SUNY PRIDE Scholars
Cohort VI – 2017
Yendelela Cuffee, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Public Health Sciences
University: Penn State College of Medicine
Location: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Exploring the psychosocial and behavioral determinants of cardiovascular disease disparities. Conducting community-engaged research to promote physical and emotional wellness in economically disadvantaged and underrepresented communities.
Vivian Dicks, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Clinical & Environmental Health Sciences, College of Allied Health Sciences
University: Augusta University
Location: Augusta, Georgia
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure health disparities.
Portia Jackson Preston, DrPH
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Public Health, Ronxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services
University: California State University, Fullerton
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Self-care and stress coping behavior among professional women of color at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Amber Johnson, PhD, MPH
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Health Science
University: California State University
Location: Long Beach (CSULB).
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Social epidemiology of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among African Americans, community-based participatory research projects, CVD prevention and education on the campus of Historically Black College and Universities, and community health assessment and outreach.
Lenette Jones
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Health Behavior and Biological Sciences, School of Nursing
University: University of Michigan
Location: Ann Arbor, MI
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Eliminating the health disparities affecting African-American women with hypertension, focusing on uncovering the mechanisms – biological, psychological, social, and physical – of self-management interventions, using neuroimaging (fMRI) to explore the neuroprocesses associated with self-management behaviors (such as diet, exercise, and medication-taking), and how health information behavior (seeking, sharing, and use) can be enhanced to support blood pressure self-management.
Vanessa Marshall, PhD
Academic Title: ResearchScientist
Department: Research & Development
University: Louis Stokes VA Cleveland Medical Center
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Research interests as they relate to CVD: The effects of cardiovascular disease outcomes, co-morbidities and its association with modifiable risk factors such as alcohol use.
Mulubrhan Mogos, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Women, Children & Family Health Science, College of Nursing
University: University of Illinois- Chicago
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Short and long-term impacts of pregnancy-related hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on short and long-term maternal outcomes as well as healthcare cost.”
Rosenda Murillo
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences, College of Education
University: University of Houston
Location: Houston, TX
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Sociocultural and psychosocial factors that contribute to physical activity and cardiovascular health disparities in Latinos.
Arnita Norwood, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Medicine
University: University of MississippiMedical Center
Location: Jackson, Mississippi
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Examining how social determinants of health influence chronic disease prevention and management.
Eric Rivas, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management
University: Texas Tech University
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Examination of how burn injury impairs cardiac function and places children with burn injury at an increased risk of heat-related injury.
Gabriel Tajeu, DrPH, MPH
Academic Title: Assistant Professor>
Department: Department of Health Services Administration and Policy>
University: Temple University>
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania>
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Improving hypertension and CVD health outcomes, reduction of racial disparities in quality of care with the goal of improving outcomes, reduction of cost of care in the US.>
Denise Vidot, PhD
Academic Title: Assistant Professor
Department: School of Nursing & Health Studies
University: University of Miami
Location: Miami, Florida
Research interests as they relate to CVD: Evidence-based research on the prevention of overlapping fields of marijuana misuse and preventable health outcomes such as obesity, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and cardiovascular disease risk.