Maija Leff Email & Phone Number

Chapel Hill, Nc, Us

Chapel Hill, Nc, Us

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Advance Total Worker Health knowledge in the Southeast region by providing continuing education workshops at conferences and professional association meetings.Train teams of research staff in recruitment, data collection, and data analysis for Center-affiliated worksite research projects.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Develop and refine competencies for advanced career training. Collaborate with diverse subject matter experts as guest lecturers and advisory board members to create a high-quality interdisciplinary program, coordinating contributions of 40+ individuals over 5 years.Design various assessments for learners to enhance their professional portfolio, including: employer recommendations reports, advocacy letters to policymakers, interview/focus group/photovoice facilitator’s guides, wellbeing program implementation and evaluation guides, data briefs, and literature reviews.Manage day-to-day program administration, covering marketing, student admissions and tracking, and preparation of materials for academic committee review.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Developed a year-long training program to help wellness leaders across 12 schools/divisions at UNC Chapel Hill sharpen their skills in program planning, implementation, and evaluation (the Wellness Champions program: https://hr.unc.edu/benefits/work-life/wellness-champions/).Invited stakeholders from across campus to contribute to program design and program improvement via participation in a new Total WellBeing Advisory Group.Led the organizational-level assessment of UNC Chapel Hill's wellness policies, practices, environments, and benefits. Established an organizational inventory to be updated annually.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Worked with content experts and key stakeholders to develop data collection instruments for this national study.Ensured data quality for the study by trouble-shooting survey software, conducting data cleaning, and training student transcriptionists.Managed data collection: recruited 79 survey participants (70% response rate), deployed a Qualtrics survey, and lead a three-person interview team in the process of conducting and analyzing 27 interviews.Worked with the Principal Investigator, Dr. Laura Linnan, to create presentations and manuscripts reporting study findings.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Provided administrative support to the 6 centers in this CDC-funded thematic research network.Responsible for budgeting, hiring, and reporting for the Coordinating Center at UNC Chapel Hill.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Worked as part of a team of four public health master's students to assist Self-Help in creating a workplace wellness plan.Co-developed a company-wide baseline health risk assessment. Rigorously reviewed literature to help the team select appropriate, validated questions about physical activity, nutrition, musculoskeletal disorders, mental well-being, and other health topics for the assessment.Interviewed Wellness Champions at several branches across the country to contribute to the team's efforts to characterize Self-Help's existing wellness program. Through 13 interviews, we gathered Champions' concrete recommendations on what senior leadership could do to support a functional program and a culture of health.As a team, conducted a literature review to identify 10 evidence-based interventions for Self-Help (e.g., creating an exercise break policy). Created implementation guides laying out step-by-step instructions for starting and sustaining each intervention.Took the lead on developing evaluation plans for each of 10 interventions that we recommended to Self-Help. Each plan included: a 1-year evaluation timeline; process/outcome indicators to collect at each time point; and SMART goals.Presented key recommendations in a midyear and final meeting with our Capstone Preceptor, HR Management, and the Chief Financial Officer.

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Teaching assistant for the departmental core course Applied Research Methods (taught by Dr. Noel Brewer, overview of quantitative research methods in behavioral science).

San Francisco, Ca

Contributed to the development and final draft of a resource guide to help hospitality and food service workers exercise their legal rights under OSHA, including navigating the OSHA complaint process. Included resources such as health and safety surveys, guidelines for union staff on working with health and safety data, checklists for gathering essential information, and know-your-rights outreach materials for workers. Conducted key-informant interviews with UNITE HERE staff and union members to identify the key components to include in the resource guide.

Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Contributed to the writing of a manuscript that describes a new survey instrument for assessing vitality (the sense of being alive, passionate and excited) in the workplace. Conducted an academic literature review to identify and recommend metrics for measuring vitality to meet Advanced Wellness Systems’ evaluation needs.

Chapel Hill

Identified key themes from 79 employee interviews to summarize employees’ perceptions of workplace wellness programs (for the McDowell County Workplace Wellness Research Project). Used Qualtrics online survey software to create and administer a workplace health research survey to 100+ participants. Maintained website content for the Carolina Collaborative for Research on Work and Health.

San Francisco, Ca

Under the supervision of UNITE HERE Workplace Safety and Health Coordinator, developed an outline for a training manual on OSHA legal rights for workers and union staff. Identified existing training materials as potential resources.

Rīga, Latvia

Initiated and carried out a qualitative research project to identify barriers to depression care in the Latvian primary care system.Wrote the literature review and designed the interview guide for this 9-month project.Enrolled and interviewed 19 family physicians to collect data for thematic analysis.Presented preliminary findings at the Rīga Stradiņš University Scientific Conference.

Oakland, Ca

Designed a visual curriculum for the multi-lingual day labor community; trained 35 laborers.Established a collaboration with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the “UNIDOS” project to bring a lead safety training to the Oakland Workers’ Collective.Designed a visual report of community research findings and organized outreach events to share these findings with 47 members of the local day labor community.

Master Of Public Health (Mph), Health Behavior

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.), Cell/Cellular And Molecular Biology

Activities and Societies: Night Outreach to the Homeless

Cultural Anthropology