Award Winners

Dr. Beech is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) or Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) of three major NIH grants which include the HEALTH-RCMI, a center grant in the Research Centers in Minority Institutions consortium focusing on addictions and cancer prevention; AIM-AHEAD – a national consortium grant tasked to diversify the field of data science and the use of diverse data sets in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) studies designed to promote health equity; and the Obesity Health Disparities Program for Inclusion and Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health Related Research (OHD PRIDE) – a research training and mentoring program for individuals from backgrounds underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences. Her current research also leverages multi-sector partnerships to conduct late-stage translational research examining the impact of loneliness and social isolation on obesity-induced hypertension and cardiovascular disease reversal interventions using defined plant-based diets among African Americans. Dr. Beech has published over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and reports focusing on the full range of determinants impacting the cardiovascular health and well-being of African Americans. She is currently an associate editor of Ethnicity and Disease, is an editorial board member of Population Health Management, and lead editor of the first (2004) and second edition of Race and Research: Perspectives on Minority Participation in Health Studies (2024) published by the American Public Health Association.

Dr. Beech has been an active member of IAPHS since the early years of the organization when she was the Founding Dean of the John D. Bower School of Population Health at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (2016-2020). Her involvement in IAPHS deepened since joining the University of Houston (UH) as she established the first undergraduate chapter for IAPHS, served on the Awards Committee, and facilitated the establishment of the Humana Foundation Excellence in Health Equity Award. Dr. Beech has introduced faculty and students to IAPHS through institutional memberships as well as university fellowships sponsoring undergraduate and graduate student travel to annual IAPHS meetings. She earned a DrPH in Community Health Science from the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Public Health, received postdoctoral training in behavioral science at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, training in population health from the Thomas Jefferson College of Population Health and completed leadership training from the American Council on Education (ACE) and from the Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM). Dr. Beech was also recently elected as a Fellow of the American Heart Association.