
AFFILIATES
BECOME A MEMBER
Becoming an affiliate of the HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention provides access to resources and a broad network of stakeholders who are interested in understanding, mitigating, and ultimately eliminating health disparities. Our Affiliates are instrumental partners in our interdisciplinary efforts to disseminate innovative and transformative research findings back into the communities we serve.
We seek to continue maximizing our collaborative efforts by encouraging University of Houston faculty interested in pursuing research in addictions, cancer, and/or health-equity science to affiliate with our Center. Affiliation provides exclusive benefits and access to resources, services, and support provided by the Research Infrastructure Core, Community Engagement Core, and the Investigator Development Core.
Affiliate membership is based on a competitive application process.
The evaluation of new membership is based on scholarship to date, future scholarly potential, and the applicant’s fit with the goals and research interests of the HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention.
Please email the completed application and required components to healthrcmi@central.uh.edu
Affiliate applications are accepted year round.
To learn more about our Affiliation program, including membership advantages please watch our informational webinar.

Susan M. Abughosh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Medical Adherence, Chronic Disease, Motivational
Interviewing-Based Interventions

Chiara Acquati, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Graduate College
of Social Work
Research Interests:
Psychosocial Oncology, Stress and Coping, Close Relationships and Caregiving, Social Determinants of Health/Health Disparities, Intervention Research

Ran An, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Sickle Cell Disease
Organ-On-A-Chip Technology Electrochemical Sensing Electrokinetics

Fatin Atrooz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Stress exposure and substance use, Psychological stress and addiction, Early life sleep deprivation, Mental Health, and Substance Use

Omolola E. Adepoju, Ph.D., MPH
Assistant Professor
Collegeof Medicine
Research Interests:
Health Disparities
Technology and Health
Chronic Disease

Venkatesh Balan, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Engineering Technology
Research Interests:
Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Extracellular Polysaccharides (EPS)

Johanna Bick, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Early Life Stress and Neurodevelopment,
Prevention and Intervention,
Health Disparities

Maggie Britton, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
College of Education
Research Interests:
Tobacco Control, Cancer Prevention, Health Disparities, Shared Decision Making

Diana S-L. Chow, Ph.D.
Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Formulation development, Drug Delivery System, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Preclinical/Clinical research, Cancer

Kumaraswamy Chitrala, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
College of Technology
Research Interests:
Cancer Biology, Neurological
Disorders, Computational Biology
& Bioinformatics, Aging

Lila Carden, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Technology
Research Interests:
Technology and Healthcare, Social Behaviors, Risk Management Framework, Minorities

Sang Kyu Cho, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Health Outcomes Research, Health Policy, Health Economics, Minority Populations

Lauren R. Gilbert, Ph.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Community-Engaged Research, Opioid Epidemic, and Health-Equity Research

Austin De La Cruz, Pharm.D.
Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Substance Use Disorders,
Mental Health, Psychiatry

Lorra Garey, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Psychopathology, Addiction, Smoking Cessation Treatment, Vulnerable Populations

Renita Horton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests:
Cardiovascular Disease Models, Microdevices, Environmental Cues and Heart Disease,
Heart Disease Mechanisms

Ben King, Ph.D., M.P.H
Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Homelessness
Social Determinants of Health
Environmental Epidemiology Cardiovascular Epidemiology
Cerebrovascular Epidemiology

Bin Guo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cancer Biology, Cancer Pharmacology, Drug Delivery, Drug Discovery

Therese A. Kosten, Ph.D.
Professor
Psychology
Research Interests:
HPA Axis and Stress, Memory and Addiction, Sex Differences,
Epigenetics, Maternal Behavior, and Medication Development

Raj Kumar, Ph.D.
Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Steroid Hormone Receptors,
Breast Cancer, and Endocrine-Related Cancers

Zhengwei Li, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Bioelectronic Medicine
Biohybrid Robotics
Cancer Biophysics
Biohybrid Engineering

Mary Love, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Nursing
Research Interests:
Cardiovascular Disease,
Stroke Resilience,
Race-Related Stress, Psychological/Biological Factors
Social/Cultural Factors

Onyebuchi Ononogbu, Pharm.D
Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cancer Health Disparities, Cancer Screenings, Medication Adherence,
Quality Improvement of Cancer
Patients' Hospital Stays,
Minority Representation in
Healthcare Professions

Maram Quttina, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Fellow
College of Technology
Research Interests:
Cancer Detection, Ovarian Cancer, Therapeutic Response, 3D Micropatterned Platform

Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Sexual Minority & Race-Related
Stress & Coping, LGBTQIA+
Tobacco Disparities

Pranav J. Parikh, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Sensorimotor Control, Systems Neuroscience, Clinical Device Development

Steven Starks, M.D.
Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Mental Health Equity, State Mental Health Policy, Substance Use Disorders, Workforce Diversity & Inclusion

Samina Salim, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychological Stress,
Cancer, and Sleep

Anirban Roy, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cellular & Muscular Signaling of Skeletal Muscle, Regeneration/Degeneration, Muscle Metabolism

Meghana Trivedi, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Translational Research, Clinical
Research, Cancer Prevention,
and Medication Adherence

Steven P. Woods, Ph.D.
Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology, HIV
and Aging Health

Emily LaVoy, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Physical Fitness/Exercise
on Immune Dysregulation, Exercise Oncology