Innovation for Impact

Innovation for Impact operates at the intersection of Evidence-Based Practice and Human Centered Design. 

 

From left to right

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Tara Batista has a cross-disciplinary background in behavioral and social science with applications to public health, social work, international development, and business. She began her career developing programs for youth-serving nonprofits. She has 22 years experience in evaluation and evidenced-based program design - working and consulting for government, academia, INGOs, nonprofits, and start-up companies.
Specialties: NIH & IRB applications; Monitoring & Evaluation; Theories of Change; Systematic Reviews
Expertise: social interventions for at-risk youth, youth empowerment, behavioral health, and social entrepreneurship.

​Tara has a Ph.D. in Social Work from Columbia University and an MSc from Oxford in Evidence-based Social Interventions. She is the Principal Consultant at Innovation 4 Impact Consulting (I4IC) and can be reached at: tara@innovations4impact.com.  

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Susan Nzenze has 12+ years experience working on research projects in vaccine preventable disease, HIV and TB. At Praekelt, she worked with Tara to  researched how mHealth interventions could impact health care outcomes.  Susan holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery from the University of Zimbabwe, Master is Public Health (specializing in Health Economics; awarded with distinction) from the University of Cape Town and a PhD in Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand. Susan has served as an Associate Professor of Public Health at the University of Zimbabwe, training medical students and the next generation of public health practitioners. Most of her public health research evaluates the effect of public health interventions on health outcomes in South Africa. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susan-nzenze-chinyoka-770715b1/ 

 

Research interests: communicable and non-communicable disease prevention, cost-effective analyses, and health care financing. 

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Stella Parris specializes in creating and scaling social enterprises. She previously served as the Chief Operations Officer of TSOLife, an innovative healthcare tech company supporting the wellbeing of residents in senior living communities across the U.S. An original co-founder of TSOLife, Stella scaled the company from an idea in Tara's social enterprise class to a $20 million national MedTech company.  An emerging scholar, Stella has received several research fellowships to investigate the effects of life review and reminiscence therapies on older adults experiencing social isolation. Stella holds a BBA in International Business from Stetson University specializing in Management. https://www.linkedin.com/in/stellaparris/ 

 

Specialities: systematic review and social network analysis methodologies, and interventions that improve quality of life, wellbeing, depression outcomes for older adults in residential care in the U.S. Output and user experience design. 

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Tracy Wharton is an experienced academic and social worker with over 25 years of leadership in program development, mixed-methods social research with depth of experience in survey research and qualitative inquiry, and program evaluation. Demonstrated expertise in health equity, community-engaged public health, and program management, with extensive experience in portfolio management across the public sector, non-profits, and academia—driving initiatives centered on social justice, equity, and community-based implementation. Tracy has worked with Tara and Stella on SBA Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer program applications among other projects. She serves as our qualitative research expert. See: www.tracywharton.com  

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Juhi Kore is a policy and research specialist holding a Master's degree in Public Policy from the University of Oxford. She specializes in policy analysis, international development, social enterprise growth, and ethical AI. Her experience focuses on evaluating social interventions, conducting stakeholder research, and translating evidence into policy frameworks for scaling organizations in a global context. ​