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Urban Health Faculty Affiliates Directory


Thomas Baranowski
Baylor College of Medicine
tbaranow@bcm.edu
Research Interests:psychosocial and neighborhood influences on children’s diet, physical activity, and adiposity in the context of their family or school • theory based design, implementation and evaluation of interventions to change children’s diet, physical activity and adiposity in the context of the family • design of videogames to change children’s or parents’ diet, physical activity or adiposity • advances in measurement of the behaviors, or psychosocial or environmental influences on children’s diet and physical activity behaviors


Ann S. Barnes
Baylor College of Medicine
smith@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Obesity and weight management in ethnic minority and low-income populations • Public Health system response to obesity • Health system/community partnerships for patient wellness • “Positive Deviance” as a tool for community-based participatory research


Charles E. Begley
UT Health Sciences Center
charles.e.begley@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Health disparities, state and local health policy, health care reform, epilepsy


Jodi Berger Cardoso
University of Houston
jcardoso@central.uh.edu
Research Interests:health and wellbeing of children of immigrants


Jin Young Choi
Sam Houston State University
JYC002@shsu.edu
Research Interests:Health and health care disparity, community and social contextual effects, immigrant health issues, obesity


Jerome Crowder
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
jecrowde@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Urbanization and migration among Hispanics, use of technology, medical, urban and visual anthropology


Karen W. Cullen
Baylor College of Medicine
kcullen@bcm.edu
Research Interests:School food policy, family health promotion interventions


Jayna M. Dave 
Baylor College of Medicine 
jmdave@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Obesity prevention, Health disparities, Hunger and food insecurity, Community-based dietary interventions

Jeff Dennis
UT Permian Basin
dennis_j@utpb.edu
Research Interests:Racial/ethnic disparities in birth outcomes, theories of cumulative disadvantage, acculturation and health, early childhood health and development


Maria Fernandez
UT Health Sciences Center
maria.e.fernandez@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Cancer prevention, health promotion, community health intervention strategies


Luisa Franzini
UT Health Sciences Center
luisa.franzini@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Health disparities and minority health


Laura Hermer
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
ldhermer@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Law, ethics and policy of health coverage; underserved populations; tobacco control; legal issues in bioethics


University of Houston
Dherna32@central.uh.edu
Research Interests:child obesity, food insecurity, nutrition, public policy


Robert Hummer
UT Austin
rhummer@prc.utexas.edu
Research Interests:Health and Mortality Disparities; Race/Ethnicity and Immigration; Socioeconomic Status


Janis Hutchinson
University of Houston
jhutchinson@uh.edu
Research Interests:HIV/AIDS, racism and health, family talk about chronic illnesses, and health issues among People of Color


Richard R. Johnson
Rice University
rrj@rice.edu
Research Interests:Health benefits of “green” infrastructure: trails, parks, trees and low-impact development


Harold W. Kohl, III
UT Health Sciences Center
harold.w.kohl@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Community environments as they relate to physical activity behaviors


University of Houston
dtkao@uh.edu
Research Interests:health and health care disparities, immigrant and minority populations, Asian/Pacific Islander populations, social policy


Tracey Ledoux
University of Houston
taledoux@Central.UH.EDU
Research Interests:identifying determinants of overeating, developing and testing change strategies to reduce overeating, and developing maternal and child obesity prevention programs


David Lopez
UT Health Sciences Center
david.s.lopez@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Understand the pathways that contribute to cancer-related racial/ethnic and health disparities, Investigate the interplay between obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome and prostate cancer incidence and progression, Study the association of circulating markers of androgenecity and inflammation with stage and grade of prostate cancer, Study the role of racial/ethnic variation in sex steroid hormones in the etiology of prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia


Kimberly K. Lopez
Baylor College of Medicine
kl2@bcm.edu
Research Interests:traumatic effects of poverty on children and adolescents, women’s and adolescent health, visual anthropology, and qualitative research methods


Kyriakos Markides
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
kmarkide@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Hispanic health and aging


Christine Markham
UT Health Sciences Center
christine.markham@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:and adolescent health promotion programming with a primary focus on sexual and reproductive health, and chronic disease management, including asthma and HIV


Sheryl McCurdy
UT Health Sciences Center
sheryl.a.mccurdy@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Harm reduction, health equity, HIV/AIDS, global health, social justice, substance use, and women's health


Amy McGuire
Baylor College of Medicine
amcguire@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Ethical, legal, and social issues in genetic research and personalized genomic medicine


