
MEET THE TEAM
OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH, FAHA
Principal Investigator
​
HEALTH–RCMI Principal Investigator
Chief Population Health Officer | Founder, UH Population Health
Clinical Professor of Population Health

Ezemenari Obasi, PhD
​​​
HEALTH-RCMI Founder,
Vice President for Research & Innovation
Division of Research
& Innovation
Wayne State University

Fatima A. Merchant, PhD
Director
​
Professor and Chair of Computer Engineering
Technology and Computational Health Informatics,
University of Houston

Stacey Gorniak, PhD, FAHA
Director
​
Associate Professor, Department of Health and Human Performance, University of Houston

Chakema Carmack, PhD
Director
​
Department of Psychological,
Health, & Learning Sciences
University of Houston

Michael J. Zvolensky, PhD
Behavioral Science Research Project
Director
​
Professor of Psychology; Director, Anxiety and Health Research Laboratory and Substance Use Treatment Clinic,
University of Houston
​
​

Michael Businelle, PhD
Behavioral Science Research Project
Director
​
Associate Professor of Family
and Preventive Medicine; Leader
of the OTRC mHealth Core,
University of Oklahoma

Ashika Brinkley, PhD, MPH
Health Initiative
Research Director

Tzuan A. Chen, PhD
Senior Biostatistician and Program Evaluator
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Arlette Chavez
Program Manager

Safiya Friday
Program Director
OUR SUPPORT TEAM

Damien Kelly, EdD
Community Education and Outreach Coordinator

Alison Medley
Communications Manager

Kristen Morrison
Director of Community Education & Outreach

Pablo Panta
Community Education and Outreach Coordinator

Natalie Shipula
Sr. Graphics Designer