Our Team

Dr. Johnson is an engaged scholar of human-environment interactions committed to conducting collaborative research across disciplines and alongside communities to transform policy and improve lives. Johnson is an environmental anthropologist, the Principal Investigator (PI) of The Otsego Story Project, Associate Professor of Community Sustainability, and Director of the Toxic Action Lab (TAL) at Michigan State University. Johnson brings two decades of experience conducting community-led, mixed-methods environmental research designed to make a difference to this project. She is a recent graduate of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundations Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Program – a three-year national leadership development program focused on community change leadership; collaboration and community engagement; policy and communication; and the conduct of rigorous interdisciplinary research. She's also a new mom!  

Dr. Megan Milota is Associate Professor of Narrative Medicine at the Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, UMC Utrecht, where she has integrated narrative medicine into medical and paramedical training since 2017. She serves as Director of the Centre for Unusual Collaborations, developing strategies for inter- and transdisciplinary research, and as an ambassador for the New Utrecht School, a platform for dialogue and creative collaboration between the biomedical sciences and humanities.

Megan's storybank work spans institutional and community contexts: she helped found the WKZ Kinderverhalenbank, a platform for children's illness narratives, and serves on the core team of the Psychiatric Storybank, where she supports the methodological and ethical curation of patient stories. She serves as an advisor to the Toxic Action Lab and Otsego Story Project, contributing her expertise in interview design, story editing, and narrative representation.

Karleigh is from Waterford, Michigan and is a first year Graduate Student in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. Karleigh graduated with her degree in Environmental Studies and Sustainability (B.S.) and minors in Business and Science, Technology, Environment, and Public Policy (STEPP) from Michigan State in 2025. She operates as Field Coordinator for the Otsego Story Project.  

Heather is a postdoctoral scholar in the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Michigan State University. She is a registered dietitian and earned her MS and PhD in nutrition from Cornell University. Her current research focuses on the intersection of nutrition and environmental contaminants in women’s health across the lifespan. As part of the Toxic Action Lab, she brings expertise in environmental epidemiology and supports the team with quantitative data analyses.

Delaney is a third-year undergraduate student at Michigan State University majoring in Environmental Studies and Sustainability and minoring in Science, Technology, the Environment, and Public Policy (STEPP). She assists in sharing the history of the area and data visualization through community outreach and historical analysis.

Calisto is a third-year undergraduate from Ann Arbor, Michigan at Michigan State University, majoring in Environmental Studies and Sustainability. In their role, Calisto leads community-led environmental sampling and supports data visualization and communication efforts. They also assist with community outreach and a range of additional tasks that support the lab’s research and engagement goals. 

Tri is from Jakarta, Indonesia, and is currently a PhD student in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University. Tri assists the team in developing academic publication materials and related works.

Shno is currently a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University and a dual Ph.D. student in Environmental Science and Policy. She works with the Toxic Action Lab alongside communities affected by environmental contamination and assists the team in developing and analyzing evidence, GIS data, and related research materials.

Heidi lives in Lansing, Michigan and is a writer and independent researcher. She has a master's degree in history from the University of Michigan. Heidi helps transform conversations between community members and researchers into shareable stories that preserve the unique voices of the storytellers.

Cora is an undergraduate Environmental Studies and Sustainability major at Michigan State University from Dowagiac, Michigan. She creates and edits engaging video content that connects audiences with important stories. Cora is passionate about using digital media as a tool for impact.