iCubed

Brickhouse guides the partnerships for core activities within the university, health system and community to improve and integrate this oral health core into overall health and health care. She works to broaden access to education in oral health careers for students, create an inclusive environment for faculty and foster innovative oral health services research and solutions to improve the oral health of children.

Brubaker is responsible for the core’s activities and collaboration with the teaching and research faculty. She also contributes her expertise in public policy related to health, economics or poverty, and advancing social justice.

Garcia’s research program aims to uncover the underlying causes and mechanisms of oral health inequities to develop and implement interventions targeted at different causal pathways. Her research interests include community-based participatory research; oral-systemic health associations; racial disparities in health; social epidemiology; and the social, cultural and political-economic determinants of health. She is trained in qualitative and quantitative methods as well in science communication and journalism.

Moreno's research involves understanding and addressing mental healthcare disparities in the U.S. that affect individuals from low-income and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds. His research program includes applied research that lie at the intersection of cognitive-behavioral theories and cultural and contextual approaches including psychology of religion and spirituality, culturally sensitive interventions, as well as substance use and mood disorders.

As VCU Libraries' liaison to the School of Dentistry, Erica Brody provides course-integrated instruction and research assistance to students and faculty in dentistry and dental hygiene. Brody came to librarianship after a 15-year career in health sciences research, collecting and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data. In addition, she has experience managing multi-site projects, coordinating data collection, analysis, and report writing among geographically dispersed, multi-disciplinary teams.

Naavaal brings expertise in oral health services and policy research. She specializes in public health dentistry and her primary research interests include oral health disparities, dental-medical integration and access and use of health care services among vulnerable populations.

Raskin is a medical anthropologist whose work on oral health disparities and access to dental care in central Appalachia won the Society for Medical Anthropology’s Rudolf Virchow graduate student paper award. Her research interests include health services; health policy; the health care workforce; race, class, and the body; stigma; community engagement; qualitative methods; and intersectional frameworks for advancing health and health care equity.

Mike Taylor is the Executive Director of the Henrico Education Foundation (HEF) in Richmond, Virginia. Through a dynamic public-private partnership with the Commonwealth’s sixth largest school district, HEF serves more than 51,000 students in 72 educational facilities. These facilities are located in suburban, rural and urban communities. Mike has a passion for creating strong public schools that ensure all children reach their fullest potential. His work at HEF is focused on transforming public education through the expansion of best practices, the creation of innovation in the classroom and the development of researchbased solutions that bring a Continuous Improvement approach to addressing the challenges facing public education.

As a general dentist and ethicist, Smith’s work lies at the intersection of dental student and faculty wellbeing, belonging and inclusive excellence, professional identity formation and dental ethics. He has authored groundbreaking work in dental student and faculty resilience and most recently published a book chapter on the unique ethical considerations within geriatric dentistry. Smith brings his expertise in the oral health workforce, climate studies in dental education, narrative ethics and racism in healthcare to the oral health core. His work includes the development of a public oral health and equity certificate program.

Williams specializes in pediatric dentistry and brings a wealth of knowledge about peri- and prenatal oral health care. She is focused on preventive oral care for the pediatric population and improving oral health outcomes for children both locally and abroad.