Expert Directory

Showing results 1461–1480 of 1842

Francesca Torriani, MD

Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology

UC San Diego Health

AIDS,COVID-19,Epidemiology,flu,HIV,Infection Control,Infectious Disease,Influenza,SARS-CoV-2,TB,Tuberculosis

Francesca J. Torriani, MD, is a professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego. She sees patients in the Owen Clinic and the infectious diseases clinic. She also cares for people during hospital stays.


Dr. Torriani is medical director of the UC San Diego Infection Prevention and Clinical Epidemiology and the tuberculosis control units at UC San Diego Health. In collaboration with Atlas Public Health, she has been instrumental in creating an extensive electronic microbiology surveillance and pharmacy utilization program called Guardian that allows for internal data mining, surveillance, unit-specific antibiogram production, and external reporting of contagious infections to San Diego Public Health and to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI).


Since 2010, Dr. Torriani has served on the Metrics Group for CA HAI Reporting, an independent group of experts discussing best standards and methods for HAI reporting in California. 


She is fluent in five languages: Italian, French, German, Spanish and English.

Nien-Pei Tsai

Associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Alzheimer's Disease,Autism Spectrum Disorder,Behavioral Disorders,Epilepsy,Learning,Learning And Memory,Memory,Neurobiology,Neurological Disorders,Psychiatric Disorders,Synapses,Synaptic Transmission,Therapeutic target discovery

Nien-Pei Tsai is an associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. 


An imbalance in neuronal and synaptic excitability is a common abnormality observed in patients with various psychiatric and neurological disorders, including autism spectrum disorders, epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease. The dysregulation of excitability is thought to exacerbate disease symptoms. Identifying and understanding the mechanisms underlying the dysregulation of excitability could reveal novel therapeutic targets for these diseases. To achieve this goal, we utilize various approaches including molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and mouse genetics to understand the regulation of excitability homeostasis at synaptic, neuronal, network and system levels, and how the deficits of those affect behavior in diseases. 


Research Interests:


    

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    Neurobiology
    

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    Synaptic transmission
    

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  • 

    Learning and memory
    

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  • 

    Neurological and behavioral disorders
    

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Current focuses of Tsai's lab include:


1. Studying activity-dependent translational control in fragile X syndrome


2. Exploring novel transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulators in neurodevelopment 


3. Determining the role of cellular stress response in neuronal plasticity


4. Characterizing the molecular mechanisms contributing to comorbid seizures in Alzheimer's disease


 


Education


    

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    B.S., National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2002
    

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    M.Sc., National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, 2004
    

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    Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 2009
    

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Arden Rowell, Ph.D.

Professor of Law

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Climate Change,cost-benefit analysis,Economics,Environment,Environmental Law,Environmental Policy,Law,Psychology,Risk Analysis,risk regulation,Sustainability

Professor Rowell’s research interests revolve around risk regulation, the environment, and human behavior. She has taught courses on environmental law, administrative law, behavioral law and economics, risk and the environment, law and sustainable economic development, and valuation. Her research focuses on integrating scientific and social science insights into risk regulation and on the interactions between law, science, social science, and policy.


Her key interest areas are regulation and risk analysis, environmental law and policy, climate change, cost-benefit analysis, law, and psychology.


Recently, her research has focused on bringing interdisciplinary insights into environmental law. This year she published three books: The Psychology of Environmental Law (with Kenworthey Bilz), which explores the relationship between environmental law and psychology, and two companion volumes – A Guide to U.S. Environmental Law and A Guide to EU Environmental Law (with Josephine van Zeben) – which are designed to make environmental law accessible to non-legal readers and to foreign lawyers. Her past scholarly work has been published in law reviews and interdisciplinary journals including Science, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the University of Chicago Law Review. 


Professor Rowell has been a visiting professor at Duke Law School (2018) and Harvard Law School (2015-16) and was a visiting researcher at Oxford University (2015, 2016). In 2015, she also completed a federal detail at the Environmental Protection Agency, and was named a University Scholar through a program at the University of Illinois meant to recognize the university’s “very best teachers and scholars.”


Before joining the Illinois faculty in 2010, Professor Rowell was a Bigelow Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School, from which she also received her J.D. After law school, Professor Rowell practiced at Perkins Coie LLP in Seattle. Professor Rowell has a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology/archaeology, which she earned from the University of Washington at the age of 18. Before law school, she worked as an encyclopedia entry writer and as a video game tester.

Charles Schroeder, Ph.D.

Professor of materials science and engineering

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Molecular Engineering,Soft Materials

Charles M. Schroeder is the James Economy Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is Co-Chair of the Molecular Science and Engineering Theme and Leader of the AI for Materials Group in the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Professor Schroeder is a faculty member in the Center for Biophysics and Quantitative Biology and holds affiliate status in the Department of Chemistry, the Department of Bioengineering, the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, and the Materials Research Lab. He previously served as Associate Head in the Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering at Illinois.


Professor Schroeder received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1999, followed by an M.S. in 2001 and Ph.D. in 2005 in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University. Before joining the University of Illinois in 2008, he was a Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow and a K99/R00 NIH postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University (2004-2007). 


