SUNY PRIDE Scholars
Cohort III – 2013
Ademuyiwa Aromolaran, PhD
Associate Research Scientist
Dr. Aromolaran is currently an Associate Research Scientist in the Department of Physiology and Cellular Biophysics at Columbia University. His research to date has focused on understanding why adults and children suffer fatal arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death during or following exercise and emotional stress. Efficient cellular trafficking, surface expression and function of voltage-gated K+ channels is vital for a healthy heart rate because inherited loss of function mutations in these channels prolong cardiac repolarization leading to long QT syndrome (LQTS), a widespread condition that predisposes patients to an elevated risk for syncope, ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. His goal is to elucidate the molecular processes underlying the surface density of cardiac K+ channel complexes in heart and determine how these processes are affected under pathological conditions.
Cristina Barroso, DrPH
Assistant Professor
Dr. Barroso is an Assistant Professor and Southwest Borderlands Scholar at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona. Her research interests include the obesity paradox (overweight or obese people with established CVD have a better prognosis compared with non-overweight/non-obese people), Hispanic paradox, the role of body image on CVD risk reduction, and prevention behaviors.
Kenneth Izuora, MD, MBA
Assistant Professor
Dr. Izuora is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is interested in the microvascular and macrovascular complications of diabetes with focus on the impact of health disparities as barriers to achieving good diabetes control which can lead to these complications. He is also interested in the impact of oral health and periodontal disease on cardiovascular risk in patients with diabetes.
Antwan Jones, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Jones is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and of Africana Studies at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. As an urban sociologist, Dr. Jones studies how residential processes (e.g., housing stability) and the characteristics of a particular place (e.g., levels of segregation, inequality, urbanicity) affect hypertension and coronary heart disease among adults. He uses a population-based approach to answering questions on how place matters to health. In addition, he is also interested in general health outcomes among racial and ethnic populations.
Sharon Jones-Eversley, DrPH
Assistant Professor
Dr. Jones-Eversley is an Assistant Professor at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. Dr. Jones- Eversley uses social epidemiological approaches to examine hereditary health and social determinants of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among African American families and communities. She is particularly interested in intergenerational distribution of CVD and associated co-morbidities that adversely impact urban families and communities.
Melissa Lewis, PhD, MS
Assistant Professor
Dr. Lewis is an Assistant Professor at University of Minnesota, Duluth in Duluth, Minnesota. Dr. Lewis' research interests lie in the area of the impact of stress (historical, intergenerational, community) on cardiovascular disease risk in Native American communities.
Hadii Mamudu, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Mamudu is an Assistant Professor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. Dr. Mamudu's research is on cardiovascular health management with focus on the utility of screening information such as coronary artery calcium score for cardiovascular health management and disparities in cardiovascular health management.
Eugenia Mata-Greenwood, PhD
Assistant Professor
Dr. Mata-Greenwood is an Assistant Professor University at Loma Linda University in Loma Linda, California Dr. Mata-Greenwood's research interests include molecular and genetic markers of endothelial disease according to sex and race and Inflammatory and anti-inflammatory signaling in endothelial cells.
Marta Suárez-Rivera, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Dr. Suárez-Rivera is an Assistant professor at University of Puerto Rico - School of Medicine in San Juan, PR. Dr. Suárez's research interests are in early cardiometabolic risk factors identifiable in childhood or adolescence and development of hypertension clinic and screening programs in underserved populations.
Crystal Tyson, MD
Medical Instructor
Dr. Tyson is a Medical Instructor in the Division of Nephrology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Dr. Tyson's research focuses on lifestyle interventions, such as diet and weight management strategies, to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease for individuals with chronic kidney disease and hypertension, with a particular interest in minority health. Her current research investigates the efficacy and safety of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension dietary pattern in adults with chronic kidney disease.
Pamela Valera, PhD, MSW
Assistant Professor
Dr. Valera is an Assistant Professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, NY. Her research interests focus on prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease among released men involved in the criminal justice system and under community supervision (parole and probation).
Renee Walker, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Professor
Dr. Walker is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dr. Walker's research interests related to cardiovascular disease are in disparities in cardiovascular risk factors and outcomes. Specifically, she is interested in racial/ethnic and income disparities in overweight/obesity and diabetes and the subsequent impact on cardiovascular disease. A related interest is in studying disparities in metabolic syndrome as risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. Ultimately, Dr. Walker would like to reduce (and eliminate) disparities (racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and sex) in cardiovascular disease by reducing modifiable risk factors, including overweight/obesity, poor diet/nutrition, and physical inactivity.
