The Team
Nancy Mock, DrPH – Associate Professor
Professor Nancy Mock has a distinguished career in public health, specializing in food security, humanitarian response, and sustainable development spanning nearly 40 years. Her work focuses on the intersection of health, nutrition, and resilience in vulnerable populations, with an emphasis on evidence-based interventions and policy frameworks to address global food insecurity and to improve disaster resilience in humanitarian and development contexts. Dr. Mock has made significant contributions to the academic and operational understanding of disaster risk reduction, social safety nets, and community-based strategies for building resilience. She has been involved in major innovative initiatives in early warning, monitoring, and evaluation, including the Famine and Early Warning System (FEWSNET) and the Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART). Dr. Mock has led numerous grants and cooperative agreements aimed at fostering sustainable food systems and enhancing livelihood opportunities for at-risk communities.
Nathan Morrow, PhD – Associate Professor
Nathan Morrow has over two decades of experience leading complex evaluations in humanitarian, development, and policy contexts with a particular emphasis on food systems, food security, emergency preparedness, and child and youth well-being. His current research utilizes geospatial tools to identify policy-relevant actions for environmental justice, human and planetary well-being, and food system resilience. The most recent Global Environment Facility (GEF-7) strategy was informed by a geospatial analysis of armed conflict and environmental security led by Dr. Morrow. Dr. Morrow advanced the practice of assumption-aware evaluation in complex systems, with a focus on participatory methods and agency for youth-centered programming in development and fragile settings. He regularly partners with international organizations and cooperations to support research, evidence-based learning, policy, procedure, and capacity building in development and fragile settings.
Michelle Lacey, PhD – Professor
Michelle Lacey is an Professor in Mathematics who leads research on the intersection of statistical methodology and applied mathematics, with a focus on experiment design and analysis, Bayesian modeling, and probabilistic methods in complex systems. Dr. Lacey contributes to interdisciplinary collaborations across the physical sciences, engineering, and public health and nutrition, applying rigorous quantitative techniques to solve real-world problems related to food security, nutrition, and resilience. Her teaching emphasizes both theoretical foundations and computational applications, preparing students to approach scientific inquiry through a mathematical lens.
Shalean Collins, PhD, MPH, RD – Assistant Professor
Shalean Collins is an applied nutritionist and dietitian who uses mixed methods to evaluate the consequences of resource insecurity for vulnerable populations. Her research integrates training in clinical nutrition and public health, using a biocultural approach to examine the interactions between social, behavioral, physiological, and environmental factors that influence health. She has been working for over a decade in food security, water security, and nutrition research, shaping the evidence on water insecurity in the first 1,000 days (i.e., pregnancy to two years postpartum), HIV and infant growth, and the consequences of food insecurity for the maternal-child dyad in more than 30 countries. Dr. Collins was instrumental in developing the first water insecurity scale (WISE) and the water insecurity Coping Strategies Index. She has collaborated with both international and domestic organizations working to improve food and water security and nutrition.
Lauren Blum, PhD, MPH – Adjunct Professor
Lauren Blum, Adjunct Professor, is a nutritional anthropologist focusing on maternal, adolescent, and child health and nutrition in food-insecure environments. She has over 30 years of experience leading research that examines how the intersection of biology, culture, and ecology affects the behavior and motivations of vulnerable populations living in resource-poor settings. Her work has involved designing innovative, conceptually robust research protocols that utilize traditional qualitative methods and participatory research assessment approaches, as well as building local capacity in qualitative research methodology. She has extensive experience using research to inform policy and programming designed to strengthen food security, livelihoods, and resilience in humanitarian and development settings. Dr. Blum has led and participated in programmatic evaluations, formative research, applied research, and ethnographic studies in fragile contexts in over 20 countries in Africa and South Asia.
Benjamin Watkins, PhD, MSc – Adjunct Professor
Benjamin Watkins, Adjunct Professor, is an economist specializing in public economics, public health, and disaster risk management. Dr. Watkins’ research focuses on the intersection of economic policy and public health, particularly in the context of disaster preparedness and response. His work aims to inform policy decisions that enhance community resilience and improve health outcomes during times of crisis. Dr. Watkins has been involved in various projects that assess the economic implications of health interventions and disaster management strategies. His expertise is frequently sought in discussions on optimizing resource allocation to bolster public health infrastructure and disaster readiness. Through his teaching and research, Dr. Watkins has made significant contributions to the fields of public economics and health policy, advocating for evidence-based approaches to addressing complex societal challenges.
Peter Horjus, MPH – Project Director
Peter Horjus serves as the Project Director for the Implementer-Led Evaluation and Learning (IMPEL) Associate Award at Tulane University. In this capacity, he collaborates with Principal Investigator Dr. Nancy Mock and a dedicated team to assess and enhance food security and resilience initiatives in Haiti. Since 2019, the team has been evaluating these programs, adapting their methodologies to address challenges such as safety concerns and logistical constraints. Notably, they implemented a hybrid remote approach, utilizing satellite internet to train local enumerators and facilitate real-time data sharing. Their recent baseline quantitative survey highlighted the severe levels of food insecurity in Haiti, underscoring the need for sustained, multi-sectoral community engagement to build resilience. IMPEL, funded by the US Department of State, aims to gather information and knowledge to measure the performance of resilience and food security activities, strengthen accountability, and improve guidance and policy. The consortium, which includes Tulane University, conducts studies in Haiti and ten African countries.
Sarah Harelson Truxillo, MPH – Program Manager
Sarah Harelson Truxillo serves as a Program Manager, overseeing various administrative, financial, and programmatic functions that contribute to the overall mission of promoting global health, food security, resilience, and sustainable development. Ms. Truxillo facilitates coordination and support for faculty, staff, and students with multi-faceted grants and contracts.
Erin Franklin, MPH – Program Manager
Erin Franklin is a Program Manager and Research Coordinator, collaborating on research projects and coordinating the administrative, financial, and programmatic functions for the team’s work as the Research and Learning Partner for the USAID-funded EMERGE Resilience Food Security Activity in Somalia. She served as a research assistant for the team’s evaluation of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance’s (BHA) COVID-19 Response, a project aimed at assessing and documenting the performance of BHA’s COVID-19 Supplemental response portfolio. This multi-country evaluation enhanced an understanding of and guided recommendations to improve future humanitarian responses to pandemics.