Health Behavior Health Education Faculty Profiles
Along with providing education and training, department of Health Behavior and Health Education faculty and researchers have achieved national and international reputations for excellence in their respective fields of research and expertise. Short summaries of faculty are detailed below.
Department Chair
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, PhD
Social networks and social supports and mental health, better health outcomes among
adolescents, network interventions, family relationships, cultural factors associated
with the health behavior and health status of adolescents and women
Department Associate Chair
Minal R. Patel, PhD, MPH
Access to care; social risk screening and assistance strategies; management of chronic
disease; health-related financial toxicity; health, health insurance, and financial
literacy
Core Faculty
K. Rivet Amico, PhD
HIV prevention, PrEP uptake/adherence, adherence in Phase II clinical trials of biomedical
agents, HIV prevention, adolscents/young adults, marketing health/prevention, intervention
strategies, risk reduction counseling, HIV diangosis and linkage to care, acute infection,
engagement and re-engagement in HIV-care, ART adherence, MSM stigma, HIV stigma, technology
based/supported interventions, standard of care HIV treatment and prevention, practice
based evidence, gender disparities
Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD
Protective familial mechanisms, racial socialization, culturally-relevant and -responsive
therapeutic interventions, discrimination, and family well-being outcomes for African
Americans. Considers how to translate knowledge into applied methods and blogs, YouTube
series, and community workshops.
Angela J. Beck, PhD, MPH
Public health services and systems research, public health workforce, public health
practice, organizational performance, public health competencies
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, PhD
Social networks and social supports and mental health, better health outcomes among
adolescents, network interventions, family relationships, cultural factors associated
with the health behavior and health status of adolescents and women
Linda M. Chatters, PhD
Religion and health, aging, social support, family studies, African Americans
Cathleen M Connell, PhD
Chronic illness self-management, dementia family caregiving
Chris M. Coombe, PhD, MPH
Racial and economic equity, urban neighborhoods and health, social determinants, community-based
participatory research, health impact assessment
Paul J. Fleming, PhD, MPH
Immigration and health; gender norms and health; violence prevention; global health;
community-based interventions; mixed-methods research
Kristi Gamarel, PhD, EdM
LGBTQI health; HIV prevention; substance use prevention and treatment; relationship
science
Arline T. Geronimus, ScD
Structure, culture, and health; racial/ethnic inequalities in health; poverty and
health; population-variation in fertility-timing and in family economic and caretaking
systems; structurally rooted biospyschosocial models of health inequality
Gary Harper, PhD, MPH
Primary and secondary HIV prevention intervention development in the US and Kenya,
resiliency among African American gay/bisexual male adolescents/young adults, health
promotion among adolescents living with HIV, community-university partnerships, qualitative
research methods.
Justin E. Heinze, PhD
Developmental transitions, social exclusion/ostracism, issues of gender and sexuality
and longitudinal data methodology
Hsing-Fang Hsieh, PhD
Adolescent resiliency and health disparities; substance use and other health behaviors
related to cancer and cancer prevention; violence victimization and social-ecological
factors on adolescent health
Barbara A. Israel, DrPH
Community-based participatory research, stress, social networks, social support, community
capacity, evaluation research, empowerment, health disparities, social determinants
of health
Mary Janevic, MPH, PhD
Chronic disease management among older adults and family caregivers
Elizabeth J. King, PhD, MPH
HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, women's sexual and reproductive health, gender equity
and access to care, qualitative methods, global health
Laurie L. Lachance, PhD, MPH
Prevention and management of chronic disease; evaluation of community-based interventions
to improve health outcomes; behaviors related to diet and nutrition; complementary
and alternative medicine use
William D. Lopez, PhD MPH
Immigration enforcement and health; law enforcement violence; health inequities; public
scholarship; creative writing; advocacy and research
Roshanak Mehdipanah, PhD
Health equity, built environment, urban health, social determinants of health, community
development; housing, urban design and health, mixed-methods evaluation, healthy neighborhoods
Alison L. Miller, PhD
Childhood mental health, developmental psychopathology; childhood poverty and stress,
eating behavior and obesity; biobehavioral self-regulation, socio-emotional development,
and school readiness; child and family interventions.
