Our Team
Nick Freudenberg, DrPH
Founder and Faculty Director
Nick Freudenberg is founder and faculty director of Healthy CUNY and Distinguished Professor of Public Health, Critical Psychology and Social Welfare at CUNY. He is also founder and first director of the CUNY School of Public Health’s Doctor of Public Health program and the director of the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute. For the past 35 years, he has worked to plan, implement and evaluate health policies and programs to improve living conditions and reduce health inequalities in low income communities in New York City and elsewhere.
Patricia Lamberson, MPH
Deputy Director
Patricia Lamberson started her work with Healthy CUNY in 2011 and has served as Deputy Director of Healthy CUNY since 2016. She has worked closely with CUNY Office of Student Affairs and campus-based staff at CUNY mental health counseling centers, wellness programs and food pantries. She played a key role in implementing and evaluating the CUNY tobacco free campus policy and has supervised dozens of CUNY students involved in Healthy CUNY activities.
Spring Cooper, PhD
Faculty Investigator
Spring Cooper is an Associate Professor of Community Health and Social Sciences and a social researcher with academic qualifications in public health, health promotion, and sexuality. Her current research interests are in adolescent sexual health, adolescent online and offline social networks, health promotion, health communication, and prevention of disease through behavior change and vaccination.
Meredith Manze, PhD, MPH
Faculty Investigator
Meredith Manze is an assistant professor in the department of Community Health and Social Sciences and mixed-methods researcher. Her research interests span maternal and child health issues across the lifespan from a reproductive justice lens. She has investigated discrimination in health care, qualitative work exploring how people think about pregnancy intentions, and currently studying how child care and parenting are associated with academic achievement among CUNY students.
Victoria Ngo, PhD
Faculty Investigator
Victoria Ngo is an Associate Professor of Community Health and Social Sciences, Deputy Director of the Center for Innovations in Mental Health at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, and an adjunct behavioral scientist at the RAND Corporation. She has expertise in developing, evaluating, and implementing evidence-based treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, for depression, anxiety, and trauma in diverse communities in the United States and abroad. She assists Healthy CUNY to develop and evaluate mental health programs and services.
Chris Palmedo, PhD
Faculty Investigator
Chris Palmedo is an Associate Professor of media marketing, and communications in the department of Community Health and Social Sciences. His research interests include exploring attitudes toward healthy beverage consumption and social marketing campaigns for college students. His current and past board service includes organizations dedicated to disenfranchised youth, health news reporting, social services, and hospital scheduling technology. At Healthy CUNY, Palmedo has led work in developing campaigns to increase the enrollment of CUNY students in health insurance and assisted in the development of health apps for CUNY students.