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Tomoyuki Shibata, Ph.D., M.Sc.
President, GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Shibata has been passionate about making a difference locally and internationally ever since 1986 when he visited the infamous landfill slum, called "Smokey Mountain," in Manila, Philippines. With his multidisciplinary knowledge (e.g., from Health Sciences to Environmental Engineering) and practical research skills including fieldwork, the wet lab (e.g. chemical and microbial analyses), health evaluation (e.g., epidemiologic approach and quantitative risk assessment), and modeling (e.g., empirical and stochastic) skills, he has conducted many interdisciplinary research projects and hosted workshops in the U.S., Japan, Indonesia, and Myanmar. Dr. Shibata and Heidi West have co-founded the GEH LAB in order to provide engaged learning and research opportunities for students and junior professionals from the world, especially those who don't belong to universities with Global Environmental Health Programs. As an Executive Director, he will work to create safe, healthy, and sustainable environment together with communities, governments, NGOs, and private sectors.
Currently, he works for Northern Illinois University as a Professor in the Public Health Program as well as Faculty Associate in the Institute for the Study of the Environment, Sustainability, and Energy and the Center for Southeast Studies. He is also Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Veterinary Scinece at Azabu University.
Nick Hryhorczuk, Ph.D.
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Hryhorczuk serves as Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness at Malcolm X College, where he is a member of the executive leadership team. In this role, he oversees institutional effectiveness functions, including accreditation, assessment, institutional research and planning, strategic initiatives, and a multimillion-dollar grant portfolio, aligning data and strategy to support executive decision-making and advance long-term institutional priorities. He also provides executive oversight of workforce development and external partnerships that strengthen the college’s mission and growth. Previously, Dr. Hryhorczuk served as Academic Director at Morton College, where he led distance education strategy and academic innovation. Earlier in his career, he taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and co-founded an award-winning academic program at Northern Illinois University. His scholarship includes research and publications on the Chernobyl disaster, examining its long-term environmental and public health impacts. He has delivered invited presentations nationally and internationally, served as a visiting professor at the Shanghai Business School, and brings private-sector experience in investment research, contributing a global, cross-sector perspective to higher education leadership.
Refilwe Karabo, MD, Ph.D., MPH
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Karabo is a public health specialist with 16 years of combined experience in public health program implementation, policy development, and clinical practice. She holds a Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Master of Public Health (MPH), as well as a PhD in Tropical Medicine & Infectious Diseases from Tulane University. She has been in charge of malaria programming for the past 9 years, where she has authored various policy documents and has been responsible for strategic planning of a National Malaria Program. Her work sits at the intersection of malaria epidemiology and environmental health, examining how climate variability, ecological systems, and human behavior shape malaria transmission. She brings expertise in grant development, monitoring, evaluation, case management, surveillance, and designing interventions that advance the malaria elimination goal.
Dwi Agustian,
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Kyoko Kusakabe, Ph.D., MsC
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Kyoko Kusakabe is a Professor at Gender and Development Studies, Department of Development and Sustainability, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand. Her health research and work focuses on gender and migration, and women in the informal economy especially in the Mekong region countries. She has extensive experience working with government and NGOs to integrate gender perspectives in their policies and programs. Prior to moving into academia she worked with an NGO in Cambodia.
Herto Dwi Ariesyady, Ph.D. ST, MT
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Herto is a Senior Lecturer of the Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) localed in Bundung, Indonesia. He also serves as the Director of Facilities and Infrastructure of ITB. He received a scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology during pursuing his Ph.D. from Hokkaido University, Japan. He also received several international trainings supported by United Nation Development Programme and UNESCO-IHE. He is passionate about teaching environmental health and advising student health research.
Jennifer Gray, Ph.D., MPP
GEH LAB Board of Directors
Dr. Gray is an Professor of the Public Health Program at Northern Illinois University, College of Health and Human Sciences. She has worked with vulnerable populations and has expertise in work stress and end-of-life services challenges as well as health promotion behaviors and access to health services for persons with disabilities. Dr. Gray earned her PhD from the Division of Community Health Sciences of the UIC School of Public Health with a concentration in Gerontology. She holds a master's in public policy from the University of Chicago. While working on her doctorate health research, she was a predoctoral fellow in the Gerontological Public Health Training Program at IHRP.