Dr. Straker is the Founder of Heroic Caregiver, current Director of Operations for the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC) and Research Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine/College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. In her role with BHDC, she provides administrative coordination, project management, development, instruction, and support for the Center and its researchers. As well, she oversees all Center HR, finances, and grants administration. As a licensed psychologist Dr. Straker has also had extensive experience in the management of, and consultation to, not for profit organizations and programs serving populations in which the greatest health disparities have existed. She has also had significant experience with community-based organizations, private funders, policy makers, and governmental entities, has taught on the undergraduate and graduate levels, served as a Trainer and Program Coach at Yale University for Emotional Literacy within the Psychology Department, and has implemented programs across Brooklyn and in Manhattan. Dr. Straker is an Amazon Best Selling Author, having written in the area of management and leadership, most recently contributing to, Letters to My Corporate Sisters…Stories of Endurance, Elevation, and Encouragement and to Reinvented to Rise, Vol. II. She is currently focused on the area of caregiving after more than 20 years of serving as a family caregiver and has penned the book, Heroic Caregiver, An Anthology of Lessons on Resilience, Coping, and Laughter scheduled for release in 2024. She has appeared as a guest on numerous television and radio programs. Dr. Straker holds a doctoral degree in School-Community Psychology from Hofstra University, where she also received a master’s degree and has achieved alumna status at Columbia University’s Executive Level Institute for Not-for-Profit Management. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Rochester