Dr. Joshi is Dean and a Distinguished University Professor of the School of Public Health of the University of Memphis. Dr. Joshi is an innovator, entrepreneur, educator, researcher, administrator, and mentor and brings with him diverse experience of working across 12 countries, engaging community-based organizations, academic and other institutions, government agencies, policy-makers and practitioners from diverse backgrounds. He combines data-driven innovative entrepreneurial creative approaches to advance excellence in public health education, and research, and practice that can have the greatest community impact. Dr. Joshi is a population health informatics researcher who combines his academic training in clinical medicine, public health, and informatics to design and develop human-centered, technology-enabled interventions to enhance population health outcomes across diverse community settings. He has extensive experience in utilizing community and hospital-based data to implement and evaluate informatics-enabled solutions to address social, economic, and health inequities of the 21st century. He has designed and developed, standalone and internet-enabled, multi-lingual, digital health interventions such as population health dashboards, consumer health informatics, m-health interventions, and population-based surveillance tools across multiple settings to improve population health outcomes. Dr. Joshi is a prolific researcher obtaining grants and contracts nearing $25million in his academic career and continues to be an active researcher despite being in an administrative role. Dr. Joshi successfully completed more than two dozen research projects in the areas of population health informatics across multiple countries including the US, India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Haiti, Egypt, and Brazil. Dr. Joshi emphasizes the role of higher education as a social economic agent of change towards building sustainable communities.

Dr. Diana Ruggiero is a Full Professor in the Department of World Languages and Literatures at the University of Memphis, where she has served since 2012, and co-chair of the engaged scholarship faculty network. Her teaching portfolio includes a variety of undergraduate and graduate specialized courses across the Department of World Languages and Literatures, as well as the Kemmons Wilson School of Hospitality and Resort Management and the Honors Forum. She teaches Spanish for the Hospitality Industry, Spanish for Healthcare, Interpreting and Translating in Healthcare, Spanish for Commerce, and Teaching, Researching, and Applied Languages for Specific Purposes, emphasizing the practical application of language skills in real-life situations and fostering Latinx Wellness. Dr. Ruggiero takes an interdisciplinary approach to language education, integrating aspects of language learning with professional, scientific, and humanities knowledge to offer a holistic educational experience. She is notably committed to community engagement, guiding her students through hands-on experiences that bridge academic learning with community service. Her significant contributions include the development of "Corazón y Mente: A Journey to Mental Wellness for Latinx Women," a free, accessible, Open Education Resource enhancing mental wellness understanding for the Latinx community. As the online coordinator and UM3D department aide for upper-division Spanish, Dr. Ruggiero is a cornerstone of the department's online educational offerings. Her pioneering work and ongoing innovation, becoming an instructional designer and completing the 2021 Institute for Emerging Leadership in Online Learning (IELOL) Global Program, have been crucial in expanding our reach to UM Global students. She passionately supports ASCEND's first goal of aggressively providing access and is deeply committed to accessibility. Her dedication was recognized with the 2023-24 Teach Access Faculty Grant, awarded to amplify students' understanding of accessibility and disabilities by advancing education in accessible technology design and development awareness. Through innovative teaching strategies and a "Heart in Mind" philosophy, Dr. Ruggiero prioritizes emotional intelligence and mental health awareness, ensuring her students are well-prepared for professional success and civic engagement. Her work enriches the academic realm and profoundly impacts local communities, working with local nonprofits such as Cazateatro, a bilingual theater company, and Latino Memphis, exemplifying her dedication to education and student empowerment in language education and community service. Dr. Ruggiero received a $29997 Cycle 3 OER Grant OER for a Healthcare Interpreting Course Redesign. The primary purpose of the OER Grant Project is to increase equity in access to quality, no/low-cost educational materials. The Project is designed to increase success rates and improve educational outcomes for traditionally underserved students, including, but not limited to, students of color, first-generation college students, and economically disadvantaged students. She is currently working with mental health and the Latinx community.

Beverly Tsacoyianis, an Associate Professor in the History Department, is a historian of the modern Middle East with interest in interdisciplinary studies of disability, migration, trauma, and gender. She wrote the 2022 CHOICE Academic Title Award-winning Disturbing Spirits: Mental Health, Trauma, and Treatment in Modern Syria and Lebanon published in June 2021 with the University of Notre Dame Press. She is currently co-editing a volume titled Disability History in the Modern Middle East, under contract with Bloomsbury. She teaches the World since 1945 class regularly, as well as courses on the global history of science, medicine, and technology, courses on Islamic history (with one from the ancient world until 1405, and one from 1405 CE to the current century), the Ottoman Empire, Modern Middle East, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. She is also the faculty advisor for the University of Memphis's Epsilon Nu chapter of the national History honors society, Phi Alpha Theta.

Marian Levy, DrPH, RD, FAND, is Associate Dean for Public Health Practice & Community Engagement and a Professor of Social & Behavioral Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Memphis. Dr. Levy received her doctorate in public health from UCLA. A Registered Dietitian and Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, she has spearheaded numerous initiatives to promote health equity, provide environmental support for healthy lifestyles, enhance academic equity, and support public health workforce development. Since 2005, she has served on NIH special emphasis review panels for the National Institute for Minority Health. She received the Ruby R. Wharton Outstanding Woman Award for Race Relations and has been recognized with teaching awards from the University of Memphis (Alumni Association Distinguished Teaching Award) and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2011 Outstanding Dietetic Educator). Dr. Levy has held several leadership posts, including President of the Tennessee Public Health Association. In 2017 she received the Doris Spain Distinguished Service Award from the Tennessee Public Health Association. She was named to the University of Memphis 2023 Class of PI Millionaires in recognition of attaining over $1 million as Principal Investigator on externally supported sponsored projects. Dr. Levy served on the Board of Editors of the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2013-2016) and currently serves on the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association and as a Site Visitor for the Council on Education for Public Health.

Gretchen Peterson is a Professor of Sociology and is currently serving as the Graduate Studies Coordinator for the Sociology Department at the University of Memphis. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in 2000. Prof. Peterson's primary research interests are in the areas of sociology of sports, social psychology, sociology of gender and the sociology of emotions. She is particularly interested in the intersection of those areas and her recent research has focused on adult recreational activities. She utilizes a variety of research methods in her studies including experiments, surveys, and ethnographic fieldwork. Prof. Peterson's research has been published in American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Sociology Compass, and the Handbook of the Sociology of Emotions.

Xinhua Yu, MD, PhD, MS, is an epidemiologist with additional training in medicine and statistics, and the coordinator of the epidemiology program. He is an expert in large health data analytics and health informatics. Dr. Yu's current research focuses on health disparities, epidemiology of aging, determinants of health care utilization and epidemiological methods. He is also interested in applying quantitative methods to examine public health diplomacy and assess public health policy impact across nations.