skip to main content

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