JHUCAYAH

Kenneth Gunasekera, MD, PhD

Dr. Kenny (he/him) is passionate about improving healthcare access and creating supportive environments for young folks to thrive. Clinically, he is interested in providing comprehensive care for adolescents and young adults. He is especially interested in learning about whole person health and how to support those affected by chronic fatigue and dysautonomia. His research interests are in applying implementation science to improve health services for adolescents and young adults. He is especially interested in supporting the ways that adolescents and young adults access care in the settings where they live, such as school/university health centers, workplace health centers, and health centers for youth involved in the justice system. He grew up in Long Island, NY and comes to Johns Hopkins with undergraduate, medical, and doctoral training from Yale and pediatrics residency training from Columbia. He has also had extended sojourns living in and learning about public health and medicine in Sri Lanka, Namibia, and South Africa. His PhD work on public health focused on applying quantitative and epidemiological methods to understand pediatric tuberculosis control and care. In his free time, he enjoys swimming, running, biking, cooking, riding public transit, and traveling.

Natalie Labossier, MD

Dr. Natalie LaBossier is a pediatrician, researcher, and advocate passionate about understanding how structural factors shape adolescent health. She received her undergraduate degree from Smith College, where she began research into individual and policy-level mediators of health outcomes for LGBTQ+ individuals. Through her work at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, she honed an interest in adolescent health, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the nuanced impacts of policy on the lives of young people experiencing systemic injustice. As a medical student at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, she developed expertise in adolescent substance use research with a focus on stimulants, an under-studied area within adolescent medicine. She was also Director of Research & Analytics for the Medical Student Pride Alliance, creating networks of research mentorship and community for LGBTQ+ trainees across the country.  

Dr. LaBossier completed her pediatric residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she further explored her passion for adolescent medicine, engaging in clinical implementation science research and authoring several essays in lay media outlets. Dr. LaBossier is also known for her work as an advocate for physician trainee labor rights, helping advance efforts to improve working conditions for resident and fellow physicians across Philadelphia. 

Dr. LaBossier is thrilled to join the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Johns Hopkins as a fellow focused on research and clinical care. Through the Graduate Training Program in Clinical Investigation, she is continuing her research exploring the intersection of social and structural drivers of adolescent health with a focus on substance use, sexual health, LGBTQ+ health, and policy. She is particularly interested in understanding factors that mediate the relationship between early risky substance use and development of substance use disorders. Dr. LaBossier looks forward to partnering with adolescents and their families in Baltimore while using research as a tool to further equity and advocacy for the health of adolescents.  

jaz-munn johnson, md

Dr. Jaz-munn Johnson is passionate about advancing adolescent health equity through trauma-informed, integrated systems of care. Clinically, he is interested in caring for adolescents and young adults, particularly justice-impacted and multi-system involved youth. His work focuses on how healthcare, education, and juvenile legal systems intersect to influence health trajectories and opportunities for intervention.

During medical school, Dr. Johnson co-founded an organization dedicated to improving continuity of healthcare for youth returning from juvenile detention facilities. During his pediatrics residency at Johns Hopkins, he completed the Health Equity and Advocacy Pathway, led a quality improvement initiative to improve identification and referral of adolescents at risk for legal system involvement, and helped strengthen the residency curriculum in Trauma and Relational Health.

Dr. Johnson’s commitment to serving vulnerable youth is deeply rooted in his faith. Prior to medicine, he seriously considered vocational ministry as a children’s pastor, an experience that shaped his passion for mentorship, empowerment, and the belief that every young person possesses inherent dignity, purpose, and the capacity for redemption. He hopes to partner with faith-based organizations and community institutions to promote holistic models of care that honor the physical, emotional, social, and spiritual dimensions of adolescent health while respecting the diverse beliefs and values of the communities they serve.

His long-term vision is to establish a multidisciplinary Juvenile Justice Health and Wellness Clinic. A health center with the tri-fold mission to advance research, inform policy, and transform care for justice-impacted youth here in the United States and globally as well.

For fun, he enjoys playing basketball, chess, and ping pong, working out, serving at church, and spending time with his wife. 

ELISE TIRZA OHENE-KYEI, MD, MPH

Dr. Elise Tirza Ohene-Kyei is a physician, public health advocate, and storyteller whose journey spans the vibrant healthcare landscapes of Ghana, the United States, and the wider global stage.

She earned her medical degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where she discovered a love for research and a lifelong commitment to advancing health, especially for vulnerable populations such as women, children, and youth.

While there, and in her role as Regional Assistant for the African Region of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations, Dr. Ohene-Kyei pioneered research exchange programs and enhanced existing clinical exchange initiatives, enabling peers in Ghana and across Africa to access transformative healthcare and research experiences around the world.

