Talya Straughter desires to live in a world where people communicate with one another more deeply, are true to their hearts, stop to taste the sweetness of the honeysuckle, and scribble thank you notes by hand. She would also like, at times, a force field around her bedroom that repels a demanding millennial and a 4th grader. She understands that a part of deep communication is silence and separation. As a mental health provider for the Veterans at G.V. Sonny Montgomery in Jackson, MS she is collaborating with staff to integrate mental health services as a component of primary healthcare. She also provides mental health training and consultation through her business, Garden of Confidence, LLC. Talya holds the credentials of National Certified Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Board Certified Tele-Mental Health Counselor.When Talya is not consulting, staffing or collaborating with someone on the journey of improving their mental health, you may find her whipping up a dish, lounging with a book cracked open, or being poured into by her mentors.#justakidfromyazoo, Talya began her educational journey in Yazoo City, MS. She then obtained a bachelors in Communication Disorders and a masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from Jackson State University. Due to her love of learning, she acquired a masters in Marriage and Family Counseling and a doctorate in Professional Counseling from Mississippi College.

Dr. Marinelle Payton is the Chair and Professor, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Principal Investigator and Director of the Jackson Heart Study Graduate Training and Education Center and the Center of Excellence in Minority Health, and Health Disparities/Institute of Epidemiology and Health Services Research (funded by the National Institutes of Health) at Jackson State University (JSU) School of Public Health. She is a physician with specialty training in Neurological Sciences, Surgery, Radiology, Epidemiology, Public Health, and Environmental and Occupational Medicine. She received the combined M.D.-Ph.D. degrees and the M.P.H. and M.S. degrees from Boston University School of Medicine and Harvard School of Public Health. Following clinical training at Yale University and Boston University hospitals, she held hospital and joint academic appointments at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, MA.

Professor Mohammad Shahbazi served Jackson State University (JSU) in various teaching and administrator capacities from 1999 through 2021. In his recent capacity as a dean, he led a team of faculty/staff/students and successfully established the first accredited School of Public Health in the State of Mississippi and the first such school among the HBCUs. Working alongside the late Dr. Aaron Shirley, Dr. Shahbazi’s health initiative and action led to a Pan Americans World Health Organization (PAWHO) recognized Community Health Worker Training Program that trained and certified community health workers in Mississippi Delta. Despite his busy teaching and vast administrative responsibilities, Professor Shahbazi earned a Fulbright Scholarship in 2009. Additionally, he brought to the Public Health Program/School through his active grantsmanship as a PI, CO-PI, Director, Manager, or team member millions of grant money over the years. His most recent grant was awarded by Kellogg Foundation with the primary goal to establish a center of excellence for breastfeeding in Mississippi.  Dr. Shahbazi is nationally and internationally known and has thus become a critical contributor to JSU’s success and image both at home and abroad, especially in the area of public health. Professor Shahbazi’s work in Mississippi has been featured in the local, national, and international media, including Time Magazine in its July 2011 issue.  Professor Shahbazi has a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). 

Kimarie Bugg DNP, FNP-BC, FAAN, MPH, IBCLC, is President and CEO of Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere (ROSE). Dr. Bugg, a career perinatal and neonatal nurse professional, recognized her calling alongside her grandmother as a lay midwife in rural Arkansas at the age of 12.

Graduating nursing school in 1978, Dr. Bugg spent four decades working in the Atlanta Metropolitan area and nationally, mostly African American communities promoting perinatal health, breastfeeding, and community based impact solutions. Kimarie has worked in a private pediatric practice and for Emory University, School of Medicine, as a nurse practitioner. She has worked at the state level, as a perinatal nurse consultant and in the hospital in the pediatric emergency center, special care nursery, and as a bedside breastfeeding consultant from 1986-1994. She was the first African American IBCLC in the state of Georgia (1987). In 2011 she and her professional sisters founded Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere, a national nonprofit that seeks to address health disparities and inequities in breastfeeding with a focus on community based solutions. Dr. Bugg is known internationally for her work in lactation, anti racism and health equity strategies, the nonprofit world and Community leadership. She has received innumerable awards and recognition, including multiple lifetime achievement awards. 

She is a member of the faculty for CHAMPs, a Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, and current chair of the ethics committee of United States Breastfeeding Committee.

