SPEAKERS

Dean M. Daniele Fallin

M. Daniele Fallin, PhD, is the James W. Curran Dean of Public Health at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health. Dr. Fallin’s research applies genetic epidemiology methods to studies of neuropsychiatric disorders including autism, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder and to developing applications and methods for genetic and epigenetic epidemiology, as applied to mental health and development. She also works to promote the integration of mental health into the field of public health.

Dr. Fallin has led multiple projects regarding how environments, behaviors, genetic variation, and epigenetic variation contribute to risk for psychiatric disease, particularly autism. She currently serves on the Administrative Core of the national Healthy Brain and Child Development Study examining brain development from birth to age 10. 

Prior to joining Rollins in 2022, Dr. Fallin served as professor and chair of the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. While there, she directed the Wendy Klag Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and the genetic epidemiology area with the school’s Department of Epidemiology. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2023.

Rebecca Grapevine

Born and raised in Atlanta, Rebecca Grapevine is Healthbeat's local public health reporter. Influenced by her hometown and extensive travels, she became fascinated by public health while working in hospitals in India and Atlanta. She got her start as a journalist writing for Georgia Health News and KFF Health News. She has also reported for the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Capitol Beat News Service and the Louisville Courier Journal. Along the way, Rebecca earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan and learned to speak Hindi (nearly) fluently.

Ellen Idler

Ellen Idler, PhD is the Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Sociology, and Director of Emory’s Religion and Public Health Collaborative, with additional Emory appointments at the Rollins School of Public Health, the Center for Ethics, and the Graduate Division of Religion.  She earned her PhD from Yale University and held a fellowship at Union Theological Seminary in New York.  Dr. Idler is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.  She served as Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Section on Aging and the Life Course and received its 2022 Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award.  She studies the influence of attitudes, beliefs, and social connections on health, especially in the context of faith communities.  Her work emphasizes that it is important to think of the impact of religion on health at both the individual and the organizational level, and to consider how the partnerships of faith communities with other nongovernmental organizations can be facilitated for the improvement of public health.  Her research papers have been cited over 27,000 times.  She is an Academic Editor for PLoS One and Editorial Board member for Innovation in Aging and Palliative Care and Social Practice.  She was the Editor and a contributing author to Religion as a Social Determinant of Public Health (Oxford, 2014).

Senator Kim Jackson

Kim Jackson serves as Senator for Georgia State Senate District 41 in Dekalb County and the Minority Whip for the Senate. Kim works every day to build a safer, fairer, and more prosperous Georgia, and bring the diverse voices of her district to the Capitol: immigrants, refugees, the unhoused, and people living on the margins.

In her years in office, Kim has defended our voting rights against relentless attacks; authored life-saving legislation for stalking victims; secured unprecedented funds for Black farmers, preK programs, and those experiencing traumatic brain injuries; served as co-chair of the Mental Health Caucus and chair of the DeKalb County Delegation; and currently serves as Whip for the Senate Democratic Caucus. Most recently, Kim passed legislation to create an Address Confidentiality Program for survivors of domestic violence, stalking violence, and human trafficking.

An Episcopal priest from the rural South, Kim made Georgia home over a decade ago. After graduating from Furman University, Kim volunteered as an EMT before receiving her Master’s of Divinity at Emory's Candler School of Theology. Over the past 10 years of ministry, she has served as a college chaplain, a nationally-renowned consultant and preacher, and Vicar for the Church of the Common Ground, a parish in downtown Atlanta co-creating church with those experiencing homelessness. Kim is the Senior Vice President of Programs at State Innovation Exchange (SiX), a national organization working to drive progressive policy change through state legislator policy support, strategic advice, and capacity-building.

She, her wife, and two boys live on an urban farm in Stone Mountain with a menagerie of goats, ducks, honeybees, rabbits, and chickens.

Richa Karmarkar

Richa Karmarkar is a New York City based national reporter for RNS, primarily covering Hinduism and other Eastern traditions. In her three years at RNS, Richa has gotten to explore the world of alternative, often spiritually-grounded health and wellness practices, from yoga and mindfulness to chakra healers who promote weight loss. In her beat, she says, it is not uncommon to meet people who believe science and religion can and should coexist, or progressive activists and health professionals who connect access to healthcare to an ancient, divine right. She is honored to be here today as a representative from the Midwest. Richa is a graduate of Columbia University’s Religion and Journalism dual Master's program, and holds three Bachelor’s degrees in Religious Studies, History, and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 

Aleja Hertzler-McCain

Aleja Hertzler-McCain is a reporter for RNS covering Latino faith and American Catholicism. Before joining RNS, Hertzler-McCain reported at the National Catholic Reporter and Sojourners, where she won awards from the Catholic Media Association and The Associated Church Press. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music and anthropology from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif.

