2026 MENTORING ROUNDTABLES
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2026
Mentoring Roundtables will be held at the Conference Hotel. Each table will be hosted by a Mentor with 8-10 registered Mentees to engage in an informal discussion. Lunch is included in the session. Each participant is required to pay a $25 fee to cover the cost of the lunch. Pre-registration is required to participate.
2026 MENTORS
Roundtable Topic: Tenure Track Successes During Times of Change
David F. Warner, PhD, is a social demographer and Professor of Sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He is chair of the UAB College of Arts & Sciences Faculty Affairs Committee and previously chaired the Department Tenure and Promotion Committee. Since 2023 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of Population Research and Policy Review. He has published in a wide range of both social and clinical science outlets on topics related to health, aging, and the life course. His current research examines how social and relationship contexts shape health and health care among older adults.
Gabe H. Miller is the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Sexual and Gender Health and an Associate Professor of Medical Sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. As a medical sociologist, his research interests include political and policy determinants of health, population health and intersectionality, sexual and gender minority (SGM) health, and racial health equity. Dr. Miller is an Associate Editor of Population Research and Policy Review and serves on the IAPHS Professional Development Committee and the 2026 Meeting Program Committee.
Roundtable Topic: Building a Funding Portfolio
Shannon Monnat is Director of the Center for Policy Research, the Lerner Chair in Public Health Promotion and Population Health, and Professor of Sociology in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Monnat is a demographer whose research examines trends and geographic differences in health and mortality, with a special interest in rural health and health disparities. She has been the PI or co-investigator on externally funded projects totaling over $12 million, including from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Justice, United States Department of Agriculture, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and others. She currently leads a NIDA-funded project to examine the effects of state’s COVID-19 mitigation policies on working-age adult psychological well-being, drug overdose, and suicide and co-leads an NIA-funded project on how state policies and county economic conditions have jointly contributed to the large and growing geographic disparities in midlife mortality, psychosocial wellbeing, and health behaviors in the U.S.
Roundtable Topic: Non-Academic Careers
Soojin Conover, Ph.D. (she/her) serves as the Humana Foundation’s Innovation Portfolio Strategy Principal. In her role, she leads the Foundation’s data and research strategy, including its research grants program, to ground its work in data-driven analysis and evidence-based research to address health equity issues in emotional health, nutrition, and food security. Soojin brings extensive experience in public health research and data analytics to guide informed decision making and promote health equity. Prior to joining the Humana Foundation, she held analytical roles at non-profit organizations. Soojin received her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Political Economy from the University of Texas at Dallas, where she specialized in health research and geographic information systems, and her master’s degree in International Educational Development from Boston University.
Shanise Owens
Dr. Shanise Owens is a health services researcher and licensed mental health clinician dedicated to advancing health equity and justice in public health. Her interdisciplinary work spans child and adolescent mental health, global mental health, and structural determinants of health with a particular focus on marginalized communities. Read more
Roundtable Topic: Getting support for policy-focused work and policy translation
Kathleen F. Carlson, MS, PhD, is the Founding Director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Gun Violence Prevention Research Center. Dr. Carlson is a Professor of Epidemiology at the OHSU-Portland State University School of Public Health, and a Core Investigator with the VA Portland Health Care System’s Health Services Research Center of Innovation called “CIVIC” (Center to Improve Veteran Involvement in Care). She completed her BS degree at Oregon State University, and her MS and PhD degrees at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, focused on injury and violence epidemiology. Dr. Carlson’s research examines the spectrum of injury and violence prevention, from the epidemiology of intentional and unintentional injuries to the rehabilitation of military Veterans with combat injuries and comorbid mental health disorders. Read more
Roundtable Topic: Navigating the Academic Job Market
Lillian Polanco-Roman, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist, Assistant Professor, and the director of the Mental Health Equity Lab at NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Applied Psychology. Her research examines the sociocultural context of mental health problems among youth, focusing on causes for racial disparities in youth suicide risk and trauma exposures. Her research aims to clarify the political and social determinants of suicide risk to promote mental well-being among racially/ethnically minoritized and immigrant young people. Prior to joining NYU, Dr. Polanco-Roman was an Assistant Professor in the Dept of Psychology at The New School. Her research has been funded by federal and private foundations. She completed a T32 Research Fellowship at the Dept of Psychiatry at Columbia University. Recently, she was a research fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Roundtable Topic: Communicating science to build credibility and trust
Jenn Dowd
Roundtable Topic: Navigating your PhD Program
To be Determined