People

Dr. Monique Starks is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the Duke University School of Medicine. Although she wanted to be a doctor from the time she was very young, it wasn’t until her own father had a heart attack in his 30’s that she knew she wanted to be a heart specialist. As a general cardiologist at Duke, she cares for patients with a wide range of heart issues including palpitations, abnormalities, hypertension and heart attacks.She is also trained as a health services researcher and resuscitation scientist. Her research is focused on observational research and the design and testing of novel interventions to improve both in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) and out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Her research has helped to highlight geographical and racial disparities in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training, use of bystander CPR and defibrillation, and outcomes of OHCA.

Todd Korthuis, MD, MPH, is Professor of Medicine and Head of Addiction Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University. His research focuses on integration of addiction prevention and treatment interventions in diverse settings. He serves as Co-Principal Investigator for PEER-Heart study that tests rural community-based peer screening and connection to tele-cardiology for people who use methamphetamine. He serves as Principal Investigator for the Oregon HOPE and Peer-CM studies that test peer outreach and linkage to care interventions for people who use drugs in rural communities, and as Co-Principal Investigator of the Western States Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) that conducts multi-site trials of emerging treatments for methamphetamine, cocaine, and opioid use disorders. Honors include the 2008 Lawrence S. Linn Award for research that improves the lives of people living with HIV and Fulbright Senior Scholar awards to Vietnam (2012) and Spain (2022).

Hi! My name is McCall Miller. I am based in Louisville, KY and graduated with a BA from Centre College in May 2023. I am a second-year fellow on the INSTEP project and have learned a great deal over the past year. I have enjoyed getting to know people all around the country (and world!), visiting Whiteriver, AZ, and learning about community-based participatory research. I look forward to all that is to come in my second year of fellowship!

Sarah de Loizaga is a faculty member in the Heart Institute at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital within the UC Department of Pediatrics. She practices general, outpatient cardiology through the outreach clinics in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky.  Her research seeks to understand and address health disparities and advance equitable access to care and outcomes for children with congenital and acquired heart disease in the United States and around the world.

Dr. de Loizaga attended medical school at University of Connecticut and completed her Pediatric Residency and Pediatric Cardiology Fellowship training at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. She also completed a 2-year American Heart Association Research Fellowship through the AHA funded research Center, “Active Case Detection and Decentralized Dynamic Registry to Improve the Uptake of Rheumatic Heart Disease Secondary Prevention.”

Dr. Russell Baker, PhD, DAT, AT, is an Associate Professor at the University of Idaho (UI) in the Idaho WWAMI Medical Education Program, where he also serves as the Associate Director of Medical Research and the Director of the Idaho Office of Underserved and Rural Medical Research (IOURMR). His work with IOURMR is focused on improving the health of Idaho’s underserved and rural communities through the purposeful integration of medical education, research, and service to advance clinical practice and patient care in Idaho. Dr. Baker also works with PhD students, as well as the Doctor of Athletic Training and Master of Science in Athletic Training programs, as an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Movement Sciences at UI.

Dr. Baker has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications, in research areas such as self-report instrument development and psychometric evaluation, assessment of professional and post-professional education/training in health professions, and patient outcomes research. He earned Bachelor of Science (Human Science) and Master of Science (Sport Management) degrees from Florida State University, as well as a Master of Science (Kinesiology) degree from California State University-Fullerton. He completed his doctoral training at the University of Idaho, where he earned Doctor of Athletic Training and Doctor of Philosophy (Education with an emphasis in Sport Psychology) degrees. Dr. Baker was a member of the faculty at California Baptist University for 6 years prior to joining the University of Idaho in May 2013.