Panel Discussion
Moderator
Dr. O’dell Moreno Owens retired as the president, chief executive officer and a board member of Interact for Health and InterAct for Change in March 2021. Dr. Owens has a MD in obstetrics and gynecology, master’s degree of public health and a residency in obstetrics and gynecology from Yale University Medical School. He completed a Fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Owens has served as the Hamilton County Coroner, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College President and Interim Health Commissioner of the Cincinnati Health Department. In 1982, Owens established an in-vitro fertilization program at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. He achieved Cincinnati’s first successful conception and delivery as well as the first pregnancy from a frozen embryo.
Dr. Ebony Ruhland is an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Ruhland received her Ph.D. from the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Her research focuses on how criminal justice policies and practices impact individuals, families, and communities. Through her research, Dr. Ruhland hopes to find ways to improve criminal justice and corrections policies to reduce mass incarceration, racial disparities, and collateral consequences while at the same time maintaining public safety.
Dr. Jeffrey Layne Blevins (Ph.D., Ohio University) is a Professor in the Journalism Department at the University of Cincinnati, where he also holds affiliate appointments in the Department of Political Science and The Cincinnati Project. His research
activities have employed data visualization methodologies to explore social justice and political networks on Twitter, as well as the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Blevins' recent work has been reported in the scholarly
journals, New Media & Society and Social Media + Society, as well as other venues. His book (with Dr. James Lee), Social Media, Social Justice and the Political Economy of Online Networks (University of Cincinnati Press) will be released in
November 2021.
Carissa Schutzman, Ph.D. is the Director of the University of Cincinnati Evaluation Services Center (UCESC) where she leads a team of nine highly qualified specialists with expertise in quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods evaluations. Through evaluation science, UCESC collaborates with community and academic partners to improve outcomes for individuals, programs, communities, and systems. Dr. Schutzman received her Ph.D. in Educational Policy and Evaluation in Higher Education from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Schutzman has extensive experience in implementing and evaluating education and workforce development programs, particularly programs that prioritize gender equity.