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 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.
The HEALTH-RCMI is not accepting Affiliate applications at this time. Please email healthrcmi@central.uh.edu for any inquiries
To learn more about our Affiliation program, including membership advantages please watch our informational webinar.
Susan M. Abughosh, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Medical Adherence, Chronic Disease, Motivational
Interviewing-Based Interventions
Chiara Acquati, PhD
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, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Sickle Cell Disease
Organ-On-A-Chip Technology Electrochemical Sensing Electrokinetics
Fatin Atrooz, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow
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, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Health Disparities
Technology and Health
Chronic Disease
Venkatesh Balan, PhD
Assistant Professor
Engineering Technology
Research Interests:
Prostate Cancer, Breast Cancer, and Extracellular Polysaccharides (EPS)
Johanna Bick, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Early Life Stress and Neurodevelopment,
Prevention and Intervention,
Health Disparities
Winston Liaw, PhD
Chair & Clinical Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Artificial intelligence, Non-Medical Drivers of Care, Primary Care Delivery
Diana S-L. Chow, PhD
Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Formulation development, Drug Delivery System, Pharmacokinetics, Pharmacodynamics, Preclinical/Clinical research, Cancer
Kumaraswamy Chitrala, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Technology, Cullen College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Cancer Biology, Neurological
Disorders, Computational Biology
& Bioinformatics, Aging
Lila Carden, PhD
Assistant Professor
Division of Technology, Cullen College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Technology and Healthcare, Social Behaviors, Risk Management Framework
Therese A. Kosten, PhD
Professor
Psychology
Research Interests:
HPA Axis and Stress, Memory and Addiction, Sex Differences,
Epigenetics, Maternal Behavior, and Medication Development
Luke Heggeness, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Emotion Regulation, Substance use and Addictive Behaviors, Transdiagnostic Mental Health Vulnerabilities
Austin De La Cruz, PharmD
Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Substance Use Disorders,
Mental Health, Psychiatry
Lorra Garey, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Psychopathology, Addiction, Smoking Cessation Treatment, Vulnerable Populations
Renita Horton, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests:
Cardiovascular Disease Models, Microdevices, Environmental Cues and Heart Disease,
Heart Disease Mechanisms
Ben King, PhD, MPH
Clinical Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Homelessness
Social Determinants of Health
Environmental Epidemiology Cardiovascular Epidemiology
Cerebrovascular Epidemiology
Bin Guo, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cancer Biology, Cancer Pharmacology, Drug Delivery, Drug Discovery
Elham Morshedzadeh
Assistant Professor
Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture and Design
Research Interests:
Health and Wellness Innovation, Community Participatory Research and Design, Telehealth, User Research
Debasish Halder, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Research Interests:
Immunology, Autoimmune Disorders, Infectious Diseases, Neuroblastoma
Zhengwei Li, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Bioelectronic Medicine
Biohybrid Robotics
Cancer Biophysics
Biohybrid Engineering
Mary Love, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Nursing
Research Interests:
Cardiovascular Disease,
Stroke Resilience,
Race-Related Stress, Psychological/Biological Factors
Social/Cultural Factors
Onyebuchi Ononogbu, PharmD
Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cancer Health Disparities, Cancer Screenings, Medication Adherence,
Quality Improvement of Cancer
Patients' Hospital Stays,
Representation in
Healthcare Professions
Maram Quttina, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Division of Technology, Cullen College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Cancer Detection, Ovarian Cancer, Therapeutic Response, 3D Micropatterned Platform
Zelma Oyarvide Tuthill, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Stress & Coping,
Tobacco Disparities
Pranav J. Parikh, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Sensorimotor Control, Systems Neuroscience, Clinical Device Development
Steven Starks, MD
Assistant Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Mental Health, State Mental Health Policy, Substance Use Disorders
Samina Salim, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Psychological Stress,
Cancer, and Sleep
Anirban Roy, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Cellular & Muscular Signaling of Skeletal Muscle, Regeneration/Degeneration, Muscle Metabolism
Meghana Trivedi, PharmD, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Translational Research, Clinical
Research, Cancer Prevention,
and Medication Adherence
Steven P. Woods, PhD
Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology, HIV
and Aging Health
Emily LaVoy, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Physical Fitness/Exercise
on Immune Dysregulation, Exercise Oncology
Nathan G. Smith, PhD
Professor
College of Education
Research Interests:
Health Disparities, Sexual Health, Mental Health, Substance Use, Stress Physiology
Brooke Redmond, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts
& Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Digital-Based Interventions, Health Disparities,
Health Behaviors, Psychopathology
Rashim Singh, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
Drug-Induced Gut Toxicity, Cancer Chemoprevention, Dietary Polyphenols Intervention
Elizabeth Jelsma, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Education
Research Interests:
Race-Related Stress, Substance Use, Health Disparities, Human Development
Dinler Antunes, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Research Interests:
Computational Biology, Cancer Immunotherapy, Cellular Immunity, Therapy Design
Samaneh Karami, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics
Research Interests:
Cancer Biology, Early Detection of Cancer, Drug Discovery, 3D Cancer Models
Elizabeth Coen, PhD
Assistant Professor
Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts
School of Theatre & Dance
Research Interests:
Arts in Health Interventions, Community-Engaged Research, Youth Mental Health, Information Literacy
Dipali Venkataraman Rinker, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Pharmacy
Research Interests:
High-Risk Addictive Behaviors, Social Mechanisms of Behavior Change, Social Determinants of Health
Jingyi Luan, PhD
Assistant Professor
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Molecular Diagnostics, Wearable and Point-of-Care Sensor, Biomarker Discovery for Neurological Disorder and Cancer
Tameka Clemons, PhD
Clinical Associate Professor
College of Medicine
Research Interests:
Cell Signaling, Alzheimer’s Disease, Type 2 Diabetes
Chang Liu, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
College of Engineering
Research Interests:
Functional Biomaterials, Tissue Engineering, Advanced Medical Devices, Drug Delivery
Aliye B. Cepni, PhD
Research Assistant Professor
College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Research Interests:
Community-Based Health Promotion, Obesity Prevention, Youth Health
Julie Dunsmore, PhD
Professor
College of Education
Research Interests:
Emotion Socialization, Socio-Emotional Functioning, Relational and Behavioral Health, Human Development