Of Counsel

Dr. Irving serves as the interim deputy project director for the Promoting Infant and Family Health Study, a network community-based participatory research study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and conducted jointly by Baltimore City Healthy Start and Johns Hopkins University. In this role, she is developing site specific protocols which outline ideal and appropriate interactions between research staff and community participants. Dr. Irving is also working with People's Community Health Centers, a federally qualified health center in Baltimore City, to develop a seminar series for adolescents with identified HIV-risk behaviors.

Dr. Irving has experience in focus group facilitation, qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and statistical analysis of quantitative data. She has received numerous awards and accolades, including a multi-year fellowship through the American Sociological Association. In 2006, she was first author on an article published in the Journal of Aging and Health. In the fall of 2009, Dr. Irving will begin the W.K. Kellogg Community Health Scholars Program—a two year postdoctoral fellowship, which will allow her to focus her research efforts on empowering Baltimore residents to improve their physical and mental health status.

Upon matriculating to Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she earned her masters of public health in May 2009, Dr. Irving focused her energies on the development of evidence-based public health interventions to improve the health outcomes of African American women in adolescence through middle-adulthood. Given her knowledge of the life course, Dr. Irving believes in the necessity of creating positive health and behavioral trajectories. She is particularly dedicated to using her research skills in applied settings and has recently begun exploring the utility of community-based participatory research in addressing the health concerns of marginalized groups. Since moving to Baltimore, Irving has developed a number of meaningful partnerships with community organizations and endeavors to engage in efforts to improve the health of Baltimore city residents. In May 2006, she became the first student to earn the dual-title PhD in Sociology and Gerontology. Since earning her PhD, Dr. Irving has worked as an assistant professor of Sociology at both Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) and Claflin University (Orangeburg, SC).

In her spare time, Dr. Irving volunteers as a certified HIV Counselor with People's Community Health Centers.