Dr. Vanessa Nicholson is a community health practitioner with over 10 years of experience in the field of public health. Her formal training in the field began during her undergraduate years at Mississippi State University’s Longest Student Health Center where she trained as a peer health educator. Shortly after, she began working at the Department of Health while completing her Master’s in Public Health degree at Jackson State University. During this time, she led a team whose work resulted in a statewide plan for addressing the needs of HIV positive Mississippians. Once she received acceptance to the University of Texas Health Science Center, she acquired several roles in research development and grant writing, while also developing partnership with the community via outreach initiatives. Dr. Nicholson completed her doctoral program in 2017 and currently serves as a part-time Health Professor.   She has instructed several courses surrounding her areas of expertise in health program planning, health care administration, quantitative methods, health disparities research, and working with vulnerable populations.