Our Team

Brandon DL Marshall, PhD

Professor of Epidemiology & Founding Director of the People, Place & Health Collective, Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Director of the Center for Epidemiological Research

My name is Brandon Marshall (he/him), I am an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health and the Founding Director of the People, Place & Health Collective. I received a PhD in epidemiology from the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health. In 2011, I completed postdoctoral training at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. My research focuses on substance use epidemiology, infectious diseases, and the social, environmental, and structural determinants of health of urban populations.

Focus: HIV/AIDS, Substance use epidemiology, Structural determinants of health
Education: Columbia University, University of British Columbia

Mark Lurie, PhD

Associate Professor of Epidemiology

Mark Lurie, PhD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist working on HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, silicosis and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa. His current work focuses on training the next generation of social scientists in South Africa able to impact the HIV epidemic. Although he leads many projects outside of the Marshall Research Group, he offers the team valuable insight and recommendations throughout our many projects.

Focus: HIV/AIDS, STDs, Silicosis, Tuberculosis
Education: Johns Hopkins University

William Goedel, PhD

Assistant Professor (Research) of Epidemiology

William C. Goedel, PhD (he/him) is an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health. His research uses spatial analytical techniques to quantify how the burden of many of the United States’ most pressing public health challenges varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, with a particular interest in identifying areas that are overburdened and underserved as points of focus when resources are limited. This applied research is often conducted in close collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Health, covering a range of health conditions including asthma, cancer, COVID-19, drug overdose, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), stroke, and vaccine-preventable infections.

Focus: HIV prevention and implementation, Health Equity in vulnerable populations
Education: Brown University, New York University

Sam Bessey

Lead Software Engineer

I’m Sam, and I’m the lead software engineer here at PPHC. I manage our lab’s epidemiological modeling projects and develop our web-tools for various projects. My position also includes guiding PPHC members through coding best practices, scientific transparency, and the NIH Data Management & Sharing Policy. I lead our initiatives toward open science and open-source software, putting my values of collaboration into practice. Check out my GitHub to see my open-source projects.​

Focus:Agent-based Modeling
Education:University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mary McGrath

Lead Research Software Engineer

Mary is a Lead Research Software Engineer at Brown University’s Center for Computation and Visualization. She works with researchers to provide scientific and technical computing expertise, combined with best practices, to advance computational research. As a member of the TITAN team, she works on expanding the capabilities of the model with a focus on reliability, reproducibility, and performance. Prior to coming to Brown, she was a Health & Public Service Analytics Consultant working with Health and Human Services Agencies, Health Providers, and Health Insurers to solve a variety of their data-related problems. She received her B.S. in Engineering Science from Smith College and M.S. in Computer Science from Brown.

Carolyn Park

Data Analyst

My name is Carolyn Park (she/her), and I am a Data Analyst at the PPHC in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University School of Public Health. As part of the Data Security, Transformation, and Visualization Pod, I am primarily responsible for project and data management, various data-related services, and analytical support. I completed my MPH in infectious disease epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health.

Focus:Infectious disease epidemiology, Community health research, Drug resistance/stewardship
Education:Yale University, Smith College

Jesse Yedinak, MPA

Assistant Dean of Education, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Epidemiology

Focus:Substance use epidemiology, Opioid overdose, HIV prevention
Education:University of Colorado-Denver

Brendan Jacka

Investigator (Research) of Epidemiology

Brendan is an Investigator at the Center for Population Health and Clinical Epidemiology at Brown University. He received his PhD in molecular epidemiology from the Kirby Institute at UNSW Sydney in 2015. Since then, Brendan has completed postdoctoral training at the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC), UNSW Sydney and the Research Centre of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal. His research interests are centered around the individual, social, and structural determinants of health for people who use drugs, including the intersection of HIV and hepatitis C virus.

Focus:Molecular epidemiology, Intersection of HIV and hepatitis C
Education:UNSW Sydney

Xiao Zang

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Xiao Zang, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Epidemiology at Brown University. He received doctoral training from the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University in Canada where he also worked at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. He has an academic background in engineering for his bachelor and master’s degrees. Xiao’s primary research interests are related to mathematical modelling and cost-effectiveness analysis, with a special focus on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS and opioid overdose death.

Focus: Mathematical Modelling, Cost-effectiveness Analysis
Education: Simon Fraser University

Maxwell Krieger

Project Director

My name is Max(well) Krieger (he/him), and I am a Project Director who leads the Data Security, Transformation, and Visualization work here at PPHC. In my role, I provide oversight to our data-intensive research products and guide the development of our data infrastructure. Much of my work involves creating engaging visual products, from charts to maps to dashboards. I am passionate about fostering a data-savvy work environment and collaborating with community members and colleagues alike. I am happy to chat anytime about anything, especially axolotls: maxwell_krieger@brown.edu!

Focus:Substance use, Overdose prevention, HIV/AIDS
Education:Northeastern University