Fathima Wakeel, PhD, MPH, joined the faculty in the College of Health at Lehigh University as a tenure-track Associate Professor as of January 2020!
Similar to what she previously did at Ferris State University, Dr. Wakeel will be helping to develop a brand new College of Health at Lehigh, building its Population Health infrastructure and presence from the ground up. Among other things, this entails curriculum development, assistance with the faculty search process, and establishing both internal and external partnerships locally, nationally and globally.
Dr. Wakeel shares: “In terms of research, I will be returning to my Maternal and Child Health research roots here [at Lehigh] and plan to continue examining and measuring the protective factors, or personal capital resources, that women and families can garner to have healthy outcomes over the life course, specifically healthy pregnancy and obstetric outcomes. In addition to secondary analyses of population-based data, I plan to conduct community participatory research alongside undergraduate and graduate students to explore and validate culturally-relevant measures of personal capital as well as precursors to maternal personal capital, such as childhood and family resilience.”
Part of Dr. Wakeel’s training in Maternal and Child Health came during her postdoctoral fellowship with the Health Disparities Research Scholar Program in the Department of OB/GYN in the UW School of Medicine and Public Health. She also received a 2013 UW ICTR AHEAD pilot grant for her project ‘Exploration of Culturally-Relevant Components of Personal Capital’ focusing on the protective internal and social resources that may help women cope with or reduce their exposure to stress.
Congratulations & well done, Fathima!!
Health Equity Leadership Institute 