Well Being Trust is pleased to welcome two executive fellows: Miriam Pearsall, MPH, and Roxana Rodriguez, MPH.
Miriam and Roxana joined Well Being Trust on July 12. Both fellows will be involved in the development, preparation, and implementation of grant-funded projects that align with Well Being Trust’s organizational mission as well as working to advance mental health and substance use disorder policy.
Miriam Pearsall, MPH
Prior to joining Well Being Trust, Miriam worked as an intern with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and in the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program. She also worked as a graduate assistant at the Southeast Mental Health Technology Transfer Center where she conducted research on promising practices in mental health services in the Southeast. During her time as a a legal assistant in the Arkansas Governor’s Office, Miriam conducted research on various public health topics including: the impact of state‐level marijuana legalization, stigma associated with mental illness, and the intersection of public health and the criminal justice system.
She has also led several mental health-related task force and initiatives including serving as president of the Emory Mental Health Alliance. In addition, Miriam served as the team lead for the well-being arm of the CROWN COVID-19 Student Task Force at Emory, and she was a member of the Arkansas Behavioral Health Planning and Advisory Council from 2017 to 2019.
Roxana Rodriguez, MPH
Before joining Well Being Trust, Roxana facilitated a culturally responsive evaluation at Compass Family Services as a fellow for the American Evaluation Association’s Graduate Education Diversity Internship. Her interest focuses on improving adverse health outcomes that are rooted in systems of oppression and inequality through the lenses of intersectionality, social justice, and public health.
She has conducted research assistance, provided project planning, interviewed key informants, organized community convenings, and co-authored reports for a variety of health justice and equity projects nationally. Roxana recently co-authored “Food Procurement & Equitable Community Development in School Lunches” published in the spring 2021 issue of the Berkeley Public Policy Journal. Just as valuable to her understanding of well-being, are her experiences as an urban, low-income, first-generation scholar from an immigrant household.
Learn more about Miriam, Roxana and the Well Being Trust team here.