Professor Schroeder is the recipient of several awards, including a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering, a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, an NSF CAREER Award, the Arthur B. Metzner Award from the Society of Rheology, an NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00), the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research at Illinois, and the Vision and Spirit Award from the Beckman Institute. Professor Schroeder is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS Fellow, 2022) and a Fellow of the Society of Rheology (2023).


Research Statement 


The cutting edge of chemical science research lies in the ability to manipulate and control single molecules. The Schroeder group has pioneered a unique and powerful brand of molecular engineering that allows for the precise design and characterization of single molecules, in problems ranging from polymer physics to molecular electronics. Imagine the ability to design and engineer new soft materials with any desired functional properties (e.g., electrical, optical, mechanical) by controlling chemical structure and composition at the molecular level. The Schroeder group aims to achieve this vision by understanding how form and function arise in soft materials given precise control over molecular synthesis, structure, and processing. Current work is defined by four focus areas:


Single polymer dynamics. A major unsolved problem in soft materials and rheology lies in understanding how the collective behavior of individual molecules gives rise to bulk properties in polymeric materials. To address this challenge, the Schroeder group has extended the field of single polymer dynamics to new materials including architecturally complex polymers such as rings and branched polymers. His work provides a molecular-level understanding of non-equilibrium polymer dynamics, bridging the gap between molecular behavior and bulk properties in polymeric liquids and solids. Recent work has focused on fully recyclable synthetic polymers using metastable chemistries.


Vesicle dynamics, biological membranes, microhydrodynamics & Stokes trap. Schroeder's group studies the non-equilibrium conformational dynamics of lipid vesicles and colloidal clusters using a Stokes trap, which is a new method developed by his group that allows for the precise trapping and manipulation of single molecules or particles using automated flow control. Understanding the dynamics of membrane-bound vesicles is critical for developing new and efficient drug delivery vehicles. His recent work has focused on understanding the non-linear deformation of lipid membranes in flow, including phase separation and dynamics of multi-component lipid membranes under tension. 


Automated synthesis for materials discovery. The Schroeder group uses automated synthesis to drive the discovery of new materials for applications including organic electronics and energy storage. A “Lego-like” building block approach is used to synthesize large libraries of chemically diverse, sequence-defined molecules via automated iterative Suzuki coupling (C-C coupling). Automated synthesis is also used in combination with AI-guided, closed-loop discovery methods for new materials, e.g., organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with improved photostability or new electrochromic molecules.


Molecular electronics & bioelectronics. Electron transport in proteins is essential for fundamental life processes in living cells. Understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level remains an open challenge in the field. Recently, the Schroeder group has studied charge transport mechanisms in sequence-defined polymers, redox-active molecules, and supramolecular assemblies using single molecule techniques. His work is focused on bioelectronics by developing new sustainable materials for next-generation electronic devices, including self-assembled protein circuitry and conductive peptide nanowires. 


Department of Materials Science & Engineering profile


Research Group Website


Illinois Experts profile

Courtney Gibson, MD, MS, FACS

Associate Professor of Surgery (Oncology, Endocrine); Endocrine Surgery, Fellowship Program Director, Surgery

Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

Endocrine,Oncology,Thyroid Cancer

Dr. Gibson (nee Quinn) is an Endocrine Surgeon and Associate Professor of Surgery at Yale School of Medicine. Her clinical interests are surgery of the thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal gland, including minimally-invasive laparoscopic and retroperitoneoscopic surgical techniques. In addition, she serves as the Associate Clerkship Director for the Yale School of Medicine General Surgery Clerkship and is the Fellowship Director of the Endocrine Surgery Fellowship Program.


Her research interests include outcomes after minimally-invasive endocrine surgery (thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal), outpatient thyroidectomy and parathyroidectomy, intraoperative laryngeal nerve monitoring, and endocrine oncology. She obtained her MD from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA. She was a postdoctoral research fellow in In Utero Stem Cell Transplantation at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Philadelphia, PA. She completed her training in General Surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center, Livingston, NJ, and Endocrine Surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, Temple, TX.

Francine Foss, MD

Hi-Res Photo Francine Foss, MD Professor of Medicine (Hematology) and of Dermatology; Director, Multidisciplinary T cell Lymphoma Program, Hematology; Scientific Leader, Lymphoma CRT, Yale Cancer Center

Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

Blood Cancer,Hematologic Cancers,Lymphoma Cells

Dr. Francine Foss, Professor of Medicine in the Section of Medical Oncology at Yale Cancer Center, is an internationally recognized clinician and clinical researcher with expertise in adult lymphomas and in stem cell transplantation. She has developed and tested therapies that have been used to treat thousands of cancer patients, and her research has substantially impacted the field of stem cell research, benefiting patients at Yale and around the world. Dr. Foss has brought a nationally established clinical trials program to Yale Cancer Center. In her previous position at Tufts New England Medical Center in Boston, she designed, initiated, and directed multi-center national clinical trials which led to FDA approval of several novel therapies for lymphomas. One of these, Interleukin-2- Diphtheria toxin fusion protein, was the first FDA-approved fusion protein biologic drug and the first drug to be FDA approved for the treatment of T-cell lymphoma. In her laboratory work, she investigated and elucidated the mechanism by which extracorporeal photopheresis modulated antigen presenting cells, leading to a reduction in graft-vs-host disease in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplant. These findings led to the initiation of two National Cancer Institute-sponsored trials to confirm these results in patients with lymphoma and myelodysplastic syndrome. Dr. Foss is a member of the Stem Cell Therapy clinical program at Smilow Cancer Hospital.


