Meet the Team
Athena Ramos, PhD, MBA, MS, CPM
Team Lead
Dr. Athena Ramos is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion and is affiliated with the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, and the Global Center for Health Security at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, Nebraska. She leads a transdisciplinary research team focused on occupational health, safety, and well-being of workers across the agrifood system. She is a fellow with the Center for Great Plains Studies and previously with the Rural Futures Institute. Dr. Ramos is member of the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America (ASHCA), AgriSafe Network, National Alliance for Hispanic Health, and Welcoming America. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the International Society for Agricultural Safety & Health (ISASH) and has completed both Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) and OSHA-10 certifications. Ramos has a PhD in International Family & Community Studies from Clemson University and two Master’s degrees – one in Business Administration (MBA) and one in Urban Studies (MS) from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Aaron Yoder, PhD
Team Lead
Dr. Aaron Yoder is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental, Agricultural and Occupational Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Nebraska Extension. He also serves as the Research Director for the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health. He has a diverse background in agricultural systems and engineering, specializing in the development of interventions and training programs, including the application of technology, to improve the safety and health of agricultural workers. Notably, his research has led to applications used to monitor and guide workers and automated systems including detecting early onset of heat illnesss and shutting down automated systems based on worker’ heart rates. Previously, he worked for Penn State Extension as an Extension Safety Associate. Yoder grew up in central Pennsylvania where he spent time working on his grandfather’s beef farm. He has a BS and MS from Pennsylvania State University in Agricultural Systems Management, and a PhD from Purdue University in Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
Suraj Adhikari
Team Member
Suraj Adhikari is a graduate research assistant and a PhD candidate in Department of Environmental Agricultural and Occupational Health at UNMC College of Public Health. He received his Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and Master of Agricultural Sciences from the Tennessee State University (TSU). He worked as a Program Assistant at Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Program at TSU College of Agriculture after completion of MS. His research interests focus on the health, injury, and safety of agriculture workers. He is also interested in the economics of workers injury.
Rishad Ahmed
Team Member
Rishad Ahmed currently serves as a Graduate Assistant at the Center for Reducing Health Disparities and is pursuing his Ph.D. in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the College of Public Health. He received both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. His research interests focus on the health, injury, and safety of immigrant agri-food system workers, as well as the application of data analytics in the field of public health. He has completed a beef advocacy training program.
Casper Bendixsen, PhD
Team Member
Casper Bendixsen serves as a Research Scientist and Director of the National Farm Medicine Center at the Marshfield Clinic Research Institute. Casper also serves as the Associate Director for the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center. He was raised on a farm and ranch in Idaho and competed in bareback bronc riding for nine years. He earned his bachelors from the University of Idaho and doctorate in sociocultural anthropology from Rice University. There, he researched the ethical lives of contemporary US pastoralists. Casper’s work applies anthropological thought and research methodologies to agricultural health and safety. These projects include investigating the attitudes of farm parents towards children’s safety – specifically the risks and benefits of youth’s involvement with agricultural work, training rural firefighters in farm hazard analysis and mitigation, and the possible health benefits of the diverse and rich biomes that exist on farms. In 2022, his work was recently recognized with the Gwen D. Sebold Research Fellowship.
Gustavo Carlo, PhD
Team Member
Gustavo Carlo is Professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine. His research interests are in the roles of culture-related mechanisms, sociocognitive and socioemotive traits, and family processes on prosocial and healthy development. He has several projects focusing on U.S. Latines and in various parts of the world. He has published over 200 articles, co-edited 12 volumes, and has obtained funding from several agencies including the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Carlo currently serves as Associate Editor of Developmental Psychology and Child Development. He is past recipient of an American Psychology Association (APA)/Templeton Foundation Positive Psychology Award, Society for Research on Adolescence Outstanding Mentor Award, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Society and APA (Division 7).
Marcela Carvajal, MPH, BS
Team Member
Marcela Carvajal has worked for over 16 years in public health with underserved populations both in South America and the United States. She is an Outreach Project Specialist and a Ph.D. student in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, College of Public Health, in Omaha, Nebraska. For the last five years, her work has focused on community-based health research and education initiatives, with a particular emphasis on occupational health and safety with immigrant workers in agriculture and food production industries as well as the translation of research to practice. Marcela has participated in the Health & Safety Risks Among Immigrant Cattle Feedyard Workers in the Central States Region research study since 2018. Marcela’s career goal is to understand and improve Hispanic immigrant agricultural workers’ health and safety.
