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

Cleo CaldwellCleopatra 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 Patel 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 K. Rivet Amico, PhD
HIV prevention, PrEP uptake/adherence, adherence in Phase II clinical trials of biomedical agents, HIV prevention, adolscents/young adults, risk reduction counseling, HIV diangosis and linkage to care, engagement and re-engagement in HIV-care, ART adherence, MSM stigma, HIV stigma, standard of care HIV treatment and prevention, gender disparities

Riana E. AndersonRiana 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.

Cleopatra Caldwell 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 Chatters Linda M. Chatters, PhD
Religion and health, aging, social support, family studies, African Americans

Cathleen Connell Cathleen M Connell, PhD
Chronic illness self-management, dementia family caregiving

Chris Coombe Chris M. Coombe, PhD, MPH
Racial and economic equity, urban neighborhoods and health, social determinants, community-based participatory research, health impact assessment

Paul Fleming Paul J. Fleming, PhD, MPH
Immigration and health; gender norms and health; violence prevention; global health; community-based interventions; mixed-methods research

Kristi GamarelKristi Gamarel, PhD, EdM
LGBTQI health; HIV prevention; substance use prevention and treatment; relationship science

Arline Geronimus 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 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 Heinze Justin E. Heinze, PhD
Developmental transitions, social exclusion/ostracism, issues of gender and sexuality and longitudinal data methodology

Hsing-Fang HsiehHsing-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 Israel 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 Mary Janevic, MPH, PhD
Chronic disease management among older adults and family caregivers

Elizabeth King 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 Lachance 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 Lopez, PhD, MPHWilliam D. Lopez, PhD MPH
Immigration enforcement and health; law enforcement violence; health inequities; public scholarship; creative writing; advocacy and research

Roshanak Mehdipanah Faculty ProfileRoshanak 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 Miller 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 Ritesh Mistry, PhD
Socioecological influence on health and health behaviors; adolescent health; global health; capacity building

Enrique W. Neblett, Jr., PhDEnrique W. Neblett, Jr., PhD
Racism and health; Black/African American mental health; resilience; health disparities and health equity; adolescent and emerging adult health; developmental psychopathology; community-based participatory research

Minal Patel 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 Piette John D. Piette, PhD
Chronic disease self-management, mobile health interventions

Thomas Reischl Thomas M. Reischl, PhD
Community psychology, program evaluation, violence prevention, obesity prevention, measurement and design issues in community-based research

Ken Resnicow 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. Roberts 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

Amy Schulz Amy Jo Schulz, PhD
Racial and socioeconomic health equity, urban health,  social determinants of health, community-based participatory research

Victor Strecher Victor J. Strecher, PhD
Behavior change, health promotion, disease prevention and management, computer-tailored interventions, multimedia

Emily YouattEmily Youatt, PhD
Academic program development, scholarship of teaching and learning; teaching pedagogy; undergraduate education; experiential learning; the public health workforce

Brian Zikmund-Fisher 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 Zimmerman Marc A. Zimmerman, PhD
Empowerment theory, adolescent health and resiliency, youth violence prevention, community-based prevention and evaluation research

Faculty with Joint Appointments

Alan Baptist Alan P. Baptist, MD, MPH
Asthma, allergy, and immunology

Frank AndersonFrank Anderson, MD, MPH

Barbara Brush, PhDBarbara Brush, PhD
Community-Based Participatory Research, health disparity, homelessness and health, nurse workforce policy

Patrick Carter MDPatrick Carter, MD 
Firearm injury prevention, youth violence, and associated risk behaviors such as substance use among high‐risk urban youth populations. 

Rebecca CunninghamRebecca M. Cunningham, MD 
Brief interventions for violence and substance misuse in Emergency Department settings and injury prevention

Jason Goldstick PhDJason Goldstick, PhD
Social epidemiology in a variety of settings, including infectious disease, childhood problem behaviors, substance use, and violence. 

Sarah Hawley Sarah T. Hawley, PhD, MPH
Decision aids, Cancer - colon, Cancer screening

Michele Heisler Michele Heisler, MD, MPH
Patient self-management of chronic illnesses, patient-doctor relations, disparities in processes and outcomes in chronic illnesses

Okeoma Mmeje, M.D., MPHOkeoma Mmeje, MD, MPH
Reproductive health, health care management and policy

Sara Peitzmeier, PhD
Peitzmeier, Sarah, PhD
Violence and sexual health in marginalized populations

Gretchen PiattGretchen 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, in the primary care and community settings, implementation and dissemination science for diabetes and obesity.

Natalie Sampson, PhDNatalie Sampson, PhD
Public health implications of land use and infrastructure; removal of structural inequities in environmental decision-making; action-oriented approaches to diverse qualitative and quantitative methods.

Lesli Skolarus, MDLesli Skolarus, MD

Rebeccah Sokol, Phd., MSPHRebeccah Sokol, PhD, MSPH
Trauma and violence prevention at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.

Rob Stephenson, PhDRob Stephenson, PhD
Sexual and reproductive health of vulnerable populations

Sarah StoddardSarah A. Stoddard, PhD
Adolescent health and resiliency, adolescent substance use and violence

Tiffany Veinot 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 Janz, PhDNancy 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 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 Neighbors 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 Ruth Simmons, PhD
International family planning and reproductive health policies and programs, scaling up innovations in health service delivery, community perspectives