Growing up in a rural and medically underserved farming community, Tarissa is committed to advancing health equity through cross-sector collaboration and community engagement promoting policy, systems, and environmental change. She is a motivated, and highly-organized research professional with over 8 years in the medical industry including clinical experience in the emergency medicine setting.

She has been involved in the oversight of 115+ clinical research studies within the University of Minnesota system from study start-up to publication. Her background includes clinical trials, community-based research, and mixed-methods research as well as project/program management and health communications.

In her current role, she supports early-stage investigators in implementing community-engaged research pilot projects aiming to reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the related chronic conditions (RCC) of hypertension and obesity experienced by Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities including immigrants and refugees across Minnesota.