Ellen Duysen, MPH, COHC
Team Member
Ellen Duysen is a Research Assistant Professor working at the Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health (CS-CASH), at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), College of Public Health. In addition to working in research for 29 years at UNMC, Ellen has raised hogs, cattle and three rascally boys on farms in Colorado and southwest Iowa. Life on the farm has provided Ellen a clear understanding of the enumerable hazards that producers and their families face daily. Her work at the Center aims to improve the health and safety outcomes for all those who work in agriculture, their families and communities.
Axel Fuentes
Team Member
Axel Fuentes is the Executive Director of the Rural Community Workers Alliance (RCWA) in Milan, Missouri. RCWA focuses on organizing food chain workers, educating on labor rights, and advocating for just immigration policies for Latinx and refugee workers. Mr. Fuentes has worked as a member of the field outreach team for the last seven years.
Rodrigo Gamboa
Team Member
Rodrigo started his professional preparation at the Instituto Central “La Salle” in Bogotá, Colombia, where he studied industrial engineering and later obtained a degree in business administration. He worked for more than 10 years in the financial sector as regional Executive Director of the Central Mortgage Bank of Bogotá until he left to become an entrepreneur and business advisor. In 2000, he was forced to leave his native Colombia to settle in Grand Island, Nebraska, where, like all immigrants, he carried out and performed different types of activities and jobs to maintain stability for him and his family. In 2001, he began his studies at the University of Nebraska Kearney, where he obtained his endorsement and worked as an instructor and coordinator of continuing education programs in Spanish until the end of 2005. From late 2005 to 2010, Rodrigo worked for Legal Aid of Nebraska. He was commissioned to create and develop different programs for the Hispanic community such as the Migrant Workers Program and educational programs on minority rights. After, he worked on a program to engage Latinos as beginning farmers and ranchers. These activities gave him great experience and knowledge of agriculture and rural concerns throughout the state of Nebraska. He has received various local and state awards including the “Grand Island Multicultural Person of the Year” award in 2008 and the “Above and Beyond Award” from the Mexican American Commission in 2009.
Maria Jose Sanchez, MD, MPH
Team Member
Maria Jose Sanchez is a graduate assistant and a second year PhD student in Health Promotion at the UNMC College of Public Health’s Center for Reducing Health Disparities in Omaha, Nebraska. Maria Jose was born and raised in Ecuador, where she obtained her medical doctor degree. She completed her master’s degree in public health at George Washington University. Her research background and interest include Latino immigrants’ health and mental health prevention, early detection, and access to care. She is certified to facilitate Mental Health First Aid for adults, QPR, Heartsaver/BLS/First aid, and Stop the Bleed in English and Spanish.
Ryan Klataske, PhD
Team Member
Ryan Klataske is an anthropologist and ethnographer who partners with research teams and other groups to provide insights into the human dimensions of problems, issues, and opportunities for change. He earned his PhD in anthropology with a doctoral specialization in environmental science and policy from Michigan State University. His work has focused on rural life and culture in the Great Plains and Southern Africa, including research with diverse rural communities, farmers, ranchers, agricultural and meatpacking plant workers, and a wide range of stakeholders related to issues of health, safety, well-being, natural resource management, and conservation. Ryan is affiliated with the Department of Environmental, Agricultural, and Occupational Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and taught previously in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at Kansas State University. He raises cattle on his family’s prairie ranchland in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
Sahitya Maiya
Team Member
Sahitya Maiya is an Assistant Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, within the College of Health and Human Services at the University of New Hampshire. She received her PhD in Human Environmental Sciences (Emphasis: Human Development and Family Science) from University of Missouri, Columbia and her MA in Applied Psychology: Counseling Psychology from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India. Sahitya’s research interests are in the roles of family, cultural, and risk-resilience processes on prosocial behaviors, health, and well-being. She has several papers on positive youth development in U.S. Latino/as, as well as African Americans and Asian Indians. She is also interested in applying advanced statistical techniques in her research.
Jill Oatman-Vansickle
Team Member
Jill Oatman-Vansickle is a Risk Control Consultant for Gallagher. She specializes in providing risk management services to clients in the area of safety. She is responsible for providing risk management support while assisting clients with controlling and minimizing the total cost of risk. Her expertise is in livestock operations and has extensive experience in the agricultural industry. Jill received her bachelors of science in 2018 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in Veterinary Science. In 2020, she graduated with a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Environmental and Occupational Health.