Hertzler-McCain’s first languages are Spanish and English, and she also uses French and Portuguese in her reporting. She is based in Prince George’s County, Md.

Jack Jenkins

Jack Jenkins is a national reporter for RNS based in Washington, covering the intersection of religion and politics as well as U.S. Catholics. He is the author of “American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country.”

Before joining RNS in 2018, Jenkins was senior religion reporter at the Washington-based ThinkProgress. Jenkins was an RNS reporting intern in 2011 and later blogged for RNS. His work has appeared or been referenced in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, MSNBC and elsewhere. After graduating from Presbyterian College with a Bachelor of Arts in history and religion/philosophy, Jack received his Master of Divinity degree from Harvard University with a focus on Christianity, Islam and the media. Jenkins is based in Washington, D.C.

Ramazan Kılınç

Ramazan Kılınç is Professor of Political Science and Director of the School of Government and International Affairs at Kennesaw State University. Before joining Kennesaw State University, he served as Distinguished Professor of Political Science, Chair of Political Science Graduate Program, and Director of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He received his Ph.D. (2008) from Arizona State University and M.A. (2001) and B.A. (1999) from Bilkent University, Turkey. He is the author of Alien Citizens: The State and Religious Minorities in Turkey and France (Cambridge University Press, 2019) and co-author of Generating Generosity in Catholicism and Islam: Beliefs, Institutions and Public Goods Provision (Cambridge University Press, 2018). His most recent articles appeared in Journal of Democracy, Comparative Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Politics and Religion, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Turkish Studies, and Muslim World Journal of Human Rights. 

David Crary

David Crary has been a reporter, editor and bureau chief with The Associated Press since 1976. Since mid-2021, he has been news director of AP's global religion team. He began his AP career in Mississippi, and later worked in Colorado and on AP's international desk in New York. As a foreign correspondent, he covered East and Southern Africa from bases in Nairobi and Johannesburg. Later, he was news editor at AP's Paris bureau and bureau chief in Toronto before transferring to New York in 1999. For 20 years he was a national writer primarily writing feature stories about volatile social issues, including abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Joshua Eaton

Joshua Eaton is an investigative reporter at Hearst Connecticut Media Group, where his work helped lead to the first major update to the state’s freedom of information law in decades. Before joining Hearst, Joshua was on feature and investigations teams at NBC News, CQ Roll Call and ThinkProgress. His work has also appeared at ProPublica, The Washington Post, The Christian Science Monitor, Religion News Service, Sojourners, Tricycle: The Buddhist Review and elsewhere. Joshua has successfully sued the FBI and the CIA for public records under the Freedom of Information Act. He holds a master of divinity from Harvard Divinity School.

Adam Rhodes

Adam Rhodes is an award winning Latine journalist whose work primarily focuses on queer people and the criminal legal system. Their recent work has examined anti-LGBTQ+ bias in dozens of death penalty cases, HIV criminalization laws around the country, anti-trans disinformation, and more. Their work has been published in outlets including Bolts, them.us, The Nation, and BuzzFeed News. Before joining IRE, they were a staff writer at the Chicago Reader. At IRE, they conduct training at IRE's three conferences, workshops, bootcamps and webinars. Adam also is managing editor of IRE's online publication, the IRE Journal.

Rabbi Peter Berg

Peter Berg is the Senior Rabbi of The Temple: The Hebrew Benevolent Congregation. The Temple is Atlanta’s oldest and largest synagogue, founded in 1867.

Rabbi Berg was named by Newsweek and The Daily Beast as one of the most influential rabbis in United States, by Georgia Trend as one of the 100 most influential Georgians, and by Atlanta Magazine as one of Atlanta’s most powerful leaders.

Rabbi Peter Berg lives in Atlanta with his wife Karen and three children – Matan, Noah, and Lior.

Mary C. Curtis

Mary C. Curtis is an award-winning journalist, podcast host and educator. She writes columns for Roll Call, hosts its “Equal Time” podcast, is featured on Charlotte NPR-affiliate WFAE, has worked at The New York Times and Charlotte Observer, with coverage specialty the intersection of politics, culture and race. She has contributed to NPR, The Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN. Curtis is Senior Facilitator with The OpEd Project, leading “Write to Change the World” seminars at Yale University, Ford Foundation and Aspen New Voices in South Africa.

