About Us

What is it really like to be a young person in America?

Policymakers, school boards, community leaders, and the media talk a lot about young people and make laws on behalf of young people, without ever asking what you really think.

MyVoice was created to give young people an effective way to share their real-time thoughts and opinions on the issues that matter most in their lives.

Many young people feel like their voices aren't heard by the people shaping their schools, communities, and country.  With MyVoice, young people across the United States can sound off on issues that matter today, in our weekly, text message-based polls. We chose text messaging as the way to hear from young people because this fits so easily with their day-to-day lives. Do you know anyone that doesn’t text?

Responses are quickly analyzed so they can be shared with the policy makers, public agencies, and community groups that are making decisions that impact young people's lives.

The goal of MyVoice is to lift up the voices and experiences of today's youth in ways that help local and national leaders create more youth-friendly policies and programs!

Kiren is the interventionist for the Child Health and Development Lab at the University of Michigan. She graduated from Wayne State University in 2015 with dual degrees in Psychology and Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies.

Matt Davis is a doctor trained in Pediatrics and Internal Medicine, with a deep interest in policy issues around child and family health. He is a researcher and director of the Smith Child Health Research Program at the Manne Research Institute at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago. He was the previous director of the National Poll on Children’s Health and the National Voices project, two national polling organizations.

Melissa DeJonckheere is an adolescent health researcher, with expertise in community-based participatory research (CBPR) as well as qualitative and mixed methodological design. Her primary interest is use of CBPR and mixed methods approaches to investigate health disparities in childhood and adolescence, including chronic stress and social determinants of health. She is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Michigan Mixed Methods Program and the University of Michigan Medical School, in the Department of Family Medicine.

Tim Guetterman is a researcher in the Department of Family Medicine at University of Michigan who specializes in mixed methods research which is a combination of quantitative (numbers) and qualitative (based on words) research. He is so well known in this area that he teaches a class on it to junior researchers.

Sunghee Lee is a researcher at a University of Michigan research center, the Institute of Social Research. She has expertise in in survey sampling, or the science of ensuring the representation of diversity among study participants.

Kerrie Leonard is a research assistant for the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. In Fall 2018, she will be attending graduate school at North Dakota State University, where she will study Developmental Science. In her free time, she enjoys cooking with friends, being outside, and reading. 

Michelle Moniz is an Obstetrician/Gynecologist at the University of Michigan with an interest in adolescents’ sexual and reproductive health and health policy. She pursues this interest both through her research and her time seeing patients in clinic.

N'dea Moore-Petinak is a doctoral student in the Department of Health Management & Policy at the University of Michigan. She is interested in the impact of federalism on health disparities, as well as political involvement in health. Outside of work, she is on a mission to visit 30 countries before she turns 30.

Noa Kim is the informatics lead for MyVoice project. Noa is a user experience designer working for the University of Michigan Medical School. MyVoice aligns with their professional mission to develop digital and analog experiences that provoke, nourish curiosity, and support communities. In their spare time, she enjoys riding her scooter, listening to podcasts, and posting elaborate instagram stories of her cat and dog.

Cathy Park is a user experience designer at University of Michigan Medical School and a recent graduate from the School of Information at University of Michigan. She is interested in improving users’ experience on websites to support the community of MyVoice. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies and exploring different types of food and coffee.

Missy Plegue is statistics and data lead and an early and essential member of the MyVoice project. Missy works as a biostatistician at the University of Michigan Medical school, where she supports and assists faculty, residents and staff with statistical analysis at all stages of research including writing of grants, development of methods, data collection, analyzing data and preparation of manuscripts.  

Kelsey Rose is a dietetic intern for the treatment of eating disorders at Simmons University and a recent Master of Public Health graduate in the Department of Nutritional Sciences at University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the prevention of eating disorders and disordered eating, with a specific interest in promoting body diversity and challenging weight biased beliefs. In her spare time, she loves to spend time outside, especially with her dog, Abeline.

Rick Schulte is a communication specialist the the University of Michigan Department of Family Medicine and serves as 'digital storyteller' for the MyVoice project. He has served in various public relations and advocacy roles, in addition to creating web and print content. In his spare time, he's a fan of great coffee, unique food experiences, live music, sports and travel.

Sam Schuiteman is a medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School.  He has experience shaping policies affecting young people from his years working on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.  Outside of school he likes exploring coffee shops and trying out new recipes.

Kendrin Sonneville is a Registered Dietitian and researcher at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on adolescent nutrition, and preventing eating disorders. She has experience working with large adolescent cohort studies.

Arianna Strome is a medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School. She is interested in disease prevention and the influence of communication technologies on public health. In her free time, she enjoys playing soccer, practicing yoga, and spending time with friends and family.

Tamara Terraza was born and raised here in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is currently going into her senior year at Skyline High School, with the anticipation of graduating in the summer of 2019. After she graduates, she plans on majoring in nursing, to pursue her dream as a registered nurse.

VG Vinod Vydiswaran is a computer scientist in the Department of Learning Health Sciences at University of Michigan. He has expertise analyzing health related data posted on social media. He is also one of a few national experts in natural language processing of online health data, or the automated analysis of online information.