Learn more about Dr. Foss>>


Dr. Foss is a world expert in T cell Lymphomas. She has pioneered several novel therapies for T cell lymphomas and has been a leader in many national studies. She developed and initiated the first national registry for T cell lymphomas in the United States and is a founder and co-chairman of the T CELL Forum, the preeminent international T cell lymphoma research meeting. She is a co-founder of the United States Cutaneous Lymphoma Consortium and currently serves as its President. She has been a Director of the international T-cell Project to research treatment and biology of T-cell lymphomas and serves on the NCCN panel of experts for T-cell lymphomas. As a translational researcher in T cell Lymphomas, she currently is collaborating with a number of laboratories and scientists at Yale to identify molecular targets in T Cell Lymphoma and recently was awarded a grant through the PITCH program for the state of Connecticut to develop a promising small molecule therapeutic for a rare form of lymphoma. Dr. Foss currently leads the multi-disciplinary T-cell Lymphoma clinical team at the Smilow Cancer Center and co-directs the Cutaneous Lymphoma Program at Yale with Dr. Michael Girardi. Her clinical practice at Smilow Cancer Hospital attracts patients from around the world.

Michael Karellas, MD, FACS

Assistant Professor of Urology; Director, Western Region, Department of Urology

Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital

Prostate Cancer,Urology

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Will Schneider, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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My research examines the influence of macroeconomic factors, family complexity and fatherhood, and interventions in the promotion of child well-being and the prevention of child maltreatment.








Education




    

  • BA in Political Science – University of Michigan
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  • Master’s and PhD in Social Work – Columbia University
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  • Post-Doctoral training –  Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University
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Liliane Windsor, PhD

Associate Dean for Research , Professor

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR),Ethnography,health risk behaviors,Hiv Prevention,Relationships





My dream is to live in a equitable society where everyone has a fair chance to thrive. To do that, I partner with community members to develop and test health interventions that change individual behaviors, relationships, and communities.








Education




    

  • M.S.W. and Ph.D. in Social Work – University of Texas at Austin
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  • B.S. in Education – FCH-FUMEC, Brazil
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Research




Dr. Windsor’s research focuses on the application of critical consciousness theory to the development of multi-level interventions designed to reduce health inequalities related to substance use disorders, HIV prevention, and criminal justice in marginalized communities. Dr. Windsor follows community based participatory research (CBPR) principles and utilizes a variety of scientific methodologies including ethnography, randomized experimental controlled trials, measurement development, meta-analysis, and online survey. She is the founder and chair of the Newark Community Collaborative Board (www.newarkccb.org), a group of researchers, service providers, and consumers who developed Community Wise, a multilevel intervention designed to reduce substance use frequency, criminal offending, and health risk behaviors. Dr. Windsor has overseen numerous research studies in the United States and in Brazil.


Dr. Windsor is currently the principal investigator of a large randomized controlled trial designed to optimize Community Wise (1R01MD010629). Dr. Windsor is also a co-investigator in in the Social Action in Rural Communities Study where she is developing and testing a participatory action research online training protocol to engage community members from rural communities affected by the opioid epidemic in research and behavioral health services (DPDA048570, PI: Dolores Albarracin).








Selected Publications




    

  • Windsor, L., Pinto, R., & Lee, C. (2020). Interprofessional collaboration associated with frequency of life-saving links to HIV continuum of care services in the urban environment of Newark, New Jersey. Manuscript under review. BMC Health Services Research.
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  • Windsor, L.; Benoit, E.,Smith, D., Pinto, R. M., & Kugler, K. (2018) Optimizing a community-engaged multi-level group intervention to reduce substance use: An application of the multiphase optimization strategy. Trials, 19 (255). DOI: 10.1186/s13063-018-2624-5. PMC5921441
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  • Jessell, Smith, Jemal & Windsor,L. (2016). Using online learning communities to facilitate collaboration in Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR). Journal of Technology in Human Services. 34(3), 241-255. DOI:10.1080/15228835.2016.1186581. PMC5646695
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  • Windsor, L., Jemal, A. & Alessi, E. (2015). Cognitive behavioral therapy: A meta-analysis of race and substance use outcomes. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 21 (2), 300-310. DOI: 10.1037/a0037929
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  • Windsor,L., Jessell, L., Lassiter, T., & Benoit, E. (2015). Community Wise: A formative evaluation of a community based health intervention. International Public Health Journal, 7(1), 79-90. PMC4653082
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  • Windsor, L.; Pinto, R.; Benoit, E.; Jessell, L., & Jemal, A. (2014). Community Wise:Addressing oppression to promote individual and community health. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 14(4), 402-420
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  • Windsor, L., Benoit, E., & Jemal, A. (2014). Community Wise: Paving the Way for Empowerment in Community Reentry. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. DOI 10.1016/j.ijlp.2014.02.023. NIHMS576112
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  • Windsor, L. (2013). Using Concept Mapping for community-based participatory research: Paving the way for community-based health interventions for oppressed populations. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 7(3), 274-293. DOI:10.1177/1558689813479175
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Tara Leytham Powell, PhD

