Joan received her doctorate in Health Behavior and Health Education from the UNC School of Public Health in 1994. In addition to working with CHAI Core, she is a project coordinator on two Maternal and Child Health projects at UNC. While working for more than seven years at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, she coordinated and analyzed data from numerous focus groups, including topics ranging from the effects of the NC Work First program to health care access for children and adults.