After practicing medicine in Ghana for two years, she moved to the United States to pursue a Master of Public Health Education at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. There, she tailored her studies to her passions, studying Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Child and Adolescent Health, and Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health.

Recognizing the urgent need for culturally relevant menstrual health resources, Dr. Ohene-Kyei joined four fellow Ghanaian women to create the Poka Health App, a menstrual health app by African women for African women. As Chief Medical Officer, she applies her clinical expertise and research insight to bridge medical science with culturally grounded solutions, expanding health education and improving care access for women across the continent.

Beyond medicine, Dr. Ohene-Kyei is a writer at heart. She runs an award-winning blog Letters from this Heart, using fiction to explore unspoken social and personal issues. In 2019, she self-published her debut novel, Perspectives.

Dr. Ohene-Kyei is proud to be part of the Johns Hopkins Adolescent Medicine fellowship, in a place  committed to innovative care, interdisciplinary collaboration, and  mentorship that is both genuine and transformative.  Her training focuses on adolescent sexual and reproductive health, serving as a launchpad toward her goal of completing a Med-Peds residency preparing her to work with children, adolescents, and women across the lifespan and deepening her impact on youth health worldwide.

Stephanie Shea MD, MPH

Dr. Stephanie Shea (she/her) grew up in Massachusetts and her passion for working with teenagers and young adults started during her own adolescence as a gymnastics coach and swim instructor.  She received her undergraduate degree from Tulane University and was a graduate of Tulane’s Creative Premedical Scholars program with a bachelor’s degree in French and a minor in Social Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. She then spent a year as an elementary school English teacher in Corbeil-Essonnes, France through the Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF), before returning to her favorite city, New Orleans, to complete her medical and public health training (MD/MPH) followed by her Pediatric Residency through Tulane University. Dr. Shea is passionate about advocacy and her most formative experiences have come through learning to navigate Louisiana’s healthcare system burdened by severe disease, significant healthcare disparities, and limited resources. During the COVID-19 global pandemic, she co-founded a program, Business Resilience and Community Education (BRACE) for COVID-19 to address community public health challenges and helped over 50 small businesses, community spaces, and schools prepare for re-opening. Through this program, she also served as a public health informant and vaccine educator and took part in the New Orleans city government re-opening taskforce.

Dr. Shea is deeply passionate about reproductive justice and has conducted research locally, regionally, nationally, and globally on this topic. She was a scholar of Tulane’s Stimulating Access to Research in Residency - R-38 NIH funded program – where she investigated sexual health education in the Deep South and completed quantitative and qualitative research to explore Louisiana healthcare providers’ knowledge, attitudes, comfort, and practice of sex-ed in schools and clinical settings. While she is saddened to leave her NOLA community, she is thrilled to join the Adolescent team at Johns Hopkins where she can grow her clinical experiences and expand her research in sexual and reproductive health education. In her spare time, Dr. Shea loves biking, music, playing ultimate frisbee, and traveling around the world. She spent 11 years as a radio DJ in New Orleans, has lived in the U.S., France, and Morocco, and has explored over 16 different countries. On this next adventure, she is looking forward to exploring all that Maryland has to offer with her husband!

Christle nwora, md, MHS

Dr. Christle Nwora (she/her) was born in Dallas, Texas. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Texas at Austin. During this time, she found community in the Multicultural Engagement Center (MEC) and dedicated her time towards advocating for marginalized communities on campus. She held senior leadership roles within the campus student government and the MEC which led to working alongside the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on the University of Texas vs Fisher II Supreme Court Case. Dr. Nwora continued her advocacy for marginalized communities and interest in student affairs into medical school. She completed her medical degree at the University of Texas at Houston where she served as the National Chair for the Organization of Student Representatives in Association of American Medical Colleges and created programs centering voices of unrepresented students in medicine.

 Dr. Nwora also nurtured her interested in primary care and completed her dual training in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics in the Johns Hopkins Urban Health program, designed to prepare residents to be physical leaders and advocated within vulnerable urban communities. During her residency, she authored a children’s book (“The Hospital”) designed to demystify the hospital and celebrate all who work in healthcare. She developed a special interest in caring for young people with Sickle Cell Disease and has had additional clinical and research experience in this area. 

Dr. Nwora is excited to stay at Johns Hopkins to continue her training as an Adolescent Medicine Fellow. She will continue her research in the care of young people with Sickle Cell Disease and wants a career in medical education focused on student affairs, diversity and equity. She serves as a producer for the Cribsiders (a pediatric medicine podcast) and the treasurer for Black Girl White Coat (mentorship organization for Black and Hispanic women).