Faculty Research Interests

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Faculty Research Interests

Environmental & Occupational Health Faculty

Name	Teaching Area	Research Interest
Benden, Mark Department Head EOH / Director of the Ergonomics Center / Associate Professor	Human Factors, Safety Engineering, Process Safety Management, and Ergonomics	Worker sedentary behavior and obesity, healthy aging, the built-environment, classroom ergonomics and childhood obesity, medical device development and testing, artificial intelligence & machine learning for health and furniture design
Bokelmann, AnnaMarie Instructional Assistant Professor	Environmental and Occupational Health, Environmental Training Program, Texas A&M University System Texas Engineering Extension Service
Carrillo, Genny Associate Professor	Border Environmental Health Risk Management and Communication	Public health and US-Mexico Border Health issues with a special interest in interactions of human health and the environment, asthma in school children and home safety and healthy homes
Cizmas, Leslie Instructional Assistant Professor	Basic Environmental Toxicology, MPH Public Health Capstone, Global Health Capstone	Water reuse and sustainability; Occurrence and toxicity of drinking water contaminants; Health effects of complex mixtures; Chemical exposure assessment in underserved communities
Johnson, Natalie Associate Professor	Environmental & Occupational Diseases, Environmental Health & Toxicology, Mechanisms of Disease Prevention	Environmental carcinogens; Environmental health disparities; Exposure to foodborne (aflatoxins) and environmental carcinogens (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons); Chemoprevention; Development of biomarkers of exposure to traffic-related air pollution; Prenatal exposure to air pollution and associated epigenetic changes; Dietary interventions to prevent environmentally-induced asthma; Population-based animal models of allergic airway disease.
Maddock, Jay Professor		Flourish @ TAMU. Health, Wellness, and Physical Activity, DietSocial-Ecological Approaches to Increasing Physical Activity; Nutrition, Tobacco Use, and Global Health.
McDonald, Thomas Regents Professor	Environmental Measurements/Chemistry	Environmental chemistry, petroleum geochemistry, and general organic chemistry
Mendoza-Sanchez, Itza Assistant Professor		Mathematical and Experimental Models for Assessing Transport; Organics Trapped and absorbed in Soils as a Source Zone of Groundwater Contamination; Water Balance Modeling. Environmental Engineering. Models of Contaminants in Groundwater. Antibiotics in Food Production & Groundwater. Antibiotic Resistance.
Ory, Marcia Regents & Distinguished Professor	Public Health Interventions; Doctoral Seminars; Aging	Aging and Health promotion; Chronic Disease Management; Health Technology; Community Engagement; Translational research.
Peres, S. Camille Associate Professor	Human Factors, Research Methods, Alternative Displays	Biomechanics of Human-computer interactions, Design guidelines for auditory displays, and usability of home health care technology. worker safety, human factors, human systems integration, human systems engineering, ergonomics, procedures, engineering psychology, occupational safety.
Pickens, Adam Instructional Assistant Professor	Occupational Safety; OSHA General Industry 30-hr Certificate; Industrial Hygiene; Occupational Ergonomics/Biomechanics	Ergonomic tool development; Occupational safety screening/tool development, Upper extremity modeling; Manual materials handling, and Occupational biomechanics
Sharma, Virender Professor	Environmental, Physical, Analytical Chemistry	Iron-Based Oxidants (Ferrates and Ferrites), Kinetics and Mechanism of High-Valent Transition Metals, Advanced Oxidation Methods, Solar-Based Photoactive Materials in Water Treatments, Green Synthesis of Nanoparticles, Formation, Fate and Toxicity of Nanoparticles in the Aquatic Environment
Smith, Matthew Associate Professor		Health Risk Behaviors Across the Life Course; Evidence-based Programming for Older Adults; Program Evaluation; Measurement; Survey Research Methodology