Curtis was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, and was chosen for The HistoryMakers, archived in the Library of Congress, which celebrates African American achievement.

Honored by Society of Professional Journalists, National Association of Black Journalists, received the Thomas Wolfe Award for an examination of Confederate heritage groups, and, in 2022, the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.

Featured essays in “We Refuse to Be Silent: Women’s Voices on Justice for Black Men,” “Now What: The Voters Have Spoken, Essays on Life After Trump,” “Covering Politics in the Age of Trump” and “Love Her, Love Her Not: The Hillary Paradox.”

Member of St. Gabriel Catholic Church, Charlotte.

The Reverend Doctor Kevin R. Murriel serves as the Senior Pastor of Cascade United Methodist Church, a thriving multi-site ministry with campuses in southwest Atlanta, midtown Atlanta, and an international mission site in the Central African Republic. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Jackson State University, his Master of Divinity from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and his Doctor of Ministry from Duke University.

An insightful preacher, scholar, and social activist, Dr. Murriel’s research focuses on translating the methods of the Civil Rights Movement into modern strategies for social justice. In 2018, he was appointed by Dean Jan Love as Assistant Professor in the Practice of Practical Theology and Director of the Black Methodist Seminarian’s Program at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology.

Dr. Kirk Bowman

Dr. Kirk Bowman, Regents' Entrepreneur and Full Professor, joined the Georgia Tech faculty as an Assistant Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs in 1998 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2004 and Professor in 2014.  He directs study abroad programs in Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Uruguay.  A specialist in Latin American politics and development, he is author/editor of six books and numerous journal articles, book chapters, and reference chapters. His current research projects focuses on the intersection of soccer and global politics/society. He has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, the Ford Foundation, the Social Science Research Council, Mr. Jon Wilcox, among others, and was a Fulbright Scholar.  He was the University System of Georgia Excellence of Teaching 2007 recipient and the 2008 Carnegie-Case Professor of the Year for the state of Georgia. 

Dr. Bowman is the co-founder and director of the international NGO Rise Up & Care (www.riseup.care).  Rise Up & Care employs an innovative model of international community development that combines global development research, high-level performance organizations in the global south to transform youth, powerful documentary films by top local directors, and children's books illustrated by local street artists.  Bowman co-produced six feature documentary films in Brazil (www.WomenofEarthfilm.com, www.badbirdiemanmovie.com, www.jongofevermovie.com).  He has been quoted in press, including The Washington Post, The CSMonitor, Globo, and The National Post (Toronto)

Luis Andres Henao is a multimedia reporter on the AP’s Global Religion team. He has reported from Alaska, Antarctica and the Amazon -- and most recently, from Cuba, Greenland and Nepal. Before joining the religion team, he was a correspondent in Latin America and the Caribbean for more than a decade and covered the Olympics in Rio and the World Cup in Russia and Qatar. Based in soccer-mad Argentina, he wrote about “The Game of the Century,” the struggle of women soccer players seeking equal rights and the mystery of why tributes were missing for Lionel Messi in his hometown. His favorite player is his son, Luca, who like Messi, was born in Argentina and dreams of becoming the next soccer great.

Professor Vicki Michaelis

Vicki Michaelis is a professor and director of the University of Georgia's Carmical Sports Media Institute. She worked for two decades as a sports journalist, including 12 years as USA TODAY's lead Olympics writer. She covered college football and NBA beats in Miami and Denver early in her sportswriting career. After joining UGA in 2012, she created the six-course Sports Media Certificate,   based in the College of Journalism and Mass Communication but open to all UGA undergraduates. She has led UGA student journalists through on-site coverage of Olympic and Paralympic Games as well as the 2023 Women's World Cup for The Associated Press. In preparing students to cover sports, especially major international events, she helps them understand how sports intersect with cultural and social issues. This summer, she'll be guiding student coverage of the 2026 World Cup for both the AP and USA TODAY. 

Mat McDermott

Mat McDermott is the Senior Director for Communications for the Hindu American Foundation, the largest and oldest non-profit advocacy organization for Hindus living in the United States. His podcast All About Hinduism was honored by the Religion Communicators Council for excellence in broadcasting (2024). He was lead author of the 2015 Hindu Declaration on Climate Change. Prior to his work with HAF, he was an advisor for the Bhumi Project, an environmental charity based at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (Oxford, UK); worked with Omega Center for Sustainable Living (Rhinebeck, NY); and Discovery Channel (Silver Spring, MD). He currently lives in Los Angeles County, California. 

