Joan is a research analyst with the Trustworthy Infrastructures and Health & Data teams at Data & Society. Joan studies issues at the intersection of trust, health, and data with a focus on Black activism and expertise. She is currently a research fellow at the Black Beyond Data Lab. As a mixed-methods researcher, Joan is interested in understanding how data about race and health are used to inform on-the-ground action to ameliorate health disparities.

Prior to joining Data & Society, Joan worked as a program manager for COVID Black, where she managed projects aimed at redefining Black health by marrying storytelling with data analytics. Joan received her bachelors in global liberal studies from New York University and her masters in sociology from Columbia University where she completed her thesis “The Construction of Black Data Expertise: Black Data Activism During the COVID-19 Pandemic.”