Kimarie is on the board of advisors for the National Association of Professional and Peer Lactation Supporters of Color (NAPPLSC) and she provides health equity through breastfeeding training, education and resources for healthcare providers, lactation support providers and ROSE Community Transformers nationwide.

Dr. Bugg completed a Community Health Leadership Program, within the Satcher Health Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine that stressed best practices to provide global health equity and eliminating health disparities through action-oriented projects. In 2016, Kimarie received a Legacy Award from the United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) for her work in the lactation arena for 38 years.

Kimarie lives in the Atlanta area with her husband, Dr. George W. Bugg Jr, a neonatologist. They are the parents of 5 adult children.

Dr. Nakeitra L. Burse, is the Owner/CEO of Six Dimensions, a certified woman owned, minority owned public health research, development and practice company. Dr. Burse has been a servant in the field of public health for over twelve years. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Biological Sciences and Master’s in Health Education Health Promotion both from Mississippi State University. She also holds a doctorate in Public Health from Jackson State University.

Dr. Burse is dedicated to understanding the impact of systems on the health of communities. Her work is centered around health equity and social justice issues and ensuring that populations that have been historically underserved, overlooked, and discriminated against receive equitable treatment in health and healthcare settings.

Dr. Burse is the Executive Producer of the short documentary, Laboring with Hope. The film highlights the issues of maternal morbidity and mortality among Black women. Laboring with Hope is being used as a call to action to implement, support, and uplift strategies that aim to improve maternal health and birth outcomes.

Dr. Burse is currently a Leader in the 4th Cohort of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health Leaders Program. In 2019, she was named one of Mississippi’s 50 Leading Business Women. In 2020, she received the Candace Award for Health from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc., Central, MS Chapter. Dr. Burse’s work has been featured in a variety of settings, including Soledad O’Brien’s Disrupt and Dismantle series on BET. She is married to Dr. Creston Burse and they have two rambunctious boys, Chandler and Cooper.

Kimberly Dixon Ramsey is the Director of the Breastfeeding Program for Mississippi WIC.  With 14 years in public health, she has held numerous administrative and program coordination positions with the Mississippi State Department of Health.

Kimberly has extensive experience leading breastfeeding projects within the WIC program where she is responsible for identifying and implementing methods/strategies to promote and support breastfeeding in the state, regional, and local agencies. As a former regional breastfeeding coordinator, she is familiar with the challenges to normalize breastfeeding at the community level. Kimberly has served as the Branch Director in charge of regional clinic operations and as the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant Coordinator for Mississippi, which focused on evidence-based practices and community-based prevention efforts for emerging health issues in the state.  Ms. Ramsey serves as President of the Mississippi Breastfeeding Coalition and leads community engagement and partnerships for the WIC program on various workgroups, committees, and advisory boards.

Kimberly holds a Master of Health Administration from Belhaven University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from Jackson State University.  She also serves as an Adjunct Professor as needed in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Jackson State University and is the owner of Infinity Business Solutions, LLC, which provides administrative virtual assistance and consulting services for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and non-profits.
Kimberly’s favorite role is being a mom. She sneaks in some time for shopping and spa days with her daughter when she is not at soccer games, school performances, and girl scout activities.

Talya Straughter desires to live in a world where people communicate with one another more deeply, are true to their hearts, stop to taste the sweetness of the honeysuckle, and scribble thank you notes by hand. She would also like, at times, a force field around her bedroom that repels a demanding millennial and a 4th grader. She understands that a part of deep communication is silence and separation. As a mental health provider for the Veterans at G.V. Sonny Montgomery in Jackson, MS she is collaborating with staff to integrate mental health services as a component of primary healthcare. She also provides mental health training and consultation through her business, Garden of Confidence, LLC. Talya holds the credentials of National Certified Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor, and Board Certified Tele-Mental Health Counselor.When Talya is not consulting, staffing or collaborating with someone on the journey of improving their mental health, you may find her whipping up a dish, lounging with a book cracked open, or being poured into by her mentors.#justakidfromyazoo, Talya began her educational journey in Yazoo City, MS. She then obtained a bachelors in Communication Disorders and a masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from Jackson State University. Due to her love of learning, she acquired a masters in Marriage and Family Counseling and a doctorate in Professional Counseling from Mississippi College.

