Current Fellows

Mallory Ellingson, PhD, MPH

Mallory K. Ellingson, PhD, MPH, is a behavioral epidemiologist who utilizes quantitative methods to understand the barriers to and facilitators of HPV vaccine acceptance and develop communication strategies, interventions and policies to improve HPV vaccine uptake.

Specifically, she is interested in the role of health care providers and other clinical staff in vaccine communication.

She received her PhD in Epidemiology from the Yale University School of Public Health and her MPH in Epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Alyssa Cozzo MD, PhD

Alyssa Cozzo MD, PhD, received her PhD in Nutritional Biochemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill and her Doctorate in Medicine from the Duke University School of Medicine. In addition, she holds certificates in pathology and translational medicine.

During her doctoral studies at UNC, she was the recipient of both the Marci K. Campbell Dissertation Award and the A. Hughes Bryan Outstanding Doctoral Award in Nutrition, and was inducted as a member of the Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society.

Her research in breast cancer has spanned various areas, including cancer metabolism, obesity and inflammation, tumor immunology, and the role of autophagy in therapeutic resistance.

Ben Kahn, MPH

Ben Kahn, MPH, is a predoctoral fellow in Health Behavior. His primary research interests are in understanding the social and behavioral factors that inhibit or promote HPV vaccination, including communication interventions used to effectively promote vaccine uptake.

At UNC, he supports Project 1 of the Improving Provider Announcement Communication Training (IMPACT) Center, which explores the impact of standing orders used by physicians to authorize nurses and medical assistants to recommend HPV vaccines. His dissertation research will focus on the characterization of clinical staff communication roles in childhood HPV vaccination.

Before beginning at UNC in 2021, Ben spent 5 years working in public health policy research at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC, where he most recently served as an editor of the Framework for Equitable Allocation of COVID-19 Vaccine. His CCEP program mentor is Dr. Noel Brewer.

Phoebe Ruggles, MS

Phoebe Ruggles, MS, is a PhD student in the Department of Health Behavior. Phoebe’s research centers on the impact of alcohol, tobacco, and food/beverage marketing on health behaviors, with the overall goal of preventing cancer and other chronic diseases.

Her research aims to:

1. Characterize the marketing environment of cancer-causing products
2. Understand how exposure to unhealthy product marketing impacts consumer perceptions and intentions
3. Inform evidence-based marketing policies around these products in order to prevent cancer and chronic disease throughout the population

Sarah Halvorson-Fried

Sarah Halvorson-Fried is a PhD student in the Department of Health Behavior. Her work focuses on the health effects of structural racism and socioeconomic disparities in the U.S., particularly in the neighborhood and built environment contexts.

She studies the effects of these disparities on adolescent health behavior, harm exposure, and health outcomes throughout the life course. With this research, she aims to contribute to chronic disease prevention and reduction of inequities in chronic disease incidence and outcomes.

Susanna Choi, MPH, RD

Susanna Choi, MPH, RD, is a PhD candidate in the Nutrition Department at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her research focuses on the relationship between nutrition and mental health in adolescent and young adult cancer survivors (AYAs) and how digital health intervention programs can be designed to improve both.

Her dissertation work explores the added effects of mental health intervention components on health behavior and mental health outcomes within a broader digital weight management program aimed to improve nutrition and physical activity behaviors in AYAs.

Prior to her graduate studies in Nutrition at UNC, Susanna worked as a management consultant for technology and media companies at Deloitte.