CV

 

EDUCATION­­­­                                                                                                                           

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill                        2017                           

Master of Public Health (MPH), Health Behavior from Gillings School of Global Public Health

US Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship for Japanese

Coursework in Qualitative Methods and Analysis, Biostatistics and Linear Regression, Public Health Informatics, Theoretical Foundations of Behavior, Planning and Evaluation of Public Health Interventions, Research Methods, Epidemiology, Social Entrepreneurship, and Feminism Informatics.

Appalachian State University                                                 2006

Bachelor of Science, Communication/Electronic Media, graduated Magna Cum Laude

Year of study abroad at Kansai Gaidai University, Hirakata City, Japan

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE                                                                                     

Qualitative Research Consultant                                            2016

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health                   Hanoi, Vietnam                             

  • Planned and helped write formative research proposal for successful project funding.
  • Assisted in creation of qualitative observation and interview guides for study team.
  • Created and facilitated qualitative research training for study ethnographers. All communications were translated from English to Vietnamese.
  • Worked with study staff to create community partnerships and connections for future HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN 083) research study activities.
  • Assisted study team in creation of qualitative codebook and coding interview transcripts. 

Project Coordinator                                                                 2012 – 2015

Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases                 Chapel Hill, NC

  • Project Coordinator on two HIV and technology studies, Epic Allies-a health care management and adherence application (app) for newly diagnosed youth, and Tough Talks-a virtual reality (VR) program for HIV+ individuals to build sexual health communication and disclosure skills.
  • Managed an R01-funded statewide RCT for 474 young gay and bisexual Black men and transgender women to support HIV education, safer sex practices, and, for those who are HIV positive, medication adherence support via a website built by iterative participant feedback. Responsibilities included creating study protocol and questionnaires, devising and implementing innovative recruitment and engagement strategies with study team, quality control of study   data, and communication of study data to study team and vested stakeholders.
  • Created, updated, and maintained all study documents, including standard operating procedures, data collection tools, informed consent forms, and IRB applications.
  • Supervised and supported interns, graduate research assistants, and a core research team.
  • Facilitated participant focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and conducted usability sessions.

Research Specialist                                                                2011 – 2012

Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases                 Chapel Hill, NC

  • Assisted in design of a culturally competent HIV intervention for young black gay and bisexual men and transgender women based on iterative feedback from target population that utilized mobile and online technology to provide HIV education, link to local and national resources, and medication adherence support for positive youth.
  • Created, edited, and managed study documents including: qualitative evaluation tools such as individual in-depth interview guides and focus group guides, study protocols, study consent forms, etc. Wrote and managed all IRB application documents.
  • Supervised study team and trained research assistants in data collection methods and study protocols.

PROJECTS                                                                                                               

Graduate Consultant                                                              2016-2017

Alexander YMCA & Southeast Raleigh Promise Initiative      Raleigh, NC

  • Utilized a community-based participatory research model to partner with youth and co-create an engagement process focused on centering and uplifting youth experiences, providing a critical voice in the creation of a new YMCA facility. The YMCA will serve a six census tract area of Southeast Raleigh that, based on youth feedback, will feature quality wellness facilities, a K-8 school, safe and affordable housing for families, access to healthy food, and accessible spaces for recreation and play.
  • Created the foundation for a youth advisory committee to take the recommendations from the group and implement a mental health ally program and develop horizontal leadership  opportunities within local community organizations to foster more engaged youth leaders.

Health Consultant                                                                   2016-present

Trans Health in the Triangle Initiative                                   Durham, NC

  • Led a community-based participatory research project and recruited three other UNC School of Public Health graduate students and four transgender community members to look at access and systemic barriers to care for transgender individuals in the Triangle.
  • Organized and facilitated a community workshop focused on transgender and gender non-conforming health with over 70 medical professionals, social workers, students, and community members present. Facilitated a breakout session with 20 individuals to determine next steps and action items for further training of local medical providers. From this workshop, 14 community groups have formed to tackle the ongoing issue of transgender health equity from a multi-faceted and community-led approach. Created a network database and strategic communication platform for further connections and communications among workshop participants.
  • Applied and received funding from UNC Provost Committee for LGBTQ Affairs as well as in-kind donations from Duke University and local businesses that supported space, supplies, and food to completely fund the community workshop and make it free for all.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS                                                                                               

PRESENTATIONS

Riggins C, Pike E, Bahorski S, McGirt C, McLendon C, Jackson M, Lightfoot A. PICTURE YES!: Amplifying the voices and experiences of youth to guide a new vision for a community in Raleigh, North Carolina. Roundtable Presentation, APHA 2017, November 4-8, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. https://www.apha.org/annualmeeting

Pike E. Gender identity//Gender expression. American Dance Festival 2017 Summer programming. June 2017, Durham, North Carolina.