Associate Professor

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

trauma recovery

 




I am committed to supporting disaster-affected individuals, families, and communities.  My hope is that all people affected by collective traumas have the necessary tangible, emotional, and institutional support to recover from these events. To do that, I partner with schools, non-profits, and community-based organizations to develop and test interventions designed to increase protective factors (e.g., social support, healthy coping) and reduce risk for those impacted by all forms of humanitarian crises.


Education




    

  • BA – University of Iowa
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  • MSW and MPH – Tulane University
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  • PhD in Social Work – University of Texas, Austin
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  • Peace Corps volunteer – Mali, West Africa
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Research




Dr. Tara Powell is a researcher and advocate for behavioral health interventions in disaster-affected communities. With a dual master’s in social work and public health from Tulane University and a PhD from the University of Texas, she explores the impact of behavioral health interventions in the US and abroad.


Drawing from her experience living in and working with disaster-affected communities, Dr. Powell has actively collaborated with local communities and global humanitarian organizations to develop, research, and distribute behavioral health interventions for individuals, families, and communities affected by collective traumas. Following Hurricane Katrina, she co-developed the "Journey of Hope" intervention with Save the Children, which has since been adopted as one of the organization's hallmark programs, reaching over 80,000 children worldwide.  Her experience spans a range of contexts, from communities impacted by conflicts like the Syrian Crisis to those who have experienced pandemics and climate-induced disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes.


Dr. Powell is currently the principal investigator of a multi-state randomized control trial to examine the impact and implementation of the Journey of Hope intervention (1R01MH131248).  Dr. Powell is also a co-investigator on the “Reducing Disparities in Disaster-Related Mental Health Burden” study that uses a community-based participatory research approach to adapt and test the efficacy of a community-based mental health intervention in the Gulf Coast (NASEM 2000013444; PI: Jennifer Scott).


Selected Publications


Powell, T., Qushua, N.(2023). A community-based mental health intervention to improve well-being among Syrian refugees and host communities in Jordan: A qualitative analysis.  International Journal of Social Psychiatry. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00207640221074808


Powell, T., Scott, J., Yuma, P., Hsaio, Y. (2022). Surviving the Storm: Intervening to reduce psychological distress for health and social care providers post-disaster. Health and Social Care in the Community. DOI: 10.1111/hsc.14059


Powell, T., Wegmann, K., Backode, E. (2021). Coping and Post-Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents After an Acute Onset Disaster: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Public Health.  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094865


Powell, T., Li, S.J., Hsiao, Y., Thompson, M., Farraj, A., Abdoh, M., Rarraj, R. (2021). An integrated physical and mental health awareness education intervention to reduce non-communicable diseases among Syrian refugees and Jordanians in host communities: A natural experiment study. Preventive Medicine Reports. 21, 101310. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101310


Powell, T., Wegmann, K., & Shin, O.J. (2019). Stress and coping in frontline mental health providers after Superstorm Sandy:  An examination of a post-disaster psycho-educational intervention. 25(2), 96 Traumatology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000189


Powell, T., Davis, J. (2018). Addressing the social emotional needs of children in chronic poverty: A pilot of the Journey of Hope. Children and Youth Services Review. 98, 319-327. DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.010


Powell, T. & Bui, T. (2016).  Supporting social and emotional skills after a disaster:  Findings from a mixed methods study.  School Mental Health 8 (1) 106-119.

Flávia Andrade, PhD

Professor

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Cognition,Demography,Disability,Mental Health,Public Health,Sociology









Flavia Andrade is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also holds appointments in the departments of Sociology and Kinesiology and Community Health. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.


What I Do




I am committed to advancing our understanding of health disparities at older ages. My hope is that everyone should age well and with good social support. My work aims to uncover factors that can help societies be more equitable and for individuals to reach better health outcomes. To do so, I use several datasets from many countries around the world, particularly Latin America and the United States.


Flavia Andrade is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America. Prior to coming to UI, she was a postdoc at the University of Chicago at the Harris School of Public Policy.














Research Interests






Demography, Sociology, Public Health










Research Description






Dr. Andrade is exploring how transitions at the population level, such as demographic, socioeconomic, nutritional, and epidemiological, are influencing health across the life course. Currently, her work has been focusing on the health of adults and older adults in Latin America and the Caribbean and Latinos in the US. Her current research focuses on several outcomes: chronic conditions (e.g., diabetes and hypertension), quality of life, disability, cognition, mental health, oral health, and life expectancy.


Currently, she is involved in several international projects aimed at understanding the determinants of health disparities. The ultimate goal is to identify factors that are more malleable to changes through interventions and policies.