Risto Rautiainen, PhD
Team Member
Risto Rautiainen is a professor in the Department of Environmental, Agricultural & Occupational Health within the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Since 2011, he has served as the Director of the Central States Center of Agricultural Safety and Health, and the Center's Injury Surveillance Program. Born and raised in Finland, Dr. Rautiainen's educational background includes an MS in Agriculture from the University of Helsinki. He later achieved a certificate in Occupational Health & Safety from the University of Manitoba, Canada, and then went on to receive a PhD in Occupational and Environmental Health from the University of Iowa.
Sheri Rowland, PhD, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC
Team Member
Sheri Rowland, PhD, APRN-BC, FNP is an associate professor with UNMC College of Nursing – Lincoln Division. Dr. Rowland has over 23 years of clinical practice experience as a family practice nurse practitioner and specializes in cardiovascular health. As a nurse scientist, she conducts research on health behavior self-management to prevent or manage cardiovascular-related conditions including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and cholesterol abnormalities. Dr. Rowland is particularly focused on reducing cardiovascular risk in medically underserved populations including Hispanic/Latino adults, those living in rural areas, and those working in physically demanding jobs. Her research methods include the use of mobile health technologies and simple fitness assessments in the workplace and community-based settings. Dr. Rowland has published her work in a variety of professional journals including Workplace Health & Safety, Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, and the American Journal of Industrial Medicine. Dr. Rowland teaches in the Family Practice Nurse Practitioner and PhD programs at the UNMC College of Nursing and mentors students in the undergraduate honors program, DNP, and PhD programs. Her long-term goal is to advance the science on self-management of health behaviors to reduce cardiovascular risk, particularly populations with cardiovascular health disparities.
Loretta Sorensen
Team Member
Loretta Sorensen is a longtime freelance writer, specializing in agricultural topics, who has spent her life in southeast South Dakota, now making her home in Yankton. She earned her Bachelor’s in Selected Studies at Yankton’s Mount Marty University and Master of Science in Journalism from South Dakota State University. Throughout her career she has developed skills as a writer, editor, photographer, and graphic designer. Her work has regularly appeared in publications that include Progressive Farmer, Dakota Farmer, Nebraska Farmer, Working Ranch Magazine, Farm Collector, and GRIT.She established her publishing company, Prairie Hearth Publishing, LLC, in 2005 in an effort to support independent book authors. Since then, she has offered graphic design services to some 20 independent authors. She has authored three books: Kernels of Corn History (2013), Secrets to Baking Your Best Bread Ever (2018), 30 Dakota Prairie Bread Recipes and the Art and Science Behind Baking Them, and four prayer journals. Loretta and her husband, Alan, have been active in prison ministry for 35 years. They primarily serve as volunteers at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp chapel where they team up to offer Bible studies, services, and organize special chapel occasions. Loretta is currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s of Christian Leadership program through Michigan’s Christian Leadership Institute. In addition to writing, Loretta enjoys painting, playing violin and guitar, gardening, and helping with the couple’s Belgian draft horses. She and her husband have two married daughters and three amazing grandchildren.
Priscila Soto Prado
Team Member
Priscila Soto Prado completed a Master of Public Health degree from the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and a Bachelor’s degree in health administration and policy at Creighton University. Priscila is currently working as a Community Research Assistant with the UNMC Center for Reducing Health Disparities where she conducts outreach with Hispanic/Latinx communities across the state, provides bilingual community health education programs on stress, mental health, and emergency response, and assists with community-focused research with farmworkers and individuals who work in the meatpacking industry. She hopes to foster health equity through the cultural adaptation of public health programs and the enhancement of health systems to better serve Hispanic/Latinx communities and rural populations.
Natalia Trinidad, MPH
Team Member
Natalia Trinidad is the Outreach Project Specialist at the Center for Reducing Health Disparities, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Natalia has been doing community outreach and research with the Latino community since 2014. Natalia is a facilitator for evidence-based programs in Spanish and English such as Mental Health First Aid, Strengthening Families, and Question. Persuade. Refer. (QPR). She is a certified Spanish/English medical interpreter and uses her translation and interpretation skills for various research projects taking place at UNMC. Natalia graduated from Creighton University with a Bachelor of Science in biology and completed her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with a concentration in epidemiology. Natalia is currently working on her Doctor of Philosophy degree and her research area of interest is cancer epidemiology.