Jason Mendoza
Baylor College of Medicine
jamendoz@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Childhood obesity prevention among disadvantaged children; interventions to improve children’s nutrition and physical activity; community-engaged research; and children’s food insecurity and health


Christen Miller
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
cmmille3@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Early childhood and youth development, community-driven poverty alleviation, global health education, and international volunteerism


Patricia D. Mullen
UT Health Sciences Center
patricia.d.mullen@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Informed and shared decision making for values-based screening tests and cancer treatments; pre-conception and pregnancy interventions for tobacco and alcohol use; use of evidence-based public health programs; and systematic review and meta-analysis


Lucinda Nevarez
MD Anderson
lnevarez@mdanderson.org
Research Interests:Examining the impact of discrimination on health, health behaviors, and health choices. My research focuses primarily on health disparities, particularly among Hispanic and African American populations


Theresa Nicklas
Baylor College of Medicine
tnicklas@bcm.edu
Research Interests:nutritional epidemiology, child nutrition, childhood obesity, nutrition behavioral interventions, and public policy related to nutrition


Alexandra B. Nolen
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
abnolen@utmb.edu
Research Interests:health disparities, social determinants of health, Health in All Policies approaches, research to policy processes, and disaster recovery


Margaret Nosek
Baylor College of Medicine
mnosek@bcm.edu
Research Interests:women with physical disabilities, health disparities and disability, interpersonal violence and women with disabilities, health promotion and women with disabilities, internet-based health promotion intervention


Teresia O'Connor
Baylor College of Medicine
teresiao@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Parental influence on a child’s obesity-related behaviors through framework of parenting styles and parenting practices


Kristen Peek
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
mkpeek@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Stress, environment, and health disparities


Sharon Petronella Croisant
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
spetrone@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Environmental Health, Public Health, Community-Based Participatory Research, Translational/Integrative Research, Development of Evidence-based Health Policy, Cumulative Risk


Lisa Pompeii
UT Health Sciences Center
lisa.pompeii@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:occupational epidemiology, occupational injury, disparities in work-related injuries and work disability, occupational health issues for low wage and pregnant workers


John Prochaska
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
joprocha@utmb.edu
Research Interests:community health development, health impact assessment, health disparities, application of systems sciences to public health


Courtney M. Queen
University of Houston
cmqueen@central.uh.edu
Research Interests:Health disparities, neglected tropical diseases, hard to reach populations, technology and access to healthcare


Rebecca Richards-Kortum
Rice University
rkortum@rice.edu
Research Interests:Technologies to improve global urban healt


Laura Rudkin
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
lrudkin@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Social epidemiology, scholarly service learning, public health in medical education


Jarron Saint Onge
University of Houston
jmsaintonge@uh.edu
Research Interests:Social Epidemiology, Mortality, Health Disparities, Biodemography, Community and Neighborhood Effects, Mental Health


Shreela Sharma
UT Health Sciences Center
shreela.v.sharma@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Behavioral epidemiology with a focus on chronic disease prevention, primarily obesity, cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in children and adolescents from low-income, Hispanic and African American populations


Edith Silvas
MD Anderson
esilvas@mdanderson.org
Research Interests:


Diana Strassmann
Rice University
dls@rice.edu
Research Interests:Gender and economic well-being, the impact of feminism on economics, poverty and human development


Deborah Thompson
Baylor College of Medicine
dit@bcm.edu
Research Interests:Child obesity prevention, healthy nutrition, physical activity, theory, measurement, health communication, intervention research, digital media, health disparities


Sarah Tom
UT Medical Branch at Galveston
setom@utmb.edu
Research Interests:Aging, women’s health, sleep


Debra J. Umberson
UT Austin
umberson@prc.utexas.edu
Research Interests:Relationships and health, mental health, health behavior, social determinants of health, stress, death and dying


Mark Wamble
Rice University
wamble@interlooparchitecture.com
Research Interests:New building types in response to urban context, adaptive re-use as an alternative to historic preservation, advanced technologies for residential architecture


David Wetter
MD Anderson
dwetter@mdanderson.org
Research Interests:theoretical models of addictive and cancer risk behaviors; the epidemiology and public health impact of those behaviors; and the development, evaluation, and dissemination of theoretically-based interventions


Anna Wilkinson
UT Health Sciences Center
anna.v.wilkinson@uth.tmc.edu
Research Interests:Smoking Prevention, Promotion of Physical Activity; Role of social factors (acculturation, psychosocial resources, and built environment) and genetic factors in shaping the behaviors, and gene-environment interactions