Education






PhD Sociology - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MS Population Health - University of Wisconsin-Madison
MA - Demography - Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil
Ba Economics - Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil










Additional Campus Affiliations






Professor, School of Social Work
Acting Director, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Professor, Lemann Center for Brazilian Studies
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Professor, Women & Gender in Global Perspectives
Affiliate, Center for Social and Behavioral Science


Selected Publications




    

  • Guimaraes, R., Andrade, F. C. D. (2020). Healthy life-expectancy and multimorbidity among older adults: do inequality and poverty matter? Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 104157.
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  • Andrade, F. C. D., Corona, L. P., Duarte, Y. A. O. (2019) Educational differences in cognitive life expectancy among older adults in Brazil. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 1-8.
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  • Andrade, F. C. D. (2010). Measuring the impact of diabetes on life expectancy and disability-free life expectancy among older adults in Mexico. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 65B(3): 381-389.
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Benjamin Saldaña, DO, FACEP

Medical Director, Houston Methodist Emergency Care Centers

Houston Methodist

Emergency Medicine

Dr. R. Benjamin Saldaña, DO, FACEP


Medical Director, Houston Methodist Emergency Care Centers


 Dr. R. Benjamin Saldaña is board certified by the American Board of Emergency Medicine. He completed his medical training at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, completing a residency in emergency medicine at Lincoln Medical and Mental Health Center. He serves as assistant professor of clinical medicine with the Houston Methodist Institute for Academic Medicine and assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine with Weill Cornell Medicine, Texas A&M School of Medicine and Houston Methodist Hospital Emergency Department.


 

Douglas Cary Smith, PhD

Professor, Director of Center for Prevention Research and Development

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Motivational Interviewing





I am a licensed social work practitioner, a nationally certified trainer for the widely-used Global Assessment of Individual Needs (GAIN), and have completed advanced clinical training in Motivational Interviewing.








Education




    

  • BS in Psychology – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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  • MSW – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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  • PhD in Social Work – University of Iowa
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Research




Since 1996, Dr. Smith’ practice and research experience has focused on treating and preventing substance use disorders.  He has practice experience with varied substance misusing populations including: adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system, adults addicted to crack cocaine, and addicted mothers involved with child welfare.  Dr. Smith is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and has experience implementing numerous empirically-supported treatments, including: Motivational Interviewing, the Community Reinforcement Approach, The Seven Challenges®, and Strengths Oriented Family Therapy (SOFT).


His research currently focuses on what treatments work best for adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders.  For example, with generous support from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), he is developing a peer-enhanced treatment for use with young adults with alcohol problems.  Additionally, he is interesting in studying the effects of Motivational Interviewing among adolescents with alcohol and other substance use disorders.  Because of his productivity in these two areas, he was awarded the Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award in 2012 from the Society for Social Work and Research.

Moses Okumu, PhD

Assistant Professor

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

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Education




Dr. Okumu earned his PhD degree at the Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work at the University of Toronto.








Research




Dr. Okumu’s research focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of interventions in marginalized communities. He is particularly interested in examining the efficacy of digital and technology-based interventions for improving the sexual and mental health outcomes of vulnerable black youth.


After earning his Ph.D. degree at the University of Toronto, Dr. Okumu began a postdoctoral fellowship position with the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Originally from  Uganda, much of Dr. Okumu’s research on the development and delivery of digital health interventions is centered there and in sub-Saharan African communities. Focusing on comunity-based strategies and strengths, Dr. Okumu’s work advocates for the increasing infrastructure of existing support systems and equipping community members with the resources necessary to provide services to local youth. Additionally, his research aims to inform the development of evidence-based programming, best practices, and policies related to interventions that promote the well-being of marginalized black youth.


While his current research focuses on the prevention of gender-based violence among youth facing multiple forms of adversity in Uganda, Dr. Okumu is also interested in gender-transformative approaches and strength-based interventions related to men’s sexual and mental health. Experienced with using collaborative and community-based participatory methods, Dr. Okumu is interested in working with communities to address local needs in ways that utilize and further strengthen existing networks.

Karen Tabb Dina, PhD

Professor Health and Behavioral Health

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Diabetes,Maternal Health,Mental Health



Karen Tabb Dina, PhD, MSW is professor in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work and faculty affiliate at Carle Foundation Hospital, the Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, and the Women and Gender in Global Perspectives. Her research agenda focuses identifying risk factors for morbidity and mortality among perinatal women and clinical factors to improve minority health. Dr. Tabb has authored over 80 publications, including articles in journals such as Ethnicity & Health, General Hospital Psychiatry, The Journal of Affective Disorders and the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. She is an expert collaborator (in the areas of diabetes, mental health, maternal health, and North America) for the Global Burden of Disease Study where she contributes in estimating population morbidity and mortality for 188 countries. She serves on the board of directors for the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers.


Dr. Tabb has received research and training support from several state and federal agencies including the Illinois DHS, the NIH and PCORI.  She has sustained a multi-site PCORI-funded project to engage pregnant and postpartum women as collaborators in perinatal depression research. Currently, she is Principal Investigator (PI) on an Illinois DHS project to improve outcomes in the first 1,000 days of life for 11 counties through systems development efforts.


