Staff

Alexandra B. Nolen, PhD, MPH, Director of Health Policy and Planning

Alexandra (Lexi) B. Nolen, PhD, MPH, is Director of Health Policy and Planning at the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities, Associate Director of the UTMB PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for Training in International Health, Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, and Associate Member of the Institute for the Medical Humanities. Dr. Nolen holds a doctorate in Medical Humanities, with a focus on ethics and public policy. She has spent several years working with the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization on issues of health equity, including chairing the Equity Working Group of the Health Metrics Network, and most recently served for two years on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Dr. Nolen was the Coordinator of the Global Equity Gauge Alliance, a South Africa-based non-governmental organization focused on health equity initiatives in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Dr. Nolen has experience in coordination of community-based research and interventions as well as policy development on issues of health disparities and public health. Her work also encompasses issues of social determinants of health and intersectoral action, health information systems, advocacy strategies for health equity, health systems development, the impact of globalization and trade on health in Africa, and development of training materials on health equity. Recently, she and Sandra Riegle (IMH) received the President’s Cabinet Award at UTMB to strengthen service-learning for UTMB students engaged in community activities by developing health advocacy and professionalism service-learning modules for students on service missions.

John D. Prochaska, DrPH, MPH Program Manager

John D. Prochaska, DrPH, MPH, is a program manager for the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities at UTMB. Dr. Prochaska received his Doctorate in Public Health from the Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) School of Rural Public Health with an emphasis in Social and Behavioral Health. He also holds a graduate certificate in health systems and design from Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture, with course work tailored towards building healthy communities. His research interests include examining the role of social and environmental determinates of health outcomes from a social ecological orientation, the application of community health development and community-based participatory research principles in public health research and practice, and identifying factors influencing health among rural populations. Dr. Prochaska previously worked with TAMHSC’s Center for Community Health Development and Program on Healthy Aging, assisting with these organizations’ efforts in community health development, evidence-based translational research and evaluation, and related health promotion efforts.