Faculty Research

Sarah Bauerle Bass: Risk communication and how public health messages are crafted for all audiences, as well as the use of new technologies and their impact on patient self-efficacy and behavior intention.

Keywords: risk communication, health literacy, perceptual mapping, health behavior, decision making

Michael Brown: Focus on areas that compromise the vascular endothelium and are related to the hypertension of African Americans using a complementary in vitro-in vivo experimental approach. Research represents a shift in current paradigms of racial health disparity research in hypertension and vascular dysfunction.

Keywords: hypertension, vascular dysfunction, health disparity

Bradley Collins:  Prevention and treatment of behavioral health problems contributing to physical and mental illness. Healthy lifestyle promotion among children and families in vulnerable populations. Emphasis on integrating behavioral laboratory and community intervention research approaches to facilitate intervention efficacy and understanding mechanisms of health behavior change.

Keywords:  behavioral intervention, psychosocial, tobacco cessation, cancer prevention, addiction, substance dependence, depression, psychiatric co-morbidity, physical activity, underserved, disparities

Adam Davey: Five areas of research reflect my emphasis on elaborating person-environment interactions as they relate to basic and applied public health research: (1) Families as Contexts, (2) Linking Individuals and Contexts, (3) Measurement in Population-Based Settings, (4) Elaborating the Trait-State Distinction, and (5) Optimizing Incomplete Designs.

Keywords: gerontology research laboratory; exceptional survival; regional and within-family variations in formal and informal care; optimizing incomplete designs

Jeff Draine: Intersection of mental illness, behavioral health, and HIV with the criminal justice system. In particular, individual, community, and policy interventions for more just and healthy responses to the needs of people impacted by incarceration, as well as impact of incarceration experiences on individuals, families, and communities.

Keywords: mental health, jails, prisons, reentry, recovery, substance use

Jay Fagan: At-risk fathers (nonresident, Head Start, adolescent fathers), parent education and co-parenting interventions for fathers, fathers and early childhood programs, fathering in the context of family processes, family structure, and the relationship between childcare and work-family balance among low-income women.

Keywords: at-risk fathers, family structure, family processes

Brian Goldstein: Three main areas of research: (1) the nature of speech sound development and disorders (i.e., problems) in monolingual Spanish-speaking children and in Spanish-English bilingual children; (2) the relationship between language experience, language ability, and speech sound production in bilingual children; and (3) appropriate identification of speech sound disorders in Spanish-English bilingual children.

Keywords: Spanish, bilingual, speech development, speech disorders

Carol Scheffner Hammer: Cultural and environmental influences that impact children's language and literacy abilities, particularly Latino, bilingual children. Development and implementation of school readiness interventions for children who are at risk for poor literacy and academic outcomes.

Keywords: language development, literacy, bilingual, school readiness, interventions

Alice Hausman: Implications of evidence-based practice for community health particularly as it relates to youth violence prevention and emergency preparedness and response for vulnerable populations. Implementation and evaluation of best practices in community settings.

Keywords: mixed methods analysis, community-based collaborations, vulnerable populations, Center for Preparedness Research, Education and Practice (C-PREP)

Cheryl Hyde: Organizational transformation, community capacity building, social movements and civil society. How dynamics of race, class, gender and other cultural identity factors influence collective actions and change processes. Mixed method research to examine the development of human capital and social capital among participants in a multi-tiered job training program.

Keywords: capacity building, social capital, change processes, civil society

Jennifer K. Ibrahim: Research interests are focused on health policy development and implementation, particularly at the state and local level. Primary topical areas of research are tobacco control and food safety from both the policy intervention and systems perspectives.

Keywords: public health law, policy, food safety, tobacco control

Emily Keshner: Examine how conflicting sensory feedback demands influence the ability to organize effective postural behaviors. Parameterize neural and biomechanical components of complex, whole body movements when engaged in postural and orientation tasks. Develop new treatment interventions to effectively reduce instability and falls in aging and clinical populations.

Keywords: posture, balance, spatial orientation, sensorimotor integration, virtual reality

Stephen Lepore: Developing social and behavioral interventions to reduce social disparities in health and to improve quality of life outcomes in individuals coping with traumatic and stressful live events, such as cancer, bereavement, and violence.

Keywords: stress, coping, social support, psychosocial interventions, cancer prevention, psycho-oncology, behavioral interventions

Grace Ma: Community-based participatory intervention trials, early detection, patient navigation of Hepatitis B, cancers and chronic illnesses, smoking cessation, access and quality of healthcare in medically underserved, uninsured and high-risk Asian and Asian American populations.

Keywords: cancer intervention trials, health disparities, medically underserved populations, global health

Nadine Martin: Cognitive relations between language processing and other cognitive processes such as verbal short-term memory (STM) and executive functioning. Theories are tested through the study of language breakdown in aphasia and other acquired neurogenic language disorders. Data and models are applied to the development of diagnostic and treatment approaches.

Keywords:  aphasia, verbal short-term memory impairment, language processing

Deborah Nelson: Promote health and well-being of urban women and their young children. Advance integration and practice of public health and medicine, and partner with women and health care providers to promote healthy pregnancies and healthy babies.

Keywords: MCH_Well, pregnancy, preterm birth, urban women

Bernie Newman: Sexual orientation and gender identity issues, including identity development, development of attitudes at individual and societal levels, access to effective social work and health related services; sexual abuse and sexual assault, specifically prevention, recovery and treatment; and intimate partner violence among adolescents. 

Keywords: Sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual abuse, sexual assault, intimate partner violence.

Elizabeth Pfeiffer: Qualitative and quantitative research examining the impact on participation and quality of life of sensory processing disorders on adults and children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and ADHD. Effectiveness of a sensory-based treatment model in children and adults with ASD and psychosocial issues. Measures of participation for children with ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder; attention deficit, hyperactivity

Nancy Rothman: Nurse-managed models of delivering health care, primary health care, community-defined health risks and prevention/intervention strategies.

Keywords: nurse-managed models; primary health care and prevention

Scott Edward Rutledge: HIV prevention interventions for prisoners and African American gay and other men who have sex with men; contextualizing, measuring and reducing AIDS stigma in health services; and, understanding patterns of HIV disclosure in sexual situations.

Keywords: HIV prevention, AIDS stigma, HIV disclosure, human sexuality

Mark Salzer: Delivery of effective community mental health and rehabilitation services to individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Specifically focus on identifying and eliminating barriers to full community inclusion (e.g., work, school, intimate relationships, spirituality, friendships, parenting), promoting the development and utilization of effective supports and mainstream community resources, and enhancing development and effectiveness of peer support programs.

Keywords: psychiatric rehabilitation, community inclusion, psychiatric disabilities

Gretchen Snethen: Developing interventions that utilize recreation and leisure to promote independent community participation and social integration among adults with psychiatric disabilities. Understanding socio-environmental factors that could prevent community participation. 

Keywords: strengths-based approach, psychiatric disability, community participation