Epidemiology and Biostatistics Faculty

Name	Teaching Area	Research Interest
Clendenin, Angela Instructional Assistant Professor	Science Writing, Risk Communication, Disaster Epidemiology, Leadership	Risk Communication, Decision Analysis, Emergency Management/Emergency Communications, Cultural and Social Influences on Communication and Decision Making, Communications Measurement and Assessment
Fischer, Rebecca Assistant Professor	Epidemiology of Infectious Disease	Zoonotic, Vector-borne, Parasitic, & other Tropical Diseases. Defining Trends & Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases. Field Epidemiology and Rapid Epidemiologic Assessment & Response. Outbreak Epidemiology. Global health.
Gorman, Dennis Professor	Research Integrity, Social Epidemiology	Alcohol and drug availability and violence; Alcohol and drug prevention policies; System methodologies; Science and Pseudoscience in public health research.
Han, Daikwon Associate Professor	Introduction to Epidemiology, Spatial Epidemiology, GIS and Public Health	Spatial Epidemiology, GIS & Spatial Analysis Methods, Environmental Health/Exposure Science, Environmental Justice & Health Disparities, Healthcare Access, Population Studies/Spatial Demography
Han, Gang Associate Professor	Statistical Theory, Clinical Trials, Translational Research, Personalized Medicine	Clinical trials. Personalized cancer therapy. Survival analysis. Bayesian methods. Computer experiments.
Kalbasi, Shaida Instructional Assistant Professor	Maternal and Child Health Epidemiology, Social Epidemiology, Minority Population Epidemiology, Fundamentals of Epidemiology	Health Disparities, Women's Health, Quality of care for Immigrants, and Racial Minorities, Effect of Discrimination and Race Relations on Health outcomes
Roh, Taehyun Assistant Professor	Data Management, Epidemiologic Methods, Global Health, Toxicology	Arsenic and Water pollution of water supplies. Clean Water Access in Rural Populations. Toxicology and Environmental Health.
Xu, Xiaohui Department Head Epi/Bio; Associate Professor	Epidemiological Methods, Exposure Assessment, Environmental Epidemiology	Air pollution epidemiological studies, studying susceptible population to environmental exposures modified by genetics, pre-existing health conditions, and co-exposure to other factors, etc., maternal and child health, environmental exposure assessment, spatial epidemiology
Zhao, Hongwei Professor	Statistical Inference, Linear Regression, Longitudinal Data Analysis, Survival Analysis	Survival analysis and longitudinal data analysis, Quality-adjusted lifetime estimation, and cost-effectiveness analysis conducted with censored data, Problems arising from correlated data from longitudinal studies and multilevel epidemiological studies
Zheng, Qi Professor	Biostatistics	Mathematical Modeling of Biological Processes. Applied Statistical Processes. Application of Computer Algebra. Microbial Mutation Rates & Methods for Analysis.

Health Policy and Management Faculty

Name	Teaching Area	Research Interest
Andreyeva, Elena Assistant Professor		Spatial nature of healthcare market, Urban/regional/rural economics, Health insurance, Effects on policies of healthcare delivery, Risky health behaviors
Bolin, Jane Professor	Health Law and Ethics, Regulatory Compliance, Doctoral Capstone, Directed Study, Management of Human Resources	Health Law and Ethics, Regulatory Compliance, Cancer Screening & Prevention, Diabetes Self-Management, Chronic Disease Management, Interdisciplinary & Translational Research, Rural Health Research, Rural Healthy People 2020
Côté, Murray Associate Professor	Healthcare Operations, Quality, Statistics	Operational Analysis, Health Services Delivery Methods (Tele/Drone), Project Management in Rural Hospitals. Information Asymmetry in Doctor/Patient Encounters
Ferdinand, Alva Assistant Professor	Public Health Law & Ethics	Impact of laws and other policies relative to public health outcomes such as roadwaysafety, obesity, and access to care. Other interests include state and federal regulation of health care and community health development
Griffith, Jennifer Associate Dean for Academic Affairs / Associate Professor		Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response; Intervention Implementation, Management and Evaluation
Kum, Hye-Chung Associate Professor	Data Science for Health Services Researchers; Health Information Technology; Retrospective Database Analysis for Health Policy and Management	Data science for health care; population informatics; health informatics; health policy research and program evaluation using big data; decision support systems for health policy and management. Machine Learning.
Lin, Sherry Instructional Assistant Professor		Preventive Care Services; Disabilities Research; Vulnerable Populations
Ohsfeldt, Robert Regents Professor	Introduction to Health Economics; Health Delivery Systems Financing; Directed Study	Cost-Effectiveness and Cost Models; Economics of Health Behavior; Impact of Health Sector Regulation
Radcliff, Tiffany Associate Dean for Research / Professor	Health Economics and research methodology	Health economics, health policy, and health services research. Topical areas of interest have included improving quality of care in long-term care, access to care for rural and other underserved populations, improving care processes and outcomes, and economic evaluation
Schmit, Cason D. Assistant Professor		Law as a social determinant of health; Health information technology; Health information exchanges; privacy, confidentiality, and security of health information; public health reporting and surveillance; pharmacist's vaccination authorities
Ukert, Benjamin Assistant Professor		Affordable Care Act, Commercial Health Insurance, Health Care Organization, Health Care Delivery, Health Behaviors, Health Policy

