Nemesia Kelly, MPH

She/Her/Hers

Areas of Expertise

Public health impacts and the collateral consequences of mass incarceration; impacts of wrongful conviction and incarceration on the health and well-being of exonerees; reentry health; and criminal justice reform.

Biography

Nemesia Kelly is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Health Equity and Criminal Justice Concentration in the College of Education and Health Sciences Public Health Program. She has played a pivotal role in developing a unique curriculum for the Master of Public Health Concentration in Health Equity and Criminal Justice, which launched in 2020 to meet the changing educational and training needs of the public health workforce.

From 2013 to 2023, Nemesia served as the Public Health Program’s Field Study Coordinator. Her chief responsibilities included managing the Public Health Field Study (PHFS) course, coordinating and facilitating PHFS placements for TUC MPH students, and developing and maintaining partnerships to expand and retain public health practice opportunities for the University. In addition, Nemesia served as the Public Health Practice Manager of the Program's Center for Workforce Development & Public Health Practice from 2018 to 2023. In this role, she co-led the Center to actively assess the public health workforce needs, develop, and implement a plan to address those needs, as well as engage in providing high quality workforce development opportunities in partnership with community partners. Prior to her faculty appointment, Nemesia served as the Program Analyst & Outreach Specialist in the Public Health Program from 2009-2013, specializing in recruitment and marketing efforts, accreditation compliance, and data management processes. She has over 20 years of knowledge and expertise in MPH accreditation procedures and experience working in graduate public health programs.

Education

• Master of Public Health, Touro University California (2013)
• Bachelor of Music, California State University, Los Angeles (2003)

Honors and Awards

• Recipient of the 2022 TUC Public Health Faculty Hero Award

Recent Publications

Green, M., Hernandez, A.L., Kelly N., Strouse, C., Mackie, T., Cummings, G., & Lingas E.O. (2022). Master of Public Health (MPH) in Health Equity and Criminal Justice: Student and alumni feedback on the development of a new MPH concentration. Healthy Equity Journal.

Cummings, G., Kelly, N., Hernandez, A., Lingas, E., Strouse, C., & Anthony, O. (2021). What Promotes healing among the wrongfully convicted? Results from a qualitative study of exonerated persons in California. Social Determinants of Health, 7(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.22037/sdh.v7i1.35582

Hernandez, A.L., Green, M., Kelly N., Strouse, C., Mackie, T., Cummings, G., & Lingas E.O. (2019). Developing a Health Equity and Criminal Justice Concentration for a Master of Public Health (MPH) Program: Results From a Needs Assessment Among Community Partners and Potential Employers. Front. Public Health 7:200. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00200

Memberships and Affiliations

• Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health( ACCJH)
• Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR)
• Global Law Enforcement and Public Health Association (GLEPHA)

Teaching Responsibilities

PBHC 633 Criminal Justice and Public Health (3 Units): An introductory and foundational course, focusing on mass incarceration as a social determinant of health and major public health challenge, by examining the effects of criminal justice involvement on physical and mental health outcomes; features a series of distinguished guest speakers to discuss the direct and indirect impacts of the criminal justice system that have been harmful to community health, as well as the entrenched and outdated punitive policies that have served to deepen health inequity and widen inequality in America; highlights the historical origins of the criminal justice system, the development of legal systems, effects of systemic oppression, racism, and discrimination, and the collateral consequences of mass incarceration and criminal justice policy to stimulate interest among students to formulate, analyze, and advocate for policies aimed at improving the health of populations impacted by justice involvement.