Pike E. Beyond Barriers: A Photovoice Project on Transgender Healthcare Access. Oral        presentation, LGBTQ Research Symposium 2017, May 25-26, Illinois, USA. http://lgbtresearch.weebly.com/.

Pike E, Davis D, Lin R, Bartlett R, Cragg H. Trans Health in the Triangle. March 4, 2017. Durham, North Carolina.

Pike E. Tough Talks: a virtual reality disclosure intervention for HIV+ YMSM. Oral presentation, YTH Live 2015, April 26-28, San Francisco, California, USA. http://yth.org/ythlive/about/.

Soni K, Pike E. Online, Digital and Anonymous:  Transformative Storytelling Led by HIV+ and HIV- YBMSM/TW. Oral presentation, YTH Live 2015, April 26-28, San Francisco, California, USA. http://yth.org/ythlive/about/.

Pike E.  Level Up!: Using gamification to spark competition, collaboration, and community in online interventions. Oral presentation, YTH Live 2014, April 6-8, San Francisco, California, USA. http://yth.org/ythlive/about/.

PAPERS

Hightow-Weidman LB, Muessig KE, Pike EC, LeGrand S, Baltierra N, Rucker AJ, Wilson P. HealthMpowerment.org: Building Community Through a Mobile-Optimized, Online Health Promotion Intervention. Health Educ Behav. 2015 Jan 14. PMID: 25588932.

Muessig K, Baltierra N, Pike E, LeGrand S, Hightow-Weidman L. Achieving HIV risk reduction through HealthMpowerment.org, a user-driven eHealth intervention for young Black men who have sex with men and transgender women who have sex with men. Digital Culture & Education. 15 Nov 2014; 6:3, 164-182.

LeGrand S, Muessig K, Pike E, Baltierra N, Hightow-Weidman L. If you build it will they come? Addressing social isolation within a technology-based HIV intervention for young black men who have sex with men. AIDS Care. 10 Feb 2014; 1-7 PMID: 24617609.

SKILLS PROFILE                                                                                                             

Adept at engaging, advocating, and collaborating with diverse communities especially LGBTQ youth // Experience in Program Development and Intervention Design // Social Media Outreach and Recruiting (Facebook, Twitter, Grindr, etc.) for Public Health Research // Graphic Design and Video Editing with Adobe Creative Suite // Microsoft Office Suite // Research (PubMed, RefWorks, EndNote, Mendeley, etc.) // Qualitative research: recruitment, interviewing, research design, IRB, analysis (NVivo, Dedoose), writing, etc. // Final Cut Pro // Qualtrics Survey Software // Motivational Interviewing // HIV counselor trained with risk reduction // OraQuick certified // Freirean facilitation theory and practice trained // Notary public.

RECENT VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE                                                                           

Durham County Community Health Assessment                    2017

The State of North Carolina requires that all Local Health Departments submit a comprehensive Community Health Assessment at least once every four years. Assisted in compiling and writing the inaugural chapter on LGBTQ health.

Equity Coalition                                                                       2015 – present

Health behavior graduate and doctoral students building student power to train faculty on equity-related topics, practicing a culture of inclusion and fostering deeper understanding of the diversity of student backgrounds, and utilizing a historically-based curriculum to teach about the causes of health inequity and how to develop structural interventions and policies to address them.

LGBTQ Center of Durham                                                       2016 – present

Front desk and community liaison.

UNC LGBTQ Health Disparities Research Collaborative        2016 – present

Graduate students and faculty members engaging in critical conversations related to issues of LGBTQ health. Aimed at sharing ongoing research, networking, and increasing advocacy efforts on campus.

UNC Student Health Action Coalition (SHAC)                         2015 – 2016

HIV counselor providing basic HIV education, sexual risk reduction strategies, and OraQuick testing.

UNC Minority Health Conference                                           2015 – 2016

The largest and longest-running student-led health conference in the nation with over 500 people      attending each year. Assisted with production of webcast and recruitment of partnerships.

QORDS Regional Committee                                                   2015-2106

Queer Oriented Radical Days of Summer empowers Southern queer youth to build community through music. QORDS is a vehicle for expressing gender and sexuality, and harbors an environment of self-discovery and social change.

Queer Youth Power Coalition                                                 2015

The NC Queer Youth Power Coalition is a youth-centered collaborative to strengthen the movement for queer issues in the South.