E. Anne Lown, DrPH, MPH
Associate Director
415-405-7573
alown@sfsu.edu

Research/Academic Interests
Dr. E. Anne Lown, received her doctorate from the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Her current work focuses on quantitative assessment of mental health problems and alcohol use among vulnerable populations including; childhood cancer survivors, women exposed to interpersonal violence including those applying for welfare benefits and Mexican American women; and women in the general population with a history of child abuse. She is a trained acupuncturist and worked in Yonkers, and the South Bronx providing acupuncture services for health and addiction problems. She earned an M.P.H. from Columbia University where she applied qualitative methods to study crack use, violence and HIV risk among women living in the Bronx and East Harlem, New York. Dr. Lown is also an Associate Research Scientist at the Alcohol Research Group in Berkeley, CA. Her current research interests include:

• Psychological and social adjustment among survivors of childhood cancer
• Alcohol consumption among survivors of childhood cancer
• Stress and adjustment among maternal caregivers of childhood cancer survivors
• Health and mental health status among poor and under-served populations including women applying for welfare benefits, homeless women and Mexican origin individuals
• Psychological and social consequences of interpersonal violence
• Health problems among drinkers

Ellen G. Levine, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Senior Scientist
415-405-7572
elevine@sfsu.edu

CV 

Dr. Levine is a medical (clinical) psychologist and epidemiologist. She has extensive training and experience in medical psychology/behavioral medicine, and has worked with cancer and other medical patients for over 20 years. She comes to San Francisco State University after serving for 12 years as the Director of Psychosocial Oncology research at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC). She is a co-PI on a grant studying quality of life, social support, distress and spirituality among breast cancer survivors from different ethnic communities. This study is part of a Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) grant from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, National Institutes of Health, to San Francisco State University. While at CPMC she co-designed (as co-PI) and served as the Research Director of the Breast Cancer Personal Support and Lifestyle Intervention Trial, a clinical trial of two types of psychosocial interventions for women with breast cancer, funded by the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program. In 1997 Dr. Levine served as the Research PI on the study entitled: Efficacy of a Retreat for Low Income Women with Breast Cancer. The California Breast Cancer Research Program funded this study as well as another retreat for African-American women with breast cancer that was held in August 2006. She also was a PI on a study examining stress and coping among adolescents whose mothers have breast cancer (also funded by CBCRP), as well as a study teaching loving compassionate intention to partners of breast cancer patients and examining the results of the practice on both psychological and physiological measures. This latter project was funded by the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love at Case Western University. Current projects include a longitudinal follow-up of women who participated in the Breast Cancer Personal Support and Lifestyle Intervention and a pilot of an 8- week exercise, nutrition, and spirituality intervention for African-American women with breast cancer.

Mariana Leal Ferreira, Ph.D. Outreach Coordinator 415-405-2467 marianaf@sfsu.edu

CV  Indigenous Peoples and Diabetes, Community Empowerment and Wellness, Carolina Academic Press 2005 Chapter 3, Chapter 14, Chapter 18

Dr. Ferreira is a Brazilian anthropologist specializing in the social causes of illness, including diabetes mellitus and cancer. She is particularly interested in a physiology of oppression that connects Indigenous Peoples worldwide to diabetes, social inequality, and colonial trauma. Mariana Ferreira teaches Anthropology at San Francisco State University, in California, and currently directs the Global Peace, Human Rights and Justice Studies Program at SFSU. Her latest health-related projects are: 1) LOVE OUR CHILDREN! Center of Excellence for Indigenous Youth in Northern California – A community-based participatory research project between United Indian Health Services (UIHS) in northern California and the Public Research Institute (PRI) at SFSU, aimed at preventing and reducing health disparities among children of the Yurok, Wiyot, Tolowa, Wylacki, Hupa, Smith River, and Mattole nations; 2) INDIGENOUS CHILDREN AND MENTAL HEALTH. Genocide, Apocalypse, and Community Empowerment – A transnational human rights-based program geared towards improving the health of Guarani children in South America, who are at very high risk for mental illnesses; 3) SEEDS FOR PEACE. Youth Empowerment and Human Rights in the San Francisco Bay Area – A youth-led project aimed at training students and community activists to engage in ‘mapping the neighborhood’ workshops promoting peace, anti-racism, and critical thinking; and 4) REDUCE CANCER DISPARITIES --A SFSU/UCSF collaborative dedicated to eliminating health disparities in ethnic minorities in northern California. Mariana Ferreira is the Outreach Coordinator for the REDUCE project, working on a needs assessment for community health centers in San Francisco, and planning a multiethnic patient navigation resource center. Ferreira’s publications include books, literary and scholarly articles, some written specifically for Indigenous schools and a broader non-academic audience on topics including the anthropology of education; Indigenous Peoples and diabetes; the mathematics of peace and solidarity; poverty and scarcity on Indigenous territories; Indigenous children, human rights, and environmental justice.