Dr. Erika Thompson is a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Public Health and Director of Community Engagement in the Institute for Health Disparities at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. She received her MPH in epidemiology from the University of Florida and PhD in public health concentrating in community health from the University of South Florida. She is a community-engaged researcher who uses mixed methods for her work. She disseminates her research to academic audiences with 120 peer reviewed publications and with community audiences with the goal of translating research into practice. Dr. Thompson is an MPI with the Texas CEAL Consortium.