Her research and commentary have appeared in numerous television, radio and print sources, including TEDx, WILL, WTAX, WCIA, WJBC, WRSP, WBBM, WTTW, InStyle Magazine, and the Washington Post Syndicate to name a few. In 2019, Dr. Tabb received the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Thought Leader Award for Leading in Peer-Reviewed Publications, the New Connections Program’s premier honor for early career faculty. 


Karen Tabb Dina received her PhD in Social Welfare and a Certificate in Demographic Methods from the University of Washington in Seattle. She received her Master of Social Work, concentrating in Social Policy and Evaluation, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Eastern Michigan University.




Education




BA, Sociology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti


MSW, Social Policy & Evaluation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor


PhD, Social Welfare and Social Demography, University of Washington, Seattle

Ben Lough, PhD

Dean, Professor, Director of Social Innovation at the Gies College of Business

School of Social Work, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

nonprofit management,Social Entrepreneurship





Ben Lough is the Dean of the School of Social Work, a professor of Social Work and Business Administration, and the Director of Social Innovation at Gies College of Business. He received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and his B.A. and MSW degrees from Brigham Young University. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, he was a Senior Researcher at the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section at United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in Bonn, Germany. He teaches courses on nonprofit management, social enterprise, and social entrepreneurship. His research examines the practices of transnational voluntary organizations that promote community development and social innovation.


I am driven by the belief that people have the power to change the world. Much of my work aims to inspire and empower people to recognize their potential and take action to create spaces that foster innovation, collaboration, and social impact. Whether through volunteering in our communities or by launching a social enterprise, I believe people have the capacity to drive change.








Education




BS in Sociology, 2000, MSW, 2003 – Brigham Young University


Ph.D. in Social Work with a Doctoral Certificate in New Institutional Economics, 2010- Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis








Research




Dean Lough’s teaching focuses on community development, nonprofit management, and social innovation. He has taught courses on the nonprofit sector, social entrepreneurship, social work theory, organizational strategies for social change, and international social work and development.


Dean Lough is working with the United States Aid for International Development (USAID) to create a global mental health policy. He also continues to study the comparative advantages of hybrid social-purpose organizations over traditional nonprofits.








Selected Publications




    

  • Lough, Benjamin J. (2022). Decentering social innovation: The value of dispersed institutes in higher education. Social Enterprise Journal 18(1) 12-27.
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  • Lough, Benjamin J. (2022). Unpacking reciprocity in international exchange cooperation. Førde, Norway: Norec.
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  • Lough, Benjamin J. (2021). Voluntary “organic” leadership for community resilience. Voluntary Sector Review 12(1): 81-98.
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  • Lough, Benjamin J. (2021). Social development. In the Encyclopedia of Social Work. National Association of Social Workers (NASW Press) and Oxford University Press.
    •

Jason Walker, Psy.D., Ph.D.

Program Director and Associate Professor, Industrial-Organizational and Applied Psychology

Adler University

Addiction,Bullying,police misconduct,Sexual Harassment,Workplace Violence

The mental health impacts related to workplace violence, bullying, and harassment are essential to understand and address. Jason Walker, Psy.D., Ph.D., focuses his academic work and research on addressing these issues. In addition, Dr. Walker also serves rural and remote Indigenous communities, providing essential clinical mental health and social services. 


Dr. Walker specializes in addressing mental health and organizational psychology related to workplace violence, bullying, and sexual harassment. His research focuses on the context in which these events happen and the treatment for individuals who’ve been impacted. His research includes the prevalence and implications of these acts and the dismantling of these types of systems.


Dr. Walker completed his doctorate in clinical psychology (Psy.D.) from California Southern University and his doctorate in general psychology (Ph.D.) from North Central University. He received his Master of Social Work from the University of Toronto and his Bachelor of Arts in psychology from McMaster University. He also actively contributes as a reviewer for the Journal of Consulting Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behaviour, and Frontiers in Public Health.
 


Affiliated partners, organizations, or associations:


    

  • Canadian Professional in Human Resources, Member
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  • Society for Human Resource Management, Senior Consulting Professional
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  • Alternate Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada, Member
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  • British Psychological Society, Member
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  • American Psychological Society, Member (Teaching)
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  • Canadian Counselling & Psychotherapy Assoc., Member
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  • Canadian Addiction Counsellors Certification Federation, Member
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  • American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress, Diplomate
    •

Nicholas Anastasio, MD

Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physician

Mercy Medical Center

bone,Carpal Tunnel Syndrome,Muscle,nerve conduction studies,Orthopedics and Joint Replacement,platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment

Nicholas Anastasio, M.D., is a Board Certified physician specializing in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Orthopedics and Joint Replacement at Mercy in Baltimore, Maryland, and Mercy Personal Physicians at Glen Burnie. Dr. Anastasio treats muscle, bone, joint and nerve conditions to maximize function and improve quality of life through non-surgical techniques, such as percutaneous tenotomy, platelet-rich plasma (PRP), nerve conduction studies and ultrasound-guided injections. When necessary, Dr. Anastasio works in close collaboration with orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists to optimize care.


