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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Training​​

Postdoctoral Pr​ogram

The postdoctoral training program at the UPSTREAM Center is a two-year, fellowship at Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, CA. It is training aspiring independent researchers broadly in epidemiology, health systems/health services and delivery science research with a focus on upstream obesity and diabetes prevention across the life course.​

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​Postdoc Trai​nees

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Rana Chehab, PhD, MPH, RD

Rana Chehab, PhD, MPH, RD, is a staff scientist at the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research. Her research interests revolve around maternal and child health and health across the life course with a special interest in the first 1,000 days of life and developmental origins of health and disease.
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Alicia Peterson, PhD, MPH

Alicia Peterson, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research within the Women’s and Children’s Health Section and is a NIDDK T32 Fellow. Dr. Peterson’s research has predominantly focused on prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants and their influence on in utero fetal growth and birth outcomes.
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Ana Rosen Vollmar, PhD, CPM, LM

Ana Rosen Vollmar, PhD, CPM, LM, is a postdoctoral Translational Research Fellow at the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, Women’s and Children’s Health section. Ana’s research focuses on reproductive, maternal-child, and environmental health challenges during the first 1,000 days, from pre-conception to age two – a critical period when clinical, public health, and policy interventions can profoundly impact health outcomes and disparities across the lifespan.
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Bethany Hallenbeck, PhD

Bethany Hallenbeck, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Translational Research Fellowship within the Division of Research. Her research leverages data from large KPNC cohort studies to examine how lifestyle behaviors influence cardiometabolic outcomes during pregnancy, postpartum, and early childhood, as well as how these behaviors are shaped by individual, structural, and social determinants of health. Notably, she specializes in using continuous, device-based measures of lifestyle behaviors and apply mixed effects models to understand how daily behavioral patterns affect maternal and child health.
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Shalmali Bane, PhD

Shalmali Bane, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Translational Research Fellow at the Division of Research within the Women’s and Children’s Health Section. Her research lies at the intersection of social determinants of health, pharmacoepidemiology, and cardiometabolic outcomes in pregnancy.


Predoctoral Program​


​Predoc Trainees​​​

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Bridgette Smith, MPH

Bridgette Smith, MPH, is a predoctoral fellow with the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research and a graduate student in Epidemiology at the University of California, Davis. Bridgette Smith completed her master’s degree in Public Health at the University of California, Davis. Her research interest primarily addresses the association between social and structural determinants and the impact on cardiovascular disease risk among racial and ethnic diverse maternal populations.