The BREHA Lab is founded and led by Dr. Jallicia Jolly, Assistant Professor of American Studies and of Black Studies at Amherst College, in collaboration with our inaugural student members.
Dr. Jallicia Jolly
she/her
Assistant Professor of Black Studies and American Studies
Kingston-Born and Brooklyn-bred, Dr. Jallicia Jolly is a proud Black Mama and an avid Reproductive Justice organizer who merges community-based research on Black women's health, grassroots activism, and political leadership with RJ organizing and practice in the United States and the Caribbean.
Currently a Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Scientist at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA) at the Yale School of Public Health, Dr. Jolly builds upon her 10+ years of experience in HIV/AIDS advocacy to bridge theory and practice to develop asset-based approaches to HIV/AIDS among Black girls and women.
Her passion for health equity, policy, and community-based interventions led her to co-lead Birth Equity and Justice Massachusetts (BEJMA), an RJ coalition that advances maternal health equity in policy and improves the health outcomes of Black and Brown birthing people. Dr. Jolly directs BREHA by honoring justice and joy as her core intention: she is determined to keep generating and supporting teaching, research and community-based work that will enhance our collective well-being and create new legacies beyond inequality and violence.
Ash Smith ’18
he/they
Ash is the Bronx-raised crip child of Jamaican immigrants. He’s a slow mover and thinker who loves to daydream, write and talk animation and art.
His archival research with the lab has centered Jamaican journalism on HIV and contraceptives, the impact of neoliberal funding orgs on the care offered to abortion-seeking and HIV+ people, and 1970’s feminist organizing in the Caribbean.
He seeks to employ his experience navigating repositories as an early archivist/researcher to serve those engaged in collapsing systems of harm. His goal is to increase access to archival materials/archived lives while ameliorating some of the surveillance risk, labor and access costs that often come with doing research for organizers and community members.
They believe that RJ work is abolition and for life; we need to exist free from the co-optation & criminalization of our bodies, needs, and work. He’s looking forward to sharing resources and co-creating accessible space for us to strategize, make art, and recuperate.
Fiona Yohannes ’25
she/her
Fiona Yohannes is majoring in Psychology and on a pre-medical track from Denver, Colorado. She serves as an EMT-B in Amherst College Emergency Medical Services and is driven by providing compassionate and accessible healthcare.
In the future, she hopes to become a physician and blend her interests in reproductive justice advocacy and healthcare.
Outside her work, you can find her dancing, listening to R&B, and learning to make Eritrean dishes.
Isabella Ahmad ’25
she/her
Isabella Ahmad is a sophomore from Massachusetts majoring in Biochemistry and English. She is also pursuing a Five College Certificate in Culture, Health, and Science.
Some of her reproductive justice investments and research interests in the lab are in prison healthcare, nutrition and reproductive health, and the history of medical experimentation.
She is a newly-trained birth doula, and loves cooking and pop culture.
Talia Bode Ward ’23
she/her
Talia Bode Ward is a senior majoring in Black Studies and Mathematics from Boston, Massachusetts.
She is interested in archives, historiography, and how reproductive justice networks are formed and maintained.
With Dr. Jolly, Talia has looked at a number of feminist health organizations in Boston and in Massachusetts.
Her thesis is a case study of her own ancestors' involvement in US enslavement.
Dohyeon Kim ’26
Dohyeon Kim is a sophomore majoring in History and Economics from Suwon, South Korea. In high school, she was part of a national youth feminist network and was deeply invested in destigmatizing sexual and reproductive health for young people.
Her recent research interest lies in the intersection of gender and colonialism.
Sarah Hasegawa-Howard ’25
Sarah Hasegawa-Howard is a Junior from Belchertown, Massachusetts majoring in Psychology, Sociology, and The Practice of Art.
She hopes to use her education to pursue a future in health psychology research to help illuminate the racial and socioeconomic disparities in medical diagnosis and treatments in healthcare. She also has research interests in prison healthcare and reproductive coercion in the justice system.
When not doing research, she loves to dance, make art, cook, and spend time with her friends and family.
Carina Nanan ’25
Carina Nanan is a Junior from Brooklyn, New York, majoring in Psychology and Black Studies. In the future, she hopes to combine her interests in clinical psychology and reproductive justice to engage in critical counsel and research that prioritizes a decolonial approach.
Outside of the Collective, she can be found dancing, reading, working out, and spending quality time with her loved ones.