Shan-Estelle Brown, Ph.D. is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Global Health Program at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. Previously, she was Postdoctoral Research Associate in the AIDS Program at Yale School of Medicine. She is a mixed-methods medical anthropologist with training in qualitative research and pedagogy on writing. She is the author of Writing in Anthropology: A Brief Guide (Oxford University Press). She is a current member of the American Anthropological Association Executive Board in an Undesignated Seat. She is a Fellow with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program. Her research interests include conducting community-engaged research, improving patient-centered outcomes with medical technologies, understanding patients’ perceptions of risk and well-being, and identifying structural facilitators and barriers to health care access and retention in care.
Danya Fast is a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC), where she co-leads UBC’s Youth Overdose Prevention Research Excellence Cluster. Her research traces young people’s drug use, care, and institutional trajectories in the context of successive waves of public health emergency, including ongoing housing and overdose crises. She uses applied and community-based participatory methods to create research in partnership with young people to drive change. Danya is the author of the book The Best Place: Addiction, Intervention, and Living and Dying Young in Vancouver and producer of the award-winning Living Onshort film series.
Christian Wells (BA, Oberlin College; MA, Ph.D., Arizona State University) is the Kosove Distinguished Graduate Teaching and Service Professor in the Department of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Brownfields Research & Redevelopment at the University of South Florida, where he has served as the Founding Director of the Office of Sustainability and Deputy Director of the School of Global Sustainability. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an interdisciplinary research leader with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Past President of the Florida Brownfields Association—the state’s largest nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to brownfields redevelopment and environmental justice. Dr. Wells is an applied environmental anthropologist with a diverse portfolio of research projects aimed at improving human and environmental health outcomes of re/development efforts in underserved communities. With over $30 million in support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and other organizations, he has studied brownfields challenges, environmental justice organizing, community engagement, and equitable development. He is the recipient of the Wesley W. Horner Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for his research on water quality inequity and the Black Bear Award from the Sierra Club in recognition of outstanding dedication to sustainability and the environment.
Sarah Combs (BS, Univ Northern Colorado; DBA, Univ South Florida) is Executive Director and CEO of the University Area CDC, a 501(c)(3) public/private partnership whose mission is the redevelopment and sustainability of the at-risk areas surrounding the University of South Florida. The University Area CDC heads a coalition of over 200 area businesses, non-profits, and government agencies that work together on a variety of children’s programs, education support, family enrichment, public safety, health services, workforce development, affordable housing, and community-wide volunteer projects in the broader University Area Community. As CEO of the University Area CDC for nearly 15 years, Dr. Combs has spearheaded transformative initiatives, securing over $120 million in investments to enhance the well-being of Florida communities. Dr. Combs is known for her ability to build innovative capital stacks that fund impactful developments and programs. Her collaborative leadership style and passion for advocacy drive her commitment to uplifting children, families, and diverse communities, ensuring lasting and meaningful change. Dr. Combs was recently recognized as the Tampa Bay Business & Wealth ‘Women Who Win’ and Tampa Bay Business Journal’s Businesswomen of the Year; received the BIMTECH – Dr. G.D. Sardana Young Scholar Award; and awarded the University of South Florida College of Public Health “Florida Outstanding Women in Public Health.”