Ritesh Mistry, PhD
Socioecological influence on health and health behaviors; adolescent health; global
health; capacity building
Enrique W. Neblett, Jr., PhD
Racism and health; Black/African American mental health/psychology; resilience; racial
identity and racial socialization; health disparities and health equity; social determinants
of health; adolescent and emerging adult health; stress and coping; developmental
psychopathology; community-based participatory research
Minal R. Patel, PhD, M.P.H
Access to care; social risk screening and assistance strategies; management of chronic
disease; health-related financial toxicity; health, health insurance, and financial
literacy
John D. Piette, PhD
Chronic disease self-management, mobile health interventions
Thomas M. Reischl, PhD
Community psychology, program evaluation, violence prevention, obesity prevention,
measurement and design issues in community-based research
Ken Resnicow, PhD
Design and evaluation of health promotion programs for special populations, understanding
the relationship between ethnicity and health behaviors, school-based health programs,
substance use prevention and harm reduction
J. Scott Roberts, PhD
Genetic testing, personalized medicine, social and behavioral interventions, risk
communication, Alzheimer's disease, mental health & aging, cancer genomics, public
health ethics
Carissa J. Schmidt, Ph.D.
Socioecological influences on adolescent health; youth violence and substance use
prevention; strengths-based approaches for understanding adolescent development; rural
health disparities
Amy Jo Schulz, PhD
Racial and socioeconomic health equity, urban health, social determinants of health,
community-based participatory research
Victor J. Strecher, PhD
Behavior change, health promotion, disease prevention and management, computer-tailored
interventions, multimedia
Emily Youatt, PhD
Sexual minority health; women's health; social policies as health policies; the abortion
provider workforce; qualitative and mixed methods research methodologies
Brian J. Zikmund-Fisher, PhD
Health and medical decision making, decision psychology and behavioral economics as
applied to health, risk communication (health, medical, and environmental), numeracy,
health message design, narrative-form health messages, survey and experimental design
Marc A. Zimmerman, PhD
Empowerment theory, adolescent health and resiliency, youth violence prevention, community-based
prevention and evaluation research
Faculty with Joint Appointments
Alan P. Baptist, MD, MPH
Asthma, allergy, and immunology
Barbara Brush, PhD
Community-Based Participatory Research, health disparity, homelessness and health,
nurse workforce policy
Rebecca M. Cunningham, MD
Brief interventions for violence and substance misuse in Emergency Department settings
and injury prevention
Karen Farris, PhD
Medication management, individuals’ medication adherence, reasons for non-adherence,
including concern and necessity beliefs, and self-reporting adverse effects
Michele Heisler, MD, MPH
Patient self-management of chronic illnesses, patient-doctor relations, disparities
in processes and outcomes in chronic illnesses
Toby C Lewis, MD, MPH
Epidemiology and public health of childhood respiratory disease, particularly the
interplay of biologic, environmental, and social factors in the development and exacerbation
of asthma
Okeoma Mmeje, MD, MPH
Reproductive health, health care management and policy
Gretchen A. Piatt, PhD
Health systems and health care delivery for people with and at risk for diabetes,
behavioral and psychosocial aspects of diabetes prevention and management, prevention
and treatment of diabetes and obesity in the primary care and community settings,
implementation and dissemination science for diabetes and obesity
Sarah A. Stoddard, PhD
Adolescent health and resiliency, adolescent substance use and violence
Tiffany C.E. Veinot, MLS, PhD
Community health informatics, health information service models, social networks and
social capital, rural health, youth, collaborative health information behavior, HIV/AIDS
Emeritus Faculty
Nancy K. Janz, PhD
Impact of chronic disease and its treatment on quality of life, psychosocial factors
that influence preventive and disease management behaviors, breast cancer survivorship
Neal Krause, PhD
Stress and health in late life; religion and health among older people; social support
among older people in Japan, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China
Harold W. Neighbors, PhD
Diversity in public health workforce, racial and ethnic influences on psychiatric
diagnosis and community case-finding of mental disorder, use of informal and professional
mental health services by African Americans
Ruth Simmons, PhD
International family planning and reproductive health policies and programs, scaling
up innovations in health service delivery, community perspectives