Our Featured Fellow for June 2026 is Latasha Allen. Latasha is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at the Indiana University Indianapolis, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, and an epidemiologist serving as an active-duty environmental health officer with the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps based at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Latasha works within the FDA’s Human Food Program’s Coordinated Outbreak Response, Evaluation, and Emergency Preparedness Network, where she coordinates the regulatory response to national and international foodborne-related outbreaks in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, federal, state, and local health officials.

Latasha was previously a disaster epidemiologist for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Secretary. She has deployed in response to numerous public health emergencies, ranging from infectious disease epidemics and pandemics, such as COVID-19 and Ebola virus disease, to extreme weather-related disasters, including the 2017 Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, respectively. These field experiences, among others responding to the effects of natural hazards, allowed her to notice areas for improvement that required more comprehensive research approaches to integrate data and methodology for identifying sub-populations at risk of the greatest public health impacts during disasters. Latasha has pursued this interest in disaster research as the focus of her doctoral studies. Her research explores the intersection between public health epidemiology, medical anthropology, and climate-related extreme weather events. She focuses on utilizing syndemic theory to aid in improving effective identification of the most at-risk groups within vulnerable communities to enable more targeted opportunities for building resilience against extreme weather events.

Having joined the Bill Anderson Fund Doctoral Fellowship program as a member of the 2023 cohort, Latasha currently serves on the BAF Disaster Dash committee working on the fundraising sub-committee, and previously served on the BAF Lighting Talks and Programming committees. She has also participated in the BAF-Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies grantee convening in 2024. She served as a session recorder in 2024 and 2025 at the Natural Hazards Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado, and presented in a TED-Style Talks session at the 2025 Workshop. 

Latasha is an active member in a number of organizations specific to public health and disaster response. She is currently a Director-At-Large on the Board of the American College of Epidemiology as the Associate Members Director, and serves on the Board of the Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health as the Publications Committee Chair. She is also a Technical Advisor for the National Environmental Health Association where she was the inaugural chair for the Preparedness Committee. She actively participates in the National Association for Doctors of Public Health and was spotlighted as a featured member. She is also a member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene where she volunteers for various events and is active within the Committee on Global Health.

Latasha earned her bachelor’s degree in medical anthropology from the University at Buffalo. She also holds a Master of Science in public health from the Tulane University Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and an executive master’s degree in emergency and disaster management from Georgetown University.

In her free time, Latasha enjoys writing, photography, dance, music, and traveling. She’s also a certified yoga instructor registered with the Yoga Alliance and a certified skipper registered with the American Sailing Association.

You can find Latasha’s publicly available publications here and connect with her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and BlueSky.