Our Team

Rukiya Curvey Johnson, MBA

Executive Director, Rush Education and Career Hub
Vice President of
Community Health Equity, Rush University Medical Center

Rukiya Curvey Johnson serves as Executive Director of REACH and Vice President of Community Health Equity.

Rukiya previously served as executive director of STEM and strategic initiatives at Chicago Public Schools, where she led the development and execution of the district’s K-12 STEM strategy and the design of the CPS STEM Standards for Success. As champion and architect of a strategy to increase success for underrepresented students in STEM-related fields, she also led the district’s Early College STEM initiative to successfully graduate its first students with dual high school diplomas and associate degrees in information technology.

Rukiya is a member of the Chicagoland Healthcare Workforce Collaborative Steering Committee, the West Side United Education Steering Committee and several Chicago Public Schools advisory groups, and is a board member of Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center. With a commitment and passion for providing equitable access to high-quality education and career opportunities, Curvey-Johnson believes in the power of collective action to make a difference for our youth and the communities we serve.

Rukiya earned her MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia.

Natalia A. Gallegos, MPH

Director, Engagement and Impact

As REACH’s director of engagement and impact, Natalia works to expand programs, build relationships and develop tools that increase educational attainment and support a cradle-to-career pipeline to STEM and health care fields.

Her REACH portfolio includes overseeing the expansion of the mentoring program and establishing an approach for evaluating the ongoing effectiveness of programs. She also supports the development of innovative ideas for high-quality implementation and execution of the REACH Strategic Plan.

Before joining Rush in 2018, Natalia was the manager of community engagement at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn, Ill., where she was responsible for leading and coordinating public relations, community wellness and education initiatives. She also managed more than 150 hospital volunteers of diverse ages and ethnicities who contributed to community, hospital and support activities.

Natalia earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in health care management from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Heather Hampton, EdD

Director, Education and Pathways Programs

Heather G. Hampton, the director of education and pathways programs, holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology, a master’s degree in education and a doctoral degree in educational leadership.

Her experience includes working as a chemist in a research and development facility and teaching every grade from kindergarten through 8 as well as at the university level, where she taught teachers who aspired to integrate the arts into STEM education.

Heather also served as an elementary school principal on Chicago’s West Side. While there, she built a number of community partnerships, improved her school’s rating from a 3 to a 2+, brought more technology into the building and introduced restorative justice practices. She worked with West Side United to bring a medical clinic to the neighborhood, and with the James Jordan Foundation to bring mental health services and STEM programming into the building.

As a REACH partner long before she joined the team, she helped implement Future Ready Learning Labs in her school and hosted an award-winning chapter of HOSA Jr. In her role as REACH’s community education director, she works to support students’ academic success, preparing them to be successful in any career they choose.

Kimberly Bailey

Community Education Associate, 3rd-5th Grade

Kimberly is a lifelong resident of Chicago and attended elementary and high school in the Chicago Public School system. She decided to pursue a career in education and working with families, so she earned her Bachelor of Science in Human Resources and Family Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While teaching for the Chicago Public School system, she attended Loyola University / Erikson Institute and earned her Master’s Degree in Education. With over 20 years of teaching experience, Kimberly provides STEM instruction, STEM and wellness materials for home use, professional development for educators, family and community outreach, including assisting with food security efforts. She hopes to continue to educate, inspire, and transform lives in the spirit of the Rush mission and values.

Nia K. Benton-Roberson

Program Development Associate, High School and College

Nia manages and supports several of REACH’s high school and college programs. Her work includes recruiting, onboarding and providing support services and advocacy for students; helping to create professional development curriculum; supporting data collection and REACH marketing; and acting as a liaison inside and outside Rush University Medical Center to help provide students with quality internship experiences.

Nia’s Rush experience began when she was a high school student: She’s an alumna of the SAME Network, the predecessor of REACH. She began her career in youth education and development during her undergraduate study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and also worked to provide professional development workshops for students in SAME/REACH programs.

Nia is currently working on her master’s degree at the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice, focusing on educational and workplace inequalities; youth and community development; policy analysis and application; and system analysis and evaluation.

T.S. Culbreath-Byrd, MSIT

IT Pathway Program Coordinator

T.S. Culbreath is the IT Pathway Program Coordinator for REACH for IT.  She is dedicated to increasing diversity within technology by cultivating interest and passion for technology amongst Chicago students. 