Angad Singh

Angad Singh is an American Sikh independent journalist and documentary producer whose work explores the intersections of diaspora identity, geopolitics, and global power. His reporting connects lived experience with major world events, examining how communities navigate conflict, state violence, and political change.

Singh began making documentaries at age 13, growing up as the only Sikh in his school district in the American South in the years following 9/11. Motivated by a desire to challenge fear and misinformation through storytelling, he later studied political science at Columbia University before working as a producer with outlets including VICE News, CNN, and MSNBC.

At VICE News, Singh produced internationally recognized documentary films that earned an Emmy Award and multiple industry honors. His reporting on India, however, also led to his blacklisting by the Indian government. In 2022, Singh was denied entry and deported from India, a case that has since become a prominent press freedom issue.

Today, Singh works independently, producing journalism that foregrounds accountability, historical context, and voices often marginalized in mainstream media. He shares his work on social platforms (@AngadGSingh) and through his Patreon at Patreon.com/AngadGSingh.

Dina Zingaro

Dina Zingaro is finishing a five-year dual degree at Harvard Law School (JD ‘26) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv ‘26) where she has been both a Presidential Public Service Fellow and Presidential Scholar. Her scholarship in Orthodox Christian theology engages questions of gender, sexuality, and embodiment, while her work in law and religion analyzes the constitutive relationship among ethics, theology, and U.S. constitutional law. She won the student note competition at the Harvard Journal of Law and Gender, resulting in her forthcoming article about the weaponization of the biblical creation story (Genesis 1-3) in U.S. law against LGBTQ+ Americans. Dina will begin a PhD in Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University in September 2026.

Dina has been trained in Orthodox preaching at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Massachusetts and preaches regularly at Orthodox churches.

Before graduate school, Dina worked at CBS News for eight years, including four years as an Associate Producer and Co-Producer for 60 Minutes where she received multiple News Emmy nominations. 

Deepa Bharath

Deepa Bharath is a reporter on AP's Global Religion team based in Los Angeles. Prior to taking on this role in February 2022, Deepa was a staff writer for the Orange County Register and the Southern California News Group for 16 years, where she covered a number of beats including religion, race, health and city government.

Dr. Charissa Mikoski

Dr. Charissa Mikoski is an Assistant Professor of Research at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace. She primarily works on quantitative data analysis and survey management for the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations research project. Her research examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced religious congregations, including the adoption of technological innovations, financial challenges, and shifts in clergy wellness. She also explores how the religious composition of geographic regions impacts residents and broader changes in the U.S. religious landscape.

Rev. Joel Moody

Rev. Joel Moody is the Senior Pastor of Sunnyside Presbyterian Church in South Bend. He grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and served a congregation in Austin, TX, prior to moving to South Bend with his spouse and two children. He’s passionate about partnering with people to learn about God and working to build bridges across differences.

Dr. Allison L. Norton

Allison L. Norton is the Associate Professor of Migration Studies and Congregational Life at Hartford International University, where she is co-directs the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and directs the Pastoral Innovation Network of New England. She is most interested in applied research that makes a tangible difference for religious communities and congregations. She is currently serving as Co-Investigator on the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations study. 

Rev. Miluska E. Silencio

Rev. Miluska E. Silencio has served as a youth minister in New York City since 2005, supporting immigrant families through church ministry and activism. Of Afro-Peruvian, indigenous and Italian heritage, she serves as vice president of the Indigenous Ministers Association and as an Evangelical Covenant Church licensed clergy member coaching pastors and church planters. She also serves as assistant site director for Immigrant Connection NYC. Rev. Silencio holds degrees from CUNY Hunter College and Alliance University and is pursuing a Doctor of Ministry at Fuller Seminary. She and her husband, Josh, have two children.

Scott Thumma

Scott Thumma is Professor of Sociology of Religion and co-director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford International University, Hartford, CT. Scott is the Principal Investigator for 5-year Lilly Endowment grant to study the impact of the pandemic on churches. He has published numerous articles, research reports, and chapters on religious life in addition to co-authoring three books, The Other 80 Percent, Beyond Megachurch Myths, and Gay Religion. He co-led the 25-year long Faith Communities Today national research project for many years and has conducted numerous studies of megachurches and nondenominational churches. Additionally, he has been an RNA participant for 25 years.