The Heller School for Social Policy and Management
Doctor of Philosophy in Social Policy

Economic and Racial Equity Concentration

Ophelia Akoto

Ophelia Akoto

Ophelia Delali A. Akoto is a doctoral student in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration. Her research interests include the wage gap amongst minorities, systemic racial poverty, women entrepreneurship in Africa, and gender equity. She holds a Master of Public Service degree from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and an MBA from the University of Central Arkansas. Before joining the Heller School, Ophelia worked as a research and evaluation fellow at Vital Voices Global Partnerships in Washington DC, where she examined the impact of COVID-19 on the women within the Vital Voices network. She also worked as a researcher for the Newport Economic Development Committee, where she conducted extensive research on barriers preventing women from participating in the labor force in Newport, Arkansas. She hopes to better understand the intricacies of economic and racial equity research. She received her BA in Business from Henderson State University.
Habiba Braimah

Habiba Braimah

Habiba Braimah is a doctoral candidate in Social Policy at The Heller School at Brandeis University. She received her MA in Higher & Postsecondary Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and her BS in International Business & Marketing at SUNY Plattsburgh. Prior to her doctoral studies, Habiba served as an Academic Advisor for the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs at the City University of New York at LaGuardia Community College, where she worked closely with students from underserved communities, providing a range of financial, academic, and personal support. Her research interests include college access and exploring the recruitment and retention of faculty of color at predominantly white institutions.
Aaron Coleman

Aaron D. Camp

Aaron D. Camp is a PhD candidate in Social Policy at Brandeis University. He received an MSW from Boston University, of Boston, Mass., in 2012 and a BSW from Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C., in 2009. Prior to his doctoral studies, Aaron became a teacher in a title one public school located in Anacostia, Washington, D.C. As a program coordinator at the Boston Public Health Commission, he also lobbied Massachusetts legislatures to include enumeration efforts for anti-bullying and piloted health education programs within Boston Public High Schools. A recipient of the rigorous and renowned Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Scholars fellowship, Aaron’s research interests include education inequality, the culture of poverty, social movements, community network systems, syndemics and HIV/AIDS among Black men who have sex with men. His current work includes a study aiming to understand the role of religious doctrine on congregational health programming efforts.
Kaitie Chakoian-Lifvergren

Kaitie Chakoian-Lifvergren

Kaitie is a doctoral candidate studying Social Policy at the Heller School and Sociology through the College of Arts and Sciences. Her academic and professional work has centered on gender-based violence. She is currently a Graduate Research Assistant in the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity (formerly IASP) working on an action research project evaluating a new national training and technical assistance program for agencies that support survivors of human trafficking. She has also done research on the impact of sexual harassment on home health workers, the experience of female black college students who experience racial and sexual harassment, and Boston Builds Credit, a citywide campaign to improve financial outcomes for Boston residents. Kaitie earned an MEd from Northeastern University and a BA from Simmons College. Prior to the PhD program at Brandeis, Kaitie worked in the gender-based violence movement doing direct service, volunteer management, and community mobilization work. She is a Commissioner on the Upper Middlesex Regional Commission on the Status of Women. Future research will examine instances of gender-based violence and the myriad sites and causes of loss of agency, as well as survivor resistance, with a focus on the effects of trauma on embodiment.
Quentin Cox

Quentin Cox

Quentin Cox is a doctoral student in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration at the Heller School. He earned a Master of Divinity with a concentration in Religion and Economic Justice from Vanderbilt University Divinity School and a Bachelor of Science in Management from the United States Air Force Academy. Prior to joining the Heller School, Quentin served as the Project Director of Lilly Endowment’s Thriving Congregations Initiative at American Baptist College. His research interests focus on how historically Black institutions like the Black church and Historically Black Colleges and Universities can create systemic solutions for America’s racial wealth gap.

Ofa Liz Ejaife

Ofa Liz Ejaife

Ofa Liz Ejaife is a doctoral candidate in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She received an MA in Community Psychology and her BA in Psychology, both from the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML). Prior to her doctoral studies, Ofa worked as a program manager at Suffolk University Law School. She also previously worked as a program evaluator at the Center for Community Research and Engagement at UML, focused on various community-based projects, such as: advancing wellness in the workplace, reducing crime and recidivism, promoting cultural competence in healthcare delivery, amongst others. Currently, Ofa’s research explores occupational landings by race/ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, and social determinants of Black sexual minority women’s health and well-being.

