Samantha Smith is a research analyst at the UNLV School of Public Health's Nevada Institute for Children’s Research and Policy (NICRP), where she collaborates with various agencies and community partners to conduct research and coordinate projects aimed at addressing health disparities in Nevada.

Through her role at NICRP, Smith also serves as the program manager for the Nevada Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, which promotes lead-safe home environments for Nevada children. Additionally, Smith conducts research for the Nevada Minority Health and Equity Coalition, and she has co-led and coordinated the Nevada Vaccine Equity Collaborative since February 2021.

As part of her commitment to advancing health equity and community well-being, Smith is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Public Health, focused on global and environmental initiatives, at UNLV.

Imelda Reyes specializes in pediatric care, particularly in Latino communities. Her clinical research focuses on identifying and managing overweight and obesity in children, along with the parental perception of weight and health of children. She has also embarked on research projects that examine teaching, language, and rural health.

Reyes has served on national boards and teaches nursing students about social determinants of health and culturally-sensitive primary care pediatrics. She is dual-certified as a family and pediatric nurse practitioner. Reyes is also a fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and previously served as a Medical Service Corps officer in the U.S. Navy.

Candace Burton is an expert on stress and trauma, particularly in interpersonal relationships within the context of health disparities. She is board-certified in advanced forensic nursing, and has conducted research funded by organizations including the UCI Initiative to End Family Violence. 

Her recent projects have examined stress-related blood and breath proteins in women affected by intimate partner violence, as well as the traumatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nursing workforce. She has also worked to develop strategies for providing trauma-informed care to vulnerable populations, including immigrant and LGBTQ patients.

Burton is a member of organizations such as the Nursing Network on Violence Against Women, and the International Association of Forensic Nurses. She is a member of the Journal of Forensic Nursing editorial board and an associate editor with Clinical Nursing Research.

Kara A. Christensen Pacella, an assistant professor in UNLV's Department of Psychology, is an expert in eating disorders. Her research focuses on understanding how we can improve eating disorder treatments by addressing potentially modifiable factors such as sleep, relationship dynamics, and emotion dysregulation.

Another component of her research is developing mobile health applications to meet the quickly rising need for accessible eating disorder treatments. Christensen Pacella is the co-developer of two mobile apps to treat eating disorders that are currently being tested in university students and adolescents. She has also conducted research examining how specific types of social media content (e.g., fitspiration, thinspiration) may be associated with disordered eating behaviors in young women.

Christensen Pacella is a licensed psychologist and has worked in outpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs for
adolescents and adults with eating disorders. She additionally is trained in providing evidence-based treatments for disorders that commonly co-occur with eating disorders, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders.

Gabriela Buccini is a UNLV School of Public Health professor who researches maternal and child health and nutrition, including breastfeeding and infant feeding, food insecurity, and early childhood development inequities. She is certified as a lactation consultant (IBCLC) by the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners.

An epidemiologist and speech pathologist by training, Buccini's work focuses on helping new mothers overcome challenges. She has worked in multiple countries to understand different breastfeeding environments, learn how culture can affect policymaking processes, and examine how maternal/child health nutrition education and counseling programs can be better implemented and sustainable over time.

Buccini's research has explored topics including the relationship between pacifiers and exclusive breastfeeding, the influence of maternity leave on breastfeeding, ultra-processed food consumption among infants, childhood obesity, and pathways for scaling up evidence-based early childhood and nutrition programs in low-income settings and vulnerable populations. Her findings have been published in Annals of the New York Academy of Science, International Breastfeeding Journal, Maternal and Child Nutrition, and Journal of Poverty.

Alissa Cooley is the managing attorney for the UNLV Immigration Clinic, a Boyd School of Law community resource that provides free assistance with DACA renewals, deportations, unaccompanied children, and related issues.

After graduating cum laude from UNLV's law school in 2014, Cooley became one of the first two justice AmeriCorps fellows at the Thomas & Mack Legal Clinic, effectively jumpstarting the growth of the UNLV Immigration Clinic as a legal aid provider. She spent two years representing and securing asylum, special immigrant juvenile visas, and residency for more than 100 unaccompanied children and teens in immigration court proceedings. 

From 2016 to 2021, Cooley went into private practice, primarily focusing on immigration cases including family-based petitions, Violence Against Women Act, non-immigrant U and T visas, Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS), residency, naturalization, removal defense, and asylum. The native Nevadan — who also assisted clients with appeals, record sealing, and family law — has helped shape state law regarding SIJS in two published Nevada appellate decisions.  

After co-teaching UNLV’s Policing and Protest Clinic in 2021, Cooley returned to Boyd full-time to lead the Immigration Clinic's Community Advocacy Office in downtown Las Vegas.

She is a member of the Lt. Governor’s Keep Nevada Working Task Force. Cooley additionally volunteers with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada, Nevada Legal Services, City of Las Vegas, Somos Votantes, PLAN, Asian Community Development Council, and Al Otro Lado's Border Rights Project.

Trained as a midwife and family nurse practitioner, UNLV School of Nursing professor Jennifer Vanderlaan has an extensive national and international research background in maternal health — examining the topic from a health systems perspective and integrating clinical outcomes, health economics, and health policy to identify ways to improve access to quality maternal care.

Vanderlaan joined UNLV's faculty in 2019 and teaches in the graduate program. During the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, she embarked on a study tracking barriers to safe maternity care as well as midwifery practice changes aimed at reducing transmission risk. In spring 2022, she was named one of three researchers to lead a new Johnson & Johnson-sponsored workforce study through the American Colleges of Nurse-Midwives focused on increasing accessibility and equity in the profession. Other research projects have explored the use of hydrotherapy for pain management during labor and delivery, regionalization of maternal care, and the effects of childbirth education.

In addition to research, Vanderlaan in entrenched in advocacy work. She serves as chair of the Lamaze International Research Workgroup, striving for increased access to childbirth education. She is also a member of the American College of Nurse-Midwives' workforce committee, which focuses on health policy and health resources. 

Prior to UNLV, Vanderlaan provided continuing education for midwives in sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. She was recognized as an emerging leader by the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nurses in 2015; served as a Centers for Disease Control Millennial Health Leaders’ Summit delegate in 2016; and earned the W. Newton Long Award for the advancement of midwifery in 2021.

Victoria Sullivan is a visiting associate professor in UNLV’s School of Dental Medicine with expertise in treating children who experience stress in clinical settings. 

Sullivan’s research interests include exploring areas of behavioral management to treat children with special needs and anxiety, as well as the use of lasers in pediatric dentistry. At UNLV, Sullivan teaches pre-clinical pediatric dentistry principles and techniques, and pediatric clinic.

A board-certified pediatric dentist, Sullivan has been actively practicing dentistry since 1996. She has had long-term affiliations with institutions including Stanford University Hospital and Kaiser Permanente, and worked with collaborative care teams focused on hematology-oncology, cleft palate, and pediatric long-term care.

Sullivan is a member of several dental associations. They include the American Dental Association and its clinical evaluation and dental licensure committees, as well as the American Association of Pediatric Dentistry and several state and local dental societies.