Treatment of Orthopedic and Musculoskeletal Conditions


Dr. Nicholas Anastasio is Board Certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. He diagnoses and treats patients with orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions affecting the muscles, bones and joints, as well as nerve-related conditions. Common musculoskeletal conditions include:



Nerve Conduction Studies and Ultrasound Guided Diagnosis and Treatment


Dr. Anastasio has training and experience in electrodiagnostic testing which measures electrical activity produced by muscles and nerves in your body to determine if you have an injury related to nerve or muscle function. He uses nerve conduction studies, including electromyography (EMG), to evaluate and diagnose nerve damage, such as carpal tunnel syndrome or herniated disc in the neck or back.


Additionally, Dr. Anastasio is a Registered Musculoskeletal Sonographer. He utilizes ultrasound guidance to diagnose musculoskeletal conditions such as rotator cuff tears or hip and knee injuries. Ultrasound guided injections allow him to deliver more accurate injections than traditional procedures by determining exactly where the injection is needed and avoiding otherwise healthy tissue.


Focusing on the Needs of the Whole Patient


Dr. Anastasio’s practice emphasizes an approach to care that focuses on the health needs of the whole patient and getting them back to their desired activity and lifestyle. He has a special interest in the early detection and treatment of stress fractures, chronic tendon injuries, running injuries, sports injuries, nerve entrapment syndromes and regenerative medicine.


Tailored Care for Runners and Athletes at Every Level


Dr. Anastasio sees patients from adolescence to adulthood, including athletes, weekend warriors, and patients with general overuse conditions and workplace injuries. As a runner himself, Dr. Anastasio has a particular interest in running-related conditions and injuries. He brings extensive training from The Runner’s Clinic within the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Virginia. Dr. Anastasio aims to help runners overcome acute and chronic conditions, maximize their health and reach their running goals through orthotic and shoe evaluations, tailored physical therapy prescriptions, and comprehensive running gait analysis.


Collaborating with Mercy Orthopedic Surgeons


Throughout the treatment process and in cases where surgical solutions are appropriate, Dr. Anastasio works in close collaboration with the orthopedic surgeons of The Orthopedics Specialty Hospital at Mercy, including Mercy’s hip and knee surgeons, foot and ankle specialists, spine doctors, upper extremity physicians and sports medicine team.


Education & Fellowships


    

  • Residency – Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia
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  • Internship – University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
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  • Medical Degree – University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
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Associations & Memberships


    

  • American Academy of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation                                                             
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  • American Medical Association
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  • American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine
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Neil Gandhi, MD

Regional medical director, Houston Methodist emergency departments

Houston Methodist

Emergency Medicine

Dr. Neil Gandhi, MD, MBA, FACEP


 Dr. Neil Gandhi is a practicing emergency medicine physician at Houston Methodist and serves as regional medical director overseeing 18 emergency departments in Houston Methodist system. His areas of expertise include clinical operations, patient safety and patient experience. He also serves as an EMS medical director, and is well-versed and passionate about helping the public understand complex medical conditions by using laymen's terminology. 

Jiguang Wang, PhD

Associate Professor, Division of Life Science and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Bioinformatics,Cancer Genomics,Machine Learning,Network biology





Prof. Wang received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and won the Special Prize of President Scholarship and Excellent Ph.D. thesis Award of CAS. Between 2011 and 2015, he was a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University. In 2015, he was named as the Precision Medicine Fellow and promoted to Associate Research Scientist. He established the Wang Genomics Laboratory @HKUST in 2016, focusing on the application of data science in biology and medicine. He has made substantial contributions to (1) characterization, modeling, and prediction of cancer evolution from genomics (Nat Genet 2016; Nat Genet 2017; Nat Commun 2021); (2) discovery, elucidation, and clinical application of MGMT fusion (Nat Genet 2016; Nat Commun 2020) and METex14 in adult gliomas (Nat Genet 2018; Cell 2018); (3) discovery of MAP3K3-I441M in CCM (AJHG 2021) and elucidation of EndMT in bAVM (Circ Res 2021); (4) reconstruction of RNA Exosome-regulated non-coding transcriptomes (Nature 2014; Cell 2015). He won the Excellent Young Scientist Award of NSFC (2019), the School of Engineering Young Investigator Research Award (2019), the School of Science Research Award (2021), and the Zhong Nanshan Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award (2021).






 






Research Question






 






Recent advances in next-generation sequencing are revolutionizing numerous areas in life science and medicine. Prof. Wang's research is focused on discovering and elucidating functional genomic alterations in complex human diseases, such as intracranial cancers and vascular malformations, by developing and/or applying computational methods based on multi-omics integration, statistics, and machine learning, aiming to bridge the gaps among data, bench, and bedside. More specifically, Prof. Wang's team has been mainly working on the following two scientific questions.






 






Question 1: How does clonal evolution drive cancer progression that leads to malignant transformation and therapeutic resistance?






