Center Staff

The Center for Community Health and Development is an interdisciplinary team devoted to a common purpose: promoting community health and development through collaborative research, teaching, and service. Formed in 1975, our work is in three domains: community and public health, child and youth health & development, and community and capacity development.

Our disciplinary backgrounds include applied behavioral science, community psychology, anthropology, education, law, child development, urban planning, and public health. Team members have experience addressing a variety of issues facing communities including health promotion, substance abuse, adolescent pregnancy, education, child and youth development, rural health, child well-being, systems change, and neighborhood development in urban communities.

Our multi-generational team includes Ph.D-level researchers, professional staff, graduate students, and undergraduate interns. We learn through relationships with collaborative partners locally, nationally, and globally.

Vincent Thomas Francisco, Ph.D.

Director, Center for Community Health and Development, Kansas Health Foundation Professor of Applied Behavioral Science, Senior Scientist with the Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies

vtf@ku.edu

Jerry A. Schultz, Ph.D.

Co-Director, Center for Community Health and Development, Adjunct Assistant Professor, KU Department of Preventive Medicine, the Department of Applied Behavioral Science, Co-Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, University of Kansas

jschultz@ku.edu

Jomella Watson-Thompson, Ph.D.

Associate Director for Community Participation and Research, Center for Community Health and Development, Associate Professor & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Applied Behavioral Science

jomellaw@ku.edu

Christina Holt, M.A.

Assistant Director, Center for Community Health and Development

cholt@ku.edu

Stephen B. Fawcett, Ph.D.

Senior Advisor, Center for Community Health and Development, Co-Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre, Kansas Health Foundation Emeritus Distinguished Professor, Department of Applied Behavioral Science, University of Kansas

sfawcett@ku.edu