Our Team

Our team welcomes, values, and accommodates diversity — bringing heterogeneous but complementary perspectives to our scientific inquiry, including that of people with lived experience. We hope that our work will inform the development of new, and optimization of existing, prevention and intervention efforts for diverse populations at increased risk for problematic substance use, substance-related harms, and poor mental health.

Principal Investigator and Director:

Rachel A. Hoopsick, PhD, MS, MPH, MCHES
Assistant Professor, Department of Health and Kinesiology
hoopsick@illinois.edu 

Rachel Hoopsick

Graduate Research Assistants:

Benjamin Campbell, MA
3rd Year Community Health PhD Student
Joined team in Fall 2022

Benjamin Campbell

Tourna Khan, MBBS
3rd Year Community Health PhD Student
Joined team in Spring 2023

Tourna Khan

Sylvia Okon
2nd Year Community Health PhD Student
Joined team in Fall 2023

Tonazzina Sauda, MBBS
4th Year Community Health PhD Student
Joined team in Spring 2023

Tonazzina Sauda

Undergraduate Research Assistants:

Sinan Anwar
Junior, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Joined team in Fall 2022

Sofia Castro
Junior, Community Health
Joined team in Spring 2024

Sofia Castro headshot

Benjamin Combs
Senior, MCB
Joined team in Spring 2024

Coming Soon

Alex Kim
Senior, MCB & Chemistry
Joined team in Fall 2022

Sofia Marin
Sophomore, Community Health & Business
Joined team in Fall 2023

Carson Roan
Senior, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Joined team in Fall 2023

Carson Roan headshot

Rachel Sun
Senior, Clinical/Community Psychology & Statistics
Joined team in Summer 2022

Rachel Sun
We would also like to thank our previous team members for their contributions: 

  • Farina Alam
  • Madeleine (Maddie) Alvis
  • Tarjani Bhatt, BDS, MPH
  • Jaqueline (Jackie) Carrillo
  • Marco Ciaccio, MPH
  • Andres Davalos, MPH
  • Nora Duffy
  • Nivin George, MPH
  • Savannah Guzman
  • Dionicia Hernandez
  • Simrandeep Kaur, MPH
  • Michael Knipp
  • Sylvia Las, MPH
  • Hahnbit, Lee
  • Sophia Libman
  • Susana (Susie) Lopez
  • Sahil Mali, MBBS, MPH
  • Wendy Marinez
  • Enky Mhlongo, MPH
  • Alan Oliva
  • Pankti Patel
  • Alexis Reyna
  • Ameera Samad, MPH
  • Yasmeen Scott
  • Joshua Silvestre, MPH
  • Ja’Resa Stockdale
  • Uwamahoro Sophie
  • Eshana Vora