Welcome to Dr. Christiana Russell!
We want to welcome Christiana Russell to Vanderbilt as the new Director of Student Health & Wellness. She comes to Nashville from Auburn, Alabama where she was Coordinator for K12 Initiatives under the Office of the Vice President for University Outreach. She provided university wide leadership for Auburn’s K12 outreach programs, which includes academic programs across various colleges and departments campus wide and extensive travel throughout the State of Alabama, across the United States and Internationally.
Christiana attended The Ohio State University and obtained her Bachelors in Psychology. She completed an additional Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice from Georgia State University and then received her Master’s in social work and Doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies form The Ohio State University.
Christiana is the eldest of 4 children born to Nigerian natives – Mary and Emmanual Ayeni and has been married for 19 years to Dr. Eric Russell, who also holds a PhD. from The Ohio State University in Political Science with a minor in Statistics and Methodology. Drs. Russell& Russell are the proud parents of Heaven- age 13 and Faith -age 5. The Russell Family is proud to call Nashville home and look forward to all the wonderful experiences that Nashville has to offer. Christiana is particularly proud to be part of the Vanderbilt family and looks forward to her new role and offering her insights and collective educational knowledge to The Office of Student Health and Wellness.