Contacts
Karen Emmons, PHD, is faculty lead of Community Engagement at Harvard Catalyst. She is a professor of social and behavioral science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Emmons is a behavioral scientist with a strong track record of funded research in community-based approaches to cancer prevention in a variety of settings that serve historically disadvantaged communities, including low income housing and community health centers. Her work targets inequalities related to a range of cancer risk factors, including nutrition, physical activity, sun exposure, tobacco and second-hand smoke exposure, and cancer screening. She has particular expertise in implementation science, particularly in community health settings, and has been actively involved in national efforts to develop implementation research and training programs. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, and past president of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.
Rebekka Lee, ScD, is director of Community Engagement at Harvard Catalyst. She is a research scientist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. At Harvard Catalyst, she leads courses on mixed methods, implementation science, and community-engaged research. Her research focuses on designing and evaluating community-based interventions that translate into real-world policy and environmental change, focusing in particular on investigating the contextual factors that impact effective implementation and promote health equity. She has spent over a decade working at the Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity, where she uses mixed methods to conduct research and evaluation with partners at the Boston Public Health Commission, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and YMCA. At the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity, Lee is co-director of the administrative core and leads a pilot on evidence-based cancer prevention through clinical-community partnerships. She is also co-director of the Leaders in Health community training program and teaches public health course on program planning, implementation, and design.
Michelle H. Lee, MD, is clinician faculty for Community Engagement at Harvard Catalyst. Lee is a Massachusetts General Hospital oncologist and a clinical investigator who is deeply committed to improving access to care and outcomes of patients with blood disorders. Having witnessed firsthand the disconnect between clinical trials and real-world oncology patients, her research seeks to understand the prognostic impacts of multimorbidity and psychosocial complexity in adults with leukemia. She is also passionate about addressing cancer disparities through integrating specialized cancer care into community settings, collaborative community-based participatory research, and implementing novel care delivery models that maximize access to complex therapies and clinical trials.
James Daly, MPH, is a senior research project manager at Harvard Catalyst, working in Community Engagement. In his role, he supports the Research Equity and Diversity Initiative and other efforts to promote equity in research and advance implementation science. He also serves as the assistant director of Research Operations for the Massachusetts Center for Advancing Cancer Control Engaged Research Through Transformative Solutions (Mass-ACCERT), and project director for the Massachusetts Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network within the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His work there largely focuses on strengthening community health centers’ capacity to deliver evidence-based cancer screening and tobacco treatment. Daly holds an MPH degree from Boston University, with a concentration in community assessment, program design, implementation, and evaluation.
Kamini Mallick, MS, is a research project manager at Harvard Catalyst, working in Community Engagement. In her role, she utilizes her background in medical anthropology to support qualitative and mixed-methods research and lead initiatives such as Collaborative Catalyst. She also provides consultations on various topics including qualitative research methods, improving research accrual, and facilitating community engagement activities. Mallick holds an MS in Medical Anthropology from Boston University School of Medicine and a BA in Biochemistry from Macalester College.
Trang Nguyen-Dafforn, BS, is a program coordinator at Harvard Catalyst, working in Community Engagement. In her role, she provides project management and administrative support. Previously, she worked as an executive coordinator at Harvard Medical School Executive Education, where she worked on building programs that engage business leaders whose work impacts healthcare and expose them to the real-world practice of medicine, cutting-edge trends in science, clinical workflows, and healthcare delivery. Nguyen-Dafforn holds a BS in public health and business administration with a minor in healthcare management from Simmons University.
Lallo Yadeta, MPH, is a research assistant at Harvard Catalyst, working in Community Engagement, where she supports ongoing research initiatives. Yadeta contributes to projects that bridge academic research and community needs, collaborating with diverse stakeholders to facilitate effective communication and outreach. Her role involves data management, meeting facilitation, and supporting initiatives such as the Research Enrollment Diversity Initiative. She received an MPH from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and a BA in public health from Elon University.