T.S. Culbreath discovered her passion for technology while working for CDW as an Account Manager for K-12 schools.  During her career in sales, she pursued her degree in Information Technology at Loyola University of Chicago (LUC).  It was at Loyola University Chicago that T.S. worked in their chapter of Girls Who Code and participated as a Fellow leader to assist other nontraditional students.

T.S. Culbreath returned to Loyola University Chicago (LUC) to finish her Master of Science Information Technology (MSIT) during the height of the pandemic. She was awarded her MSIT in the fall of 2022 while completing her internship with REACH for IT. 

Angela Freeman, MPH

Impact Analyst

Angela works with REACH leadership and external partners to develop tools and gather data to inform operational and strategic outcomes. She also leads and supports a wide array of projects, including informing a continuous improvement strategy for new programs and building tools that measure implementation and impact.

Before joining REACH, Angela served as a project manager in the Department of Health Systems Management in Rush University’s College of Health Sciences, where she holds an adjunct faculty appointment. She oversaw the Building Healthy Urban Communities initiative to improve education, employment and health outcomes on Chicago’s West and South sides through strategic partnerships with the Medical Home Network and City Colleges of Chicago.

Angela earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Purdue University and a master’s of public health in community health sciences from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health; she’s currently a doctoral student in health sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research interests include epidemiology, sociology and geography in health disparities research; social and health policy; and workforce development in the health sciences.

Caroline Kerr, MAT

Program Development Associate,
Middle School STEM Specialist

Caroline serves in the role of Middle School STEM specialist and program development associate with the REACH program at Rush. She is an experienced elementary and middle school educator with a focus in urban education. Prior to joining the Rush team, she worked at elementary schools on the Southwest and West side of Chicago for 7 years as a dedicated and passionate educator committed to educational equity and school improvement. During her time in Chicago Public Schools, she demonstrated distinguished performance in curriculum differentiation, data-driven instruction, school leadership, and establishing a strong classroom culture for learning centered around social emotional competencies.

Caroline completed her bachelor’s degree in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience at the University of Michigan, then went on to pursue her Master of Arts in Teaching degree at National Louis University in Chicago. She completed her teaching residency through the Academy for Urban School Leadership, AUSL, an intensive urban education master’s program designed to promote a school turn-around model and focus on improving student opportunities and learning outcomes in underserved communities in Chicago.

Brandon C. Taylor, MS, MOT

Career Development Manager

After volunteering with REACH and CHEE since he started working at RUSH Brandon C. Taylor serves as the inaugural Career Development Manager for REACH. He also has a Lecturer appointment in the RUSH Medical College.

In addition to being an Instructional Designer at RUSH, Brandon has served in many healthcare, education, and technology capacities such as a Systems Engineer, Tenure-Track Assistant Professor, PreK-12 Teacher, PreK-12 Administrator, university and college administrator, and the founding volunteer Dean of Academics & Associate Athletic Director for a local prep school and postgrad sports academy.

Brandon earned a M.S. in Instructional Design & Technology from Western Illinois University, a Master Online Teacher Certification from the University of Illinois, a B.S. in Computer Science (with a minor in Engineering & Math) from the Benjamin Banneker Honors College at Prairie View A&M University, and an Illinois State Board of Education Teacher Certification (Math, Computer Science and Technology) from DePaul University. Brandon is a sports dad, mentor, and volunteer.

Ellen Vigil

Community Education Associate, PreK-2nd Grade

Ellen has been affiliated with Rush University Medical Center since 1982. Her career began at Rush’s Laurance Armour Day School, where she worked as a teacher, services coordinator, assistant director and educational consultant. Later, she was an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Early Childhood Education at Oakton Community College, and worked as an accreditation facilitator helping early childhood programs in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Catholic Schools achieve national accreditation.

In 2006, Ellen returned to Rush, where she focuses on providing STEM and health care learning experiences for students in preschool (PreK) through second grade. She also provides REACH partner programs with services that include professional development workshops, high-quality equipment and materials, education outreach sessions, parent involvement opportunities and curriculum loan kits.

Ellen earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from the National College of Education and her master’s of education in advanced studies and child development from the Erikson Institute.

Lauren White, MPH

Program Coordinator

Before joining REACH, Lauren was a program manager for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. She managed the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Edward Hospital in Naperville, Ill., running day-to-day operations and providing a home-like space for families with sick children in the hospital.

Lauren received her bachelor’s degree in health care leadership from Lewis University in Romeoville, Ill., and her master’s degree in public health from Benedictine University in Lisle, Ill. A resident of the West Side of Chicago, Lauren is passionate about helping to provide valuable experiences and opportunities for our future leaders in health care.