 






Clonal evolution of cancer is a major challenge leading to treatment failure, but the molecular mechanisms of how cancer cells evolve and gain the capability of surviving intensive chemo- and/or radio- therapies remain elusive. Therefore, it is critically important to characterize the spatial and temporal dynamics of cancer cells and thereby mathematically modelling this process via big data integration. We have been working on diffuse gliomas, the most common and aggressive forms of primary tumors in adult brain whose treatment outcome is still very poor. Current therapies inevitably lead to tumor recurrence and the recurrent gliomas commonly become treatment resistance and incurable. Analyzing longitudinal and single-cell multi-omics data on this disease, our team aims to address the following questions: a) why cancer cells always display complex patterns of intratumoral heterogeneity; b) what is the temporal order of multiple somatic mutations detected in various cancer clones; c) how to predict the evolutionary path and clinical response of cancer cells under a certain therapy based on the sign seen earlier; and d) what are the key factors in tumor and its microenvironment that shape cancer evolution and determine cancer cell response under clinical intervention. In the process of addressing these questions, we will be able to unravel the mysteries of cancer evolution and it might provide a theoretical foundation for designing new means of treatment or diagnostics for better precision cancer medicine via targeting cancer dynamics.






 






Question 2: What is the role of genetic interaction between germline variants and somatic mutations in initializing and regulating the development of cancer and other genetic disorders?






 






Somatic genomic and epigenomic mutations are regarded as the direct drivers of cancer initialization and evolution, whereas de novo and inherited germline alterations could predispose the cancer risk and regulate population-specific disease incidence and treatment response. However, the underlying genetic interactions between germline variants and somatic mutations remain unclear, and the biological and medical implications of these interactions have not been extensively explored. New technologies of genomic sequencing allow low-cost profiling of somatic and germline mutations in not only case-unaffected-parental trios but also disease lesions at a high resolution, providing a unique opportunity to systematically investigate disease-relevant genomes by uncovering the joint contribution of the germline variants and somatic mutations in the process of disease development. Understanding whether and how the germline risk alleles interact with somatic mutations in terms of pathway activation and/or cellular interaction will help us to better understand disease etiology for the purpose of developing novel methods for genome-guided disease risk evaluation and personalized clinical intervention.






 






Representative Publications






 






    

      

    1. Biaobin Jiang, Quanhua Mu, Fufang Qiu, Xuefeng Li, Weiqi Xu, Jun Yu, Weilun Fu, Yong Cao, Jiguang Wang#. Machine learning of genomic features in organotropic metastases stratifies progression risk of primary tumors. Nature Communications 12, Article number: 6692, 2021.
      2. 

    



 


    

      

    1. Hao Li*, Yoonhee Nam*, Ran Huo*, Weilun Fu*, Biaobin Jiang, Qiuxia Zhou, Dong Song, Yingxi Yang, Yuming Jiao, Jiancong Weng, Zihan Yan, Lin Di, Jie Li, Jie Wang, Hongyuan Xu, Shuo Wang, JiZong Zhao, Zilong Wen, Jiguang Wang#, Yong Cao#. De Novo Germline and Somatic Variants Convergently Promote Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Simplex Brain Arteriovenous Malformation. Circulation Research, 129(9), 825–839, 2021.
      2. 

    



 


    

      

    1. Jiancong Weng*, Yingxi Yang*†, Dong Song*†, Ran Huo*, Hao Li, Yoonhee Nam†, Yiyun Chen†, Qiuxia Zhou, Yuming Jiao, Weilun Fu, Zihan Yan, Jie Wang, Hongyuan Xu, Lin Di, Jie Li, Shuo Wang, Jizong Zhao, Jiguang Wang#, Yong Cao#. Somatic MAP3K3 Mutation Defines a Subclass of Cerebral Cavernous Malformation. American Journal of Human Genetics 108(5):942-950, 2021.
      2. 

    



 


    

      

    1. Barbara Oldrini*, Nuria Vaquero-Siguero*, Quanhua Mu*†, Paula Kroon, Ying Zhang, Marcos Galán-Ganga, Zhaoshi Bao‡, Zheng Wang, Hanjie Liu, Jason Sa, Junfei Zhao, Hoon Kim, Sandra Rodriguez-Perales, Do-Hyun Nam, Roel Verhaak, Raul Rabadan§, Tao Jiang#, Jiguang Wang#, and Massimo Squatrito#. MGMT genomic rearrangements contribute to chemotherapy resistance in gliomas. Nature Communications, 11(1):3883, 2020.
      2. 

    



 


    

  1. Hu H*, Mu Q*†, Bao Z*‡, Chen Y*†, Liu Y*, Chen J, Wang K, Wang Z, Nam Y†, Jiang B‡, Sa JK, Cho H-J, Her N-G, Zhang C, Zhao Z, Zhang Y, Zeng F, Wu F, Kang X, Liu Y, Qian Z, Wang Z, Huang R, Wang Q, Zhang W, Qiu X, Li W, Nam D-H, Fan X#, Wang J#, Jiang T#. Mutational landscape of secondary glioblastoma guides MET-targeted trial in brain tumor. Cell; 175 (6), 1665-1678, 2018.
    2. 



 


Full list at https://wang-lab.ust.hk/publications/Publication.html.






 






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