My name is Lindsey Robertson. I have been a Labor and Delivery nurse for the last eight years, and have served as Anderson Regional Medical Center's Baby-Friendly team lead since 2015.  I am a 2009 graduate of Mississippi State University College of Business, Go Dawgs! I completed my ADN at Shelton State Community College in 2011, and my BSN from University of Alabama, Birmingham in 2012. As of 2018, I am a Certified Lactation Counselor.  I have been married to my sweetheart for 12 years, and I am a mom of three sweet babies, ages 8, 6, and 6 months. They keep me running the roads between baseball, football, and gymnastics. I also enjoy actively serving in my church.

“Providing compassionate care to moms and babies brings me joy. I am passionate about helping other moms and their babies get the best education and a successful start in life.”

Through her extraordinary career as an historian, Dr. Harrison has enhanced our understanding of the important role that African Americans have played in the development of our nation. She came to KU as a doctoral student in the late 1960s. And when she graduated in 1971, she became the first African American to receive a Ph.D. from KU's History Department—making her part of the history she would soon become notable for chronicling.

While still a student at KU, Dr. Harrison helped lay the groundwork for KU's African and African American Studies Department by organizing an interdisciplinary black studies program through the Black Student Union. Encouraged by her students, and inspired by earlier historians who had sought out the stories of groups left out of the history books, Dr. Harrison became deeply interested in the oral history of African Americans. She pursued that interest after graduation, joining the history department at Jackson State University in 1972. And it wasn't long before she was recognized as one of the nation's leading oral historians.

Dr. Harrison is also renowned for her work in preserving African American culture. In 1977, she co-founded the Smith Robertson Museum and Cultural Center, preserving a cultural landmark and creating the first statewide museum on Mississippi African Americans. And when famous poet and novelist Margaret Walker Alexander retired from leading the Institute for the Study of the History, Life, and Culture of Black People, Dr. Harrison took over, eventually transforming the institute into a robust research center named for Margaret Walker Alexander. Today, the Margaret Walker Center houses the papers of Alexander and other influential black leaders, and works to preserve and disseminate African-American culture and history. 

Dr. Harrison's career is summed up by one of her nominators: "Dr. Harrison was a trailblazer, both for women and African Americans. Her accomplishments, at a time when the world told her to sit down and stay silent, serve as an inspiring model for young women everywhere."

Toni Hill is a direct-entry midwife serving North Mississippi with traditional home birth midwifery.  She has been involved with birth work for over 20 years, first supporting families as a doula in both hospital and home birth settings.  Like many midwives before her, she has received her formal midwifery training through a variety of means. She has been blessed to learn from the hands and at the feet of many midwives, has completed extensive self-study, completed The Farm Midwifery Assistant training (June 2013), completed The Farm Midwifery Advanced training (August 2013), and an amazing apprenticeship toward CPM credentialing with Full Circle Midwifery in Memphis, TN.  She remains current in basic adult and child CPR and NRP (neonatal resuscitation).  She has also completed, BEST (birth emergency skills training), and STABLE. She has received additional training in cranio sacral therapy for infants, as well as herbalism and hypnotherapy. She is also a CLC (certified lactation counselor) and the Founding Executive Director of Northeast Mississippi Birthing Project and Mississippi Center for Birth and Breastfeeding Equity.

Heather Denne’ is the Director for Community Engagement at Jackson State University.  Heather coordinates development activities for community residents, JSU students, neighborhood associations, businesses and other stakeholders in the community.  Heather has extensive knowledge of community organizing, historic preservation, grant writing, and marketing.  In 2021, Heather has secured nearly 2 million dollars in grant funds for projects in the West Jackson Community.  She prides herself on being a results-oriented team leader with a 10-year track record of providing superior project management and support services to numerous groups.  She has served as project lead on numerous community-wide initiatives including the preservation of Mt. Olive Cemetery, creation of little free libraries, operates the West Jackson Blog, builds community gardens, and secures thousands of pounds of fresh food for the community. Heather serves as the staff liaison between Jackson State University and the communities surrounding the University.  