Health Behavior Faculty

Name	Teaching Area	Research Interest
Barry, Adam Department Head/Health Behavior/Professor		Alcohol impairment; Alcohol-related behaviors; Population health (student service members/veterans); Population health (college students)
Blake, Jamilia Professor	Community health; Peer health education; Science and practice of health and well-being; Prevention science	Peer directed aggression, bullying, and victimization of socially marginalized youth; exclusionary school discipline; mental health disparities; school health interventions
Burdine, James Professor	Community Health Development; Community Organization and Assessment; Community Health Status Assessment	Measurement of factors influencing community capacity for population health improvement and community health development strategies, particularly community health needs assessment
Chen, Lei-Shih Associate Professor		Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD); Cancer prevention and control; Health disparities; Public health genomics
Clark, Heather Director of Public Health Practice / Research Associate Professor	Social & Behavioral Health Theory; Grant Writing; Public Health History Seminar	Community capacity building for population health improvement; community partnerships; access to care; rural community health; community health needs assessment; social determinants of health; program evaluation
Colwell, Brian Professor	Social Ecology and Health Behavior; Seminar on Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs	Adolescent smoking cessation; school health education; youth smoking prevention; adolescent mental health and substance abuse
Fehr, Sara Clinical Associate Professor		Women’s health; Human sexuality; Intimate partner violence prevention
Flores, Krystal Instructional Assistant Professor		Maternal and child health; Border health (Rio Grande Valley, Tx); Adolescent pregnancy prevention along the Texas-Mexico border; Health disparities among vulnerable populations (including Latinas, adolescents, and immigrant children)
Garney, Whitney Associate Professor		Community-based participatory research; Ecological approaches to public health; Interorganizational network analysis; Program evaluation; Public health innovation; Systems approaches to public health
Gilreath, Tamika Professor		School violence; Gang affiliation; Tobacco use
Goodson, Patricia Professor		Prevention education; Program evaluation; Reproductive health; Sex education
Jones-McKyer, Ellisa Research Faculty		Minority health issues and health disparities; Parental influences on child health behaviors and outcomes; Socioecological factors of health behaviors; Publications
Ma, Ping Assistant Professor		Maternal & Child Health Issues. Health Disparities in Vulnerable Populations. Smoking Cessation. Children's Injury Prevention.
McNeill, Elisa Clinical Professor		Adolescent health; Pedagogy; Teen pregnancy prevention
Mier, Nelda Instructional Assistant Professor		Chronic Disease Prevention; Quality of Life through Behavioral Change in Mexican Americans of all ages living in Texas-Mexico border region; Physical Activity Among Mexican Americans; Intervention Research to Enhance Physical Activity Patterns; Diabetes Prevention Among Children and Adults in Border Region; Promotoras Model (Community Health Workers) in Border Region
Montemayor, Benjamin Visiting Assistant Professor	College student health; Introduction to health disparities and diversity; Alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and society; Research methods; Program planning and evaluation	Alcohol and drug prevention and intervention; Population health (adolescent and young adult at-risk underrepresented sub-groups); Implementing health behavior theories into practice; Reducing risky health behaviors through harm reduction
Owens, Christopher Assistant Professor	LGBTQ health; HIV; Health behavior theory; Socioecological factors of health behavior; Program evaluation	Sociological factors of rural HIV prevention and care; Provider-based and implementation science of HIV preventive health care practices; Sociological factors of rural LGBTQ adolescent and adult health
Patterson, Meg Assistant Professor		Addiction and recovery; College student health and wellness; Community health; Interpersonal violence; Physical activity and sedentary behavior; Social network analysis
Prochnow, Tyler Assistant Professor	Social network analysis; Research methods; Community health; Physical activity measurement and promotion	Social network analysis and social influence on health behaviors and beliefs; Physical activity especially among children and families; Out-of-school programs including summer care; Mental health and social support; Health disparities and policies, systems, and environments in which health equity is pursued
Rahn, Rhonda Clinical Associate Professor	Human sexuality; Human diseases; Peer health education	College student health behaviors; Peer health education; Health educator professional training
Sherman, Ledric Associate Professor	Health program planning; Health disparities and diversity; Contemporary issues for community health interns; Issues in men’s health and wellness	Diabetes self-management among ethnic minority men; Utilization of technology for chronic illness management among men; Health education and wellness promotion; Men’s health
Stasi, Selina Instructional Associate Professor		Access to and physical activity promotion within underserved communities and communities of color, through community based research, asset mapping, and GIS analysis; Research regarding physician-based physical activity counseling, prescription and referral, and youth engagement and empowerment to combat disparities in physical activity and health; Linkages between community, clinic, and church, and the role public health practitioners play to leverage resources between them all