Meet the Twins
Master of Arts in Public Policy, Liberty University
Bachelor of Science in Sociology, Virginia Commonwealth University
Rachelle has mastered her understanding of public health strategies to reduce and prevent intentional injuries, fostered key relationships and enhanced programmatic visibility, and has championed all injury and violence prevention cause areas.
She currently holds a Master of Arts in Public Policy with a concentration in Social Policy. To summarize, her educational training has prepared her to troubleshoot major concerns that impact communities and understand connections between socioeconomic, generational, and cultural factors; thus allowing her to develop better analytical frameworks to address the needs of those affected. Additionally, it has afforded her the skills to develop and implement procedural practices and strategically align with organizational goals, community needs, and state strategic plans.
Over the years, she has acquired a plethora of “hands-on” knowledge in public administration and service. She has created opportunities for youth, facilitated and managed youth and citizen boards, and created policies and programs to address community-specific issues. She has worked to recruit participants to join boards and has established referral systems and applicant screening processes.
She currently develops and oversees programming for youth and adults who are survivors of intentional injuries, gaining experience in creating and implementing a series of community outreach programs for enrolled patients of a diverse set of the populace in the Greater Richmond community. This has allowed her to connect directly with patients and truly understand the root causes of violence.
She has served as the Co-Chair of the Inspire Workgroup and interim Director, spearheaded Richmond’s Gun Violence Prevention Framework in collaboration with the City of Richmond, and provided technical assistance to hospitals across the commonwealth establishing hospital-based violence prevention programs.
She has had the opportunity to recruit, train, and provide guidance to team members, professional and community boards and supervise volunteers. Each have equipped her with the skills to ensure that she sets clear goals, achieves performance goals, and encourages others.
Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies, Liberty University
Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, Liberty University
Rachel is public health professional who currently holds a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Sciences, with concentrations in Public Health and Social and Behavioral Psychology. To summarize this concentration, she intended to educate herself in all aspects of public health, health equity, and the social and behavioral aspects that influence health outcomes. Throughout the course of both her undergraduate and graduate degree programs, she has correlated all coursework to addressing chronic disease, tobacco-related disparities, and systematic racism in ethnic, sexual, and gender minority populations.
Over the past several years, she has facilitated training on community-engaged research, oversaw projects to address health equity and disparities investigation, established community advisory boards to develop authentic community voice throughout the research process, and has worked to emphasize the role of academic-community partnerships in improving the health and well-being of all. She has provided oversight to projects such as developing goals and objectives in the state cancer plan, worked with state health department contacts to provide LGBTQ+ best practice training to practitioners, and organized both local and state conferences for public health professionals.
She has provided logistical and administrative support to the state cancer coalitions during her tenure. She has assisted in strategizing and coordinating efforts for programs that focus on interprofessional leadership development in healthcare organizations.
She specializes in cultivating partnerships and fostering collaborative networks across the state and in specific strategic localities throughout Greater Richmond, establishing contacts and liaison with community members and officials of local, state, and/or federal agencies, facilitating scientific discussions with collaborators, Principal Investigators, and funding organizations, and have authority to make independent decisions about research aims and study design, and working with site investigators to help meet targets and milestones (ensure timely and accurate submission to IRBs, sponsors and master agreements) and coordinate with the Project Director on-site remediation, public outreach, public presentations, and web site development and content.
In her current role, she provides cancer-relevant and catchment-focused data to support cancer research and promote collaboration, innovation, excellence in catchment-focused cancer research, and engagement with internal and external stakeholders. In addition to providing administrative and logistical support, she assists in coordinating outreach and engagement efforts by establishing strategic partnerships with stakeholders across catchment areas to improve community conditions, drive effective collaboration for health equity, and improve the health and well-being of all Virginians.