I manage an environmental and community health research and capacity building portfolio, providing both scientific and administrative leadership for externally funded projects. While diverse in topic, these projects are grounded in community-academic partnerships promoting meaningful engagement between researchers and community members. And, they all have the ultimate goal of advancing resilience in communities facing environmental health threats and long-standing health disparities. I also co-direct both the Public Health Science Academy and the Public Health Undergraduate Scholars Program. My subject matter expertise is in environmental health literacy, climate change adaptation, community health worker programs, and community resilience. I am skilled in evaluation, program management, and qualitative research methodologies.
1992 | Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT | BA, Spanish
1998 | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL | MA, Latin American Studies
2011 | University of Florida, Gainesville, FL | PhD, Higher Education Administration
Heller, S.S., Covert, H.H., Drnach-Bonaventura, G., Gilkerson,L.,Kallemeyen, L., Lichtveld, M.Y., Sherman, M., & Taylor, C.A. (2024). Preventative intervention home visitation program for mothers with fussy infants: A mixed methods, pilot assessment of maternal self-efficacy, mental health, infant-bonding, and program experiences. Early Child Development and Care, 194(3), 398-413.
Matlack, M., Covert, H., Shankar, A., Zijlmans, W., Abdoel Wahid, F., Hindori-Mohangoo, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2023.) A scoping review of current climate change and vector-borne disease literacy assessments and implications for public health interventions. Journal of Climate Change and Health, 15, 100295.
Matlack, M., Covert, H., Shankar, A., Zijlmans, W., Abdoel Wahid, F., Hindori-Mohangoo, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2023.) Development of a pilot literacy scale to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards climate change and infectious disease dynamics in Suriname. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(24), 7178.
Covert, H.H., Abdoel Wahid, F., Wenzel, S., & Lichtveld, M. (2023). Climate change impacts on respiratory health: Exposure, vulnerability, and risk. Physiological Reviews, 103(4), 2507-2522
Sherman, M.,Covert, H.H., & Lichtveld, M.Y. (2022). “The more we know, the more we're able to help": Participatory development of an evaluation framework for community health worker programs.Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. Epub ahead of print.
Ives, C., Pan, H., Edwards, S.W., Nelms, M.,Covert, H., Lichtveld, M.Y., Harville, E.W., Wickliffe, J.K., Zijlmans, W., & Hamilton, C.M. (2022). Linking complex disease and exposure data-insights from an environmental and occupational health study.Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. doi: 10.1038/s41370-022-00428-7.
Gokoel, A.R., Shankar, A., Abdoel Wahid, F., Hindori-Mohangoo, A.,Covert, H.H., Wickliffe, J.K., Harville, E.W., Zijlmans, C.W.R., & Lichtveld, M.Y. (2021). The cumulative risk of prenatal exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors on birth outcomes in Suriname.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,18, 7683.
Baldewsingh, G., Hindori-Mohangoo, A., van Eer, E.,Covert, H., Shankar, A., Wickliffe, J., Shi, L., Lichtveld, M., & Zijlmans, C.W.R. (2021). Association of mercury exposure and maternal socio-demographics on birth outcomes of Indigenous and Tribal women in Suriname. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(12), 6370. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18126370.
Covert, H., Sherman, M., Le, D., & Lichtveld, M. (2020). Environmental health risk relationships, responsibility, and sources of information among Vietnamese Americans in coastal Mississippi.Health, Risk, and Society,22(5-6), 362-376.
Zijlmans, W.C.W.R., Wickliffe, J.K., Hindori-Mohangoo, A.D., MacDonald-Ottevanger, M.S., Ouboter, P.E., Landburg, G.A., Codrington, J., Roosblad, J., Baldewsingh, G.K., Ramjatan, R., Gokoel, A., Abdoel Wahid, F., Fortes Soares, L., Alcala, C.S., Boedhoe, E., Grünberg, A.W.E., Hawkins, W.B., Shankar, A., Harville, E.W., Drury, S.S.,Covert, H.H., & Lichtveld, M.Y. (2020). Cohort profile: The Caribbean Consortium for Research in Environmental and Occupational Health (CCREOH) Cohort Study: Influences of complex environmental exposures on maternal and child health in Suriname.BMJ Open,10(9), e034702.
Lichtveld, M.,Covert, H., El-Dahr, J., Grimsley, L.F., Cohn, R., Hayes Watson, C., Thornton, E., & Kennedy, S. (2020). A community-based participatory research approach to Hurricane Katrina: When disasters, environmental health threats and disparities collide.American Journal of Public Health,110(10), 1485-1489.
Gokoel, A., Zijlmans, W.C.W.R,Covert, H., Abdoel Wahid, F., Shankar, A., MacDonald Ottevanger, M.S., Hindori-Mohangoo., A., Wickliffe, J., Lichtveld, M., & Harville, E. (2020). Influence of prenatal exposure to mercury, perceived stress, and depression on birth outcomes in Suriname: Results from the MeKiTamara study.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,17(12), 4444.
Covert, H., Ilunga Tshiswaka, D., Ramkissoon, I., Sisskin, E., Lichtveld, M., & Wickliffe J. (2019). Assessing science motivation among high school students participating in a supplemental science program: The Emerging Scholars Environmental Health Sciences Academy.International Journal of Science Education,41(17), 2508-2523.
Lichtveld, M.,Covert, H., Sherman, M., Shankar, A., Wickliffe, J., & Alcala, C. (2019). Advancing environmental health literacy: Validated scales of general environmental health and environmental media-specific knowledge, attitudes, and behavior.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health,16(21), 4157.
Covert, H., Sherman, M., Miner, K., & Lichtveld, M. (2019). Core competencies and a workforce framework for community health workers: A model for advancing the profession.American Journal of Public Health, 109(2), 320-327.
Sherman, M.,Covert, H., Brown, L., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Hansel T., Rehner, T., Buckner, A., & Lichtveld, M. (2019). Enterprise evaluation: A new opportunity for public health policy.Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 25(5), 479-489.
Sherman, M.,Covert, H., & Lichtveld, M. (2019). Community health workers as organizational actors in community health centers in four Gulf Coast states.Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, 42(4), 252-261.
Kainer, K., López Binnquist C., Dain, J., Contreras Jaimes, B., Negreros Castillo, P., Gonzalez Basulto, G., Ellis, E.,Covert, H., Hernández Gómez, U., & Melchor Contreras, F. (2019). Leading by listening, learning by doing: Modeling democratic approaches to conservation leadership in graduate education.Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences,9(2), 206-17.
Covert, H., & Koro-Ljungberg, M. (2015). Layers of narratives, images, and analysis.Qualitative Research Journal,15(3), 306-318.
Covert, H. (2014). Stories of personal agency: Undergraduate students’ perceptions of developing intercultural competence during a semester abroad in Chile.Journal of Studies in International Education, 18(2), 162-179.
