported neither contracting COVID-19 nor having difficulty transitioning to work from home. Average EE for participating faculty was lower than previous reports although a quarter scored high in EE, which may be associated with pandemic-related mental health and sleep problems. These results suggest chiropractic faculty might need support coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and indicate the need for future research on burnout among faculty from other chiropractic institutions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• JAMA Internal Medicine

  JAMA Internal Medicine · 2023-08-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Mission Statement: To promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health by publishing manuscripts of interest and relevance to internists practicing as generalists or as medical subspecialists.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery

  JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery · 2023 · 2 citations

  • Medicine
  • General surgery
  • Surgery

  Mission Statement JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery provides timely information for physicians and scientists concerned with diseases of the head and neck.Given the diversity of structure and function based in this anatomic region, JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery publishes clinical, translational, and population health research from an array of disciplines.We place a high priority on strong study designs that accurately identify etiologies, evaluate diagnostic strategies, and distinguish among treatment options and outcomes.Our objectives are to (1) publish original contributions that will enhance the clinician's understanding of otolaryngologic disorders, benefi t the care of our patients, and stimulate research in our fi eld; (2) forecast important advances within otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, particularly as they relate to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of disease through clinical and translational research, including that of the human genome and novel imaging techniques; (3) address questions of clinical outcomes and cost-eff ectiveness that result from clinical intervention, which grow in importance as health care providers are increasingly challenged to provide evidence of enhanced survival and quality of life; (4) provide expert reviews of topics that keep our readers current with true advances and also to provide a valuable educational resource for trainees in the several disciplines that treat patients with diseases of the head and neck; (5) serve as a forum for the concerns of otolaryngologists, such as socioeconomic, legal, ethical, and medical issues; (6) provide helpful critiques that enable contributing authors to improve their submissions.We encourage a concise presentation of information and employ an abstract format that effi ciently assesses validity and relevance from a clinical perspective.This approach promotes succinct yet complete presentation for our readers and electronic information resources.We believe this approach typifi es the commitment of JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery to providing important information that is easily interpreted by its diverse readership.

  DOI

• JAMA Internal Medicine

  JAMA Internal Medicine · 2023-09-01 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  Mission Statement: To promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health by publishing manuscripts of interest and relevance to internists practicing as generalists or as medical subspecialists.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• JAMA Neurology

  JAMA Neurology · 2023-07-01

  articleOpen access

  The mission of JAMA Neurology is to publish and disseminate scientific information primarily important for physicians caring for people with neurologic disorders and for those interested in the structure and function of the normal and diseased human nervous system.The specifi c aims are to (1) publish timely original research, including clinical trials that will directly improve clinical neurologic care and that will inform efforts to improve neurological health and promote health care equity; (2) report translational research that is pertinent to the understanding of neurologic disease; (3) address topics of practice, ethics, education, and public health that are a key part of modern medicine; and (4) provide a forum for discussion and publication of important topics including bias, racism, and diversity.This information will be published only after extensive review by scientifi c peers and journal editors so that clarity, rigor, originality, and precision are ensured.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• JAMA Internal Medicine

  JAMA Internal Medicine · 2023-07-01 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Mission Statement: To promote the art and science of medicine and the betterment of public health by publishing manuscripts of interest and relevance to internists practicing as generalists or as medical subspecialists.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association Between Chiropractic Utilization and Opioid Prescriptions Among People With Back or Neck Pain: Evaluation of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey

  Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics · 2022-06-01 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Mental health and lifestyle behaviors of students in a doctor of chiropractic program

  Journal of Chiropractic Education · 2022-11-14 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  OBJECTIVE: Health professional students' mental health and lifestyle behaviors may impact their personal health as well as their clinical practice. The objective of our retrospective study was to see if there were changes in students' mental health and lifestyle behaviors during their doctor of chiropractic program (DCP). METHODS: In 2019, we identified health center files for 198 students who graduated from our DCP between 2015 and 2016, of which 69% (n = 137) contained Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) consent forms granting permission for file review. From each of these files, we extracted mental health and lifestyle behavior data that students self-reported at the beginning and end of their DCP. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, paired t test, sign test, and McNemar's chi-square test. RESULTS: The majority of our students reported drinking alcohol, engaging in regular exercise, and not smoking at the beginning and end of our DCP. Comparing pre and post data, there was a statistically significant increase in water, fruit, and vegetable consumption along with an increased proportion of students reporting eating junk food and drinking 1 or more servings of caffeine (p ≤ .002). The proportion of students reporting anxiety or depression decreased between the beginning and end of our DCP (p = .002). CONCLUSION: This study provided information about student mental health and lifestyle behaviors at 1 DCP. We recommend future studies use validated questionnaires across multiple DCPs. There also may be a need for intervention research to decrease DCP student alcohol use.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant K01AT002391

  NIH · $646k · 2011

Frequent coauthors

• James Madara

  St. Louis County Missouri

  1727 shared

• Annette Flanagin

  1711 shared

• Michael Berkwits

  1711 shared

• Fred Furtner

  International Rescue Committee

  1670 shared

• Joshua Lampinen

  1670 shared

• Judith Literskis

  Johns Hopkins University

  1670 shared

• Teresa Omiotek

  Advisory Board Company (United States)

  1670 shared

• Amy Evers

  University of Pennsylvania Health System

  1670 shared

Education

• M.A., French and Italian Studies

  New York University and the Institute of French Studies

• Ph.D., Romance Languages and Linguistics

  University of California, Berkeley

Awards & honors

• Modern Language Association’s French and Francophone Studies…