Fernanda Escobar

Fernanda Escobar

Fernanda Escobar is a doctoral candidate in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration. Her research interests include American immigration, intergenerational mobility, and poverty and equality of opportunity in the United States. She holds a Master's degree in Public Policy with a concentration in poverty alleviation from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. Prior to her doctoral studies, Fernanda was a research associate at the Institute for Economic and Racial Equity (formerly IASP), where she did quantitative analysis of national data to help understand the impact of policies on the racial wealth gap. Her prior jobs at the Consulate of Ecuador in Boston and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition provided her with a better understanding of how sound and well-developed policies can tackle the economic and social disparities between the immigrant community and American society. In addition, Fernanda has worked with disadvantaged communities in her home country, Ecuador, where she interned at the World Bank and volunteered with several NGOs.
Anthony Grant

Anthony Grant

Anthony Grant is a PhD student in the Social Policy program with a concentration in Economic and Racial Equity in The Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He received a Master of Science in Social Justice from Fisk University and a Bachelor of Arts in History with a concentration in U.S. History from Syracuse University. Prior to Brandeis, Anthony served as the inaugural College and Career Coach at Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago, IL. He has worked in college admissions counseling for nearly 15 years leading recruitment, connecting students to higher education, and implementing social justice policies and practices. His research interests include what benefits musicians in the Black Church receive, how intraracial xenophobia manifests between Black ethnic groups, the relationships between organizational policies and practices and the impact they have on marginalized people, and social behavior related to COVID-19 and the long-term impact of COVID-19 on marginalized communities.

Zachary Hylton

Zachary Hylton is a doctoral student in the Economic and Racial Equity Concentration at the Heller School. He received a Master of Development Practice from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology Anthropology and Political Science from Saint Olaf College. Prior to his candidacy, Zachary worked in government administration coordinating strategic projects to transform systems in homelessness, public safety, budgeting, and more. His research interests focus on organizational development, racial equity, community engagement, and how institutions can evolve to define success through improvements in the wellbeing of their most harmed communities.
Jonathan Jacob

Jonathan Jacob

Jonathan Jacob is a doctoral student pursuing a joint degree in Sociology and Social Policy at the Heller School. His research interests include issues of labor, social inequality, and culture. Jacob’s current research examines the inverse relationship between the usefulness of certain jobs and their pay in modern capitalist societies, and focuses on developing a metric to assess the social value of work. Prior to joining the Heller School, Jacob worked as a high school educator in Los Angeles County. He holds an MA in social sciences from The University of Chicago and a BA in business from Brandeis University.
Kaili Mauricio

Kaili Mauricio

Kaili Mauricio is a PhD candidate concentrating in Economic and Racial Equity at the Heller School. He received an MA in Economics from the New School and a BA in economics and history from Tufts University. His research interests include understanding the health impacts of financial stress, national trends on aging, and equity surrounding the use of personal debt. In addition to his role at the Lurie Institute, Kaili also serves as the quantitative methods student liaison for PhD students at Heller. Prior to the PhD program, Kaili worked for ten years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as a Community Development Policy Analyst and a Small Bank Risk Analyst.
Janelle Ridley

Janelle Ridley

Janelle Ridley is a doctoral student in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration. Ridley has dedicated her career to serving youth in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. She has been a social worker, a teacher, and the founder of Transition HOPE, a program designed to give system-involved youth purpose, pathways, and encouragement.

After a 16-year career serving youth, she is excited to tackle research critically with a goal of finding the next direction for her work and youth services in general. She hopes her time in the doctoral program will “… allow me to think about the direction for HOPE and for the work moving forward. And joining the staff at Heller is exciting because I get to share what I’ve learned over the past 16 years with other young people… sharing the positives, but also the negatives to this work – the joys you get when you know you make an impact, and the burden you carry when you see that these systems are so dysfunctional.”  Ridley received her undergraduate degree from Lasell College.

Emily Su Ni Thoman

Emily Su Ni Thoman

Emily Su Ni Thoman is a Phd candidate in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration at the Heller School at Brandeis University. She received her MS in Criminal Justice with a sub-concentration in Strategic Management and her BA in Political Science and History with a minor in Education, both from Boston University. Prior to her doctoral studies, Emily worked as a college advisor with College Advising Corps at Charlestown High School in Charlestown, MA. Her primary research interests focus on the impact of the Model Minority Myth on Asian subgroups within the political, education, and criminal justice systems, with a focus on the way policy in all three arenas has impeded racial equity and solidarity in America. 
Vilma Uribe

Vilma Uribe

Vilma Uribe is a PhD student in the Economic and Racial Equity concentration at The Heller School at Brandeis University. She received an MA in Conflict Resolution and Coexistence from The Heller School at Brandeis University and a BA in Gender, Sexuality, and Feminist Studies and Comparative American Studies from Oberlin College. Vilma currently serves as Director of Policy and Systems Advocacy at REACH Beyond Domestic Violence, where works to address systemic and legislative barriers and to expand the ecosystem of support for survivors of domestic violence. Vilma’s research focus is on policy-based approaches to support the collective economic power of survivors of violence and people of color.