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
​