Our Faculty and Staff

Dr. Imelda K. Moise is a broadly trained health geographer and public health scholar whose interdisciplinary research examines how spatial context, environmental change and human behavior shape health system resilience, particularly in climate-vulnerable and post-conflict regions. She is Associate Professor of Medical Education, where she directs both the Global Health Graduate Program and the NSU Ocean Health Initiative (NOHI).

Her scholarship integrates geospatial analysis, predictive modeling, and culturally responsive evaluation. Through these methods, she informs policy and strengthens health systems across diverse global contexts. Dr. Moise has led initiatives in over a dozen countries, including Nigeria, Zambia, Malawi, Burundi, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Honduras supporting USAID-funded programs, conducting national health assessments and training Peace Corps Volunteers in integrated agriculture systems.

In the United States, she has advanced statewide public health initiatives, developed behavioral health data systems, and evaluated federally funded programs such as the Chicago Healthy Start Initiative and the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. Her contributions have shaped national strategies for disease surveillance, environmental health, and vector-borne disease control through advisory roles with UNAIDS, the CDC and NACCHO.

Dr. Moise previously held tenured appointments in the Department of Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of Miami, with secondary appointments in International Studies and Public Health Sciences. She served as co-developer and Director of the university’s Global Health Program and was a faculty affiliate with the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy. Her academic leadership includes mentoring across disciplines and designing curricula focused on climate-health equity and place-based pedagogy.

Her scholarly contributions include numerous peer-reviewed publications and the forthcoming co-edited volume Place & the Social-Spatial Determinants of Health (Springer Nature, 2025). Her research has appeared in leading journals such as Health & Place, BMC Public Health, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Scientific Reports and Emerging Infectious Diseases. Dr. Moise has served as PI Co-I on multiple federally and internationally funded grants supporting work in climate-health resilience, culturally responsive evaluation and health systems strengthening. Her grant portfolio includes support from agencies such as USAID, the CDC, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Her work has been recognized through prestigious fellowships from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Evaluation Association, and the U.S. Department of State’s Fulbright Specialist Program. Dr. Moise earned her Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Health Geography from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, her MPH in Environmental Health from the University of Illinois at Springfield, and her B.A. in Geography and Environmental Studies from the University of Oregon.

Her research is guided by a central belief: that place matters, and that resilient health systems and communities begin with locally grounded, culturally attuned solutions.