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.

Shaun Jones, MPH

Shaun Jones, MPH is a third year PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. He is a pre-doctoral fellow with UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the co-chair of the Community Advisory Council with the Duke Cancer Institute Community Outreach and Engagement Office. He ultimately plans to utilize mixed method approaches through epidemiologic data analysis and health education programming to combat prostate cancer. He currently serves as a co-President of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association at UNC.

Taylor Ellington, MPH

Taylor Ellington, MPH, is a predoctoral fellow in Epidemiology. Her research focuses on geographic and facility barriers to receipt of guideline concordant care in endometrial cancer. At UNC, she has led projects focused on receipt of fertility services among young adults with cancer. Before starting the doctoral program in 2023, Taylor completed an MPH in Health Policy at Emory University and spent 4 years working as an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) Fellow in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the CDC in Atlanta, GA

Carolyn Chelius

Carolyn is a PhD student in Health Behavior at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She uses quantitative and qualitative research methods to evaluate how to leverage policies and programs to increase access to healthy food and decrease diet-related health disparities. Prior to UNC, she held research and project management positions at the University of California Nutrition Policy Institute, USDA Economic Research Service and the Harvard University Food Literacy Project.

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.