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in Women’s Studies, and her Master’s degree from Jackson State University in Urban and Regional Planning and recently received her PhD from Jackson State University in Urban and Regional Planning.

Dudith Pierre-Victor, PhD, MPH, recently joined Jackson State University as Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences in the Department of Behavioral and Environmental Health. Prior to joining JSU, Dr. Pierre-Victor was the Director of Research in the HCA Healthcare /USF Morsani College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Consortium where she mentored and oversaw over 844 medical residents and fellows pursuing scholarly activities. She earned an M.P.H with a concentration in Epidemiology (2011) and a Ph.D. in Public Health (2016), with a concentration in Epidemiology. Dr. Pierre-Victor completed the prestigious Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the NCI’s Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), which encompasses over 1,000 research sites and 3,500 oncologists. She combined her epidemiology expertise and her health services experience to design and implement research that incorporates quantitative and qualitative methods for the investigation of a broad range of factors contributing to health disparities. Her research interests include comorbidity management during cancer treatment, health disparities, and women’s health. 

Consuelo Beck-Sagué, MD, FAAP, recently retired from her position as Associate Professor of Public Health at the Robert Stempel College of Public Health and Social Work at Florida International University (FIU). She obtained her medical doctoral degree at Temple University Medical School and is board-certified as a specialist in clinical pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases. She served as a medical epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, for 19 years focusing on prevention and treatment of HIV and other infectious diseases, and on elimination of racial disparities in maternal and infant health. She served as a Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative consultant to the Dominican Republic Ministry of Health for four years, focusing on use of antiretrovirals for HIV prevention and treatment in women, infants and children.  While at FIU, she was Principal Investigator of FIU’s HRSA-funded training program for Maternal and Child Health (MCH), which created an MCH concentration and certificate program. Dr. Beck-Sagué is the author/co-author of 20 chapters in medical and epidemiology texts, 20 CDC Guidelines/Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report articles, and 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, some cited thousands of times. Her principal professional interest is the elimination of racial disparities in health outcomes in US women and children.

Mrs. Chelesa Presley, is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Coahoma County Diaper Bank (2016), which later transitioned to the Diaper Bank of the Delta in 2018. Chelsea is also the owner and operator of Early Dawn Birthing Services; Baby Café facilitator of The Lactating Club; and Director of Clarksdale Baby University parenting program. Mrs. Presley serves on the  National Diaper Bank Network Board of Directors. Chelesa is a Certified Lactation Educator (CLE), a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), and a Certified Madriella Doula.   

Chelesa Presley set a life goal to help women in the Mississippi Delta and the State of Mississippi make informed choices about maternal practices and to encourage young parents along their parenting journey. In 2018, Chelesa and her team won the 2018 Make the Breast Pump not Suck Hackathon Transformation Award for a project to initiate a homeless shelter for pregnant and postpartum women experiencing housing insecurities in the Mississippi Delta.  She received a 2020 GIVE Awards Outstanding COVID-19 Crisis Response by an Individual, Reaching Our Sister Everywhere 2020 Concrete ROSE Award, and the 2021 Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi Maddox Woman of the Year.
 
Mrs. Presley is a member of Anderson Street Church of Christ in Marks, Mississippi.
She is the proud wife of Julian Presley and mother of three children and a proud grandmother. 
Mrs. Presley’s motto is, “Smile, and live a great story because with God in front all things are possible with faith, prayer, and obedience.”

Dudith Pierre-Victor, PhD, MPH, recently joined Jackson State University as Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences in the Department of Behavioral and Environmental Health. Prior to joining JSU, Dr. Pierre-Victor was the Director of Research in the HCA Healthcare /USF Morsani College of Medicine Graduate Medical Education Consortium where she mentored and oversaw over 844 medical residents and fellows pursuing scholarly activities. She earned an M.P.H with a concentration in Epidemiology (2011) and a Ph.D. in Public Health (2016), with a concentration in Epidemiology. Dr. Pierre-Victor completed the prestigious Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the NCI’s Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP), which encompasses over 1,000 research sites and 3,500 oncologists. She combined her epidemiology expertise and her health services experience to design and implement research that incorporates quantitative and qualitative methods for the investigation of a broad range of factors contributing to health disparities. Her research interests include comorbidity management during cancer treatment, health disparities, and women’s health.