Director: Carla Williams, MD
Dr. Carla Williams received her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Howard University. She is currently Associate Professor of Medicine and Public Health and Interim Director of the Howard University Cancer Center. Her work centers around understanding and reducing cancer-related health access barriers. Her research activities emphasize engaging communities that have not been adequately represented in research. Dr. Williams collaborates with community health leaders to promote the adoption of healthy lifestyle behaviors by individuals, as well as population-level changes in environmental, health policy, and health system settings.
Additional Team Members
Finie Richardson, Ph.D., MPH, Practice Based Research Network Coordinator- DC PrimCare Practice Based Research Network Coordinator
Finie Hunter-Richardson, PhD, MPH is an Assistant Professor and Director of Research in the Department of Community and Family Medicine at the Howard University College of Medicine. Dr. Richardson has a broad background in public health and a specialization in health communication. Her professional background merges more than 15 years of translational and community-engaged research conducted in communities with limited access to health care. She has implemented projects that developed interventions using community-based participatory research (CBPR) to improve health outcomes among populations with low literacy.
She supports efforts to maintain liaisons with community practice research networks (PBRN). She also oversees the GHUCCTS Patient Advisory Board and Community Advisory Board for the Program.
Tawara Goode, MA, Cultural Competence Coordinator
Ms. Goode is an Associate Professor and Principal Investigator for the National Center for Cultural Competence at Georgetown University. She is nationally and internationally recognized as a thought leader in the area of cultural and linguistic competence. Her research focuses on cultural and linguistic competence and its role in addressing health and mental health care, including partnering with communities to improve the health of their members. A particular area of interest is the health and mental health experienced by people with lived experience of disability.
Florencia Gonzalez, MPH, Community Networks Liaison
Florencia Gonzalez is an Adjunct Instructor for the Department of Medicine at the Georgetown University School of Medicine. She specializes in strategic planning for community & patient engagement in research. Through consultation support, she guides GHUCCTS institution study teams and students on community-engaged research best practices and building community-academic partnerships. She also provides capacity building to community organizations for developing infrastructure around research and evaluation. With over 20 years of experience, Professor Gonzalez has a history of overseeing public health projects, clinical trials, and health research within community settings.