In partnership with The Implementation Research Institute, The Brandeis-Harvard SPIRE Center is excited to announce our current fellows:
2024-26 Fellow
Berkeley Franz, PhD
Dr. Franz is an associate professor of Community-based Health at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. After receiving her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Miami, she completed her postdoctoral training in Health Policy at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center for Innovation in Pediatric Practice.
Dr. Franz is a medical sociologist and health services researcher whose research and teaching focus on health disparities, population health, and substance use. Her research program considers how stigma and racial resentment in the U.S. serves as a fundamental barrier to health equity and population health improvement. She currently leads two NIH/NIDA-funded studies focused on increasing access to opioid use disorder services in rural and urban underserved communities.
2023-25 Fellow
Sachini Bandara, PhD
Dr. Bandara is an assistant professor in the Mental Health and Health Policy and Management Departments at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health.
Dr. Bandara’s research focuses on the evaluation of mental health and substance use policies. Her interests include examining the impacts of financing and delivery system reforms on persons with mental illness and substance use disorders, policies affecting individuals involved in the carceral system, and policy responses to the U.S. overdose crisis. Dr. Bandara also conducts research to identify communication strategies that can reduce public stigma and improve support for public health policies.
