Congratulations to Dr. Dawn Goddard-Eckrich and Audrey Ward!
Dr. Goddard-Eckrich's incisive focus on addressing racial inequities in access to services for HIV, substance use disorders and intimate partner violence and now COVID-19 in all our studies has been invaluable.
Dr. Dawn Goddard-Eckrich has been promoted to Associate Director of the Social Intervention Group.
Dr. Goddard-Eckrich will bring her 17 years experience leading the successful implementation of five NIH-funded studies of behavioral interventions (Eban, WORTH, WINGS, PACT, E-WORTH). Her experience includes developing and implementing programs and interventions to address the health disparities affecting underserved populations in NIDA funded clinical trials. Dr. Goddard-Eckrich has extensive experience in primary data collection, including expertise in recruitment and retention of marginalized populations, project management, mixed methods research, fidelity measures and development of various study protocols and is currently leading the qualitative data collection and analysis of the NIDA funded study HEALing Communities Study.
Dr. Goddard-Eckrich's incisive focus on addressing racial inequities in access to services for HIV, substance use disorders and intimate partner violence and now COVID-19 in all our studies has been invaluable. We are very much looking forward to her leadership as a PI on a new study that will examine the availability of COVID-19 testing and the impact of COVID-19 on the availability of naloxone and buprenorphine comparing pharmacies in racially diverse communities to pharmacies in largely white communities in our NY HCS counties. Originally from the Trinidad and Tobago, her current area of research interests are also focused on adapting evidence-based interventions and using Community based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to address health disparities, social determinants and equity related to health risks, access to care, and health related outcomes among minority populations, including Caribbean populations.
Beyond these scientific accomplishments, Dr. Goddard-Eckrich has done an outstanding job leading our MSW internship program and has invested heavily in mentoring not only dozens of our students but aalsoour staff that she supervises, many of whom have gone to masters and doctoral programs with her support. Outside of SIG, Dr. Goddard-Eckrich has taught classes in research methods at John Jay.
I’m really excited to be a part of the SIG Leadership as I continue to work to advance the science of health disparities especially for minority populations, particularly women of color. I am also looking forward to helping SIG expand their global footprint to the Caribbean.
Ms. Ward is an exemplar of the humanity of our work and our organization, displaying the deepest commitment to the success of all things SIG, all the while balancing the workload and multiple, competing priorities with the utmost grace and patience.
Audrey Ward has been promoted to serve as SIG's Director of Operations.
In this role, Ms. Ward will oversee the activities and direct the relevant staff involved with SIG's overarching research, training, and administrative infrastructure and daily business activities, and continue to oversee the management and coordination of SIG's HISTP and T32 training programs.
Ms. Ward steps into this role with extensive experience and success with coordinating the aforementioned training programs as well as her deep knowledge and experience with all things operational and administrative at SIG for many years.
I'm very grateful. SIG is not just a job, it's family and I look forward to many more happy and productive years.