Faculty Directory

Department Leadership

Elizabeth A Shenkman

Elizabeth A Shenkman Ph.D.

Department Chair And Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5975

Elizabeth Shenkman, PhD is the Chair of the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and also is the Co-Director of the University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the Associate Director for Community Outreach and Engagement for the UF Health Cancer Center. Dr. Shenkman is a health outcomes researcher with a research focus on: 1) determining which combinations of health care delivery, community, and patient factors influence quality and outcomes of care; and 2) developing and testing corresponding evidence-based strategies to reduce disparities in health outcomes among underserved populations.

In her role as CTSI Co-Director and Co-Principle Investigator, Dr. Shenkman leads the Learning Health System initiative, including interfacing with clinicians, health system leaders, researchers, and patients to align research and clinical operations to systematically improve health outcomes and advance health equity using real world data combined with implementation and improvement science methodologies. In addition, Dr. Shenkman leads the OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium, which was developed through the CTSI.

The Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute-funded OneFlorida Clinical Research Network is comprised of 10 different health system partners caring for over 15 M Floridians or approximately 60% of the population in the 3rd largest state in the US. The Floridians in this network include vulnerable populations who are rarely or minimally included in traditional clinical trials (e.g., those of lower socioeconomic status, racial and ethnic minorities, children, and older adults). A hallmark of OneFlorida is its centralized Data Trust, which contains linked health care claims, electronic health record, tumor registry, vital statistics, and census data from its health system partners for cohort discovery, study feasibility determination, and to augment primary data collection activities. Dr. Shenkman facilitates investigators’ access to OneFlorida clinical settings and the Data Trust for a wide range of studies including cancer-focused interventional trials.

Dr. Shenkman is an MPI for the NIH Office of the Director-funded All of Us Precision Medicine cohort initiative in collaboration with the University of Miami, Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine. In that capacity, she is responsible for overseeing community engagement and recruitment and retention efforts focused on rural and underserved populations in North Florida. Dr. Shenkman also is the PI of an R01 funded by the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality examining the effects of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic on individuals with chronic conditions. The project uses electronic health record data to better measure health care use and clinical outcomes for adults with T2 diabetes and/or hypertension and who have intersecting identities (e.g., women who are black and residing in rural areas).

Dr. Shenkman’s research is funded by PCORI, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, NIH, and the National Cancer Institute. Her work is published in such journals as Pediatrics, Health Services Research, Clinical Epidemiology, Pediatric Blood and Cancer, and the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Shenkman is an elected member of the Society for Pediatric Research and the American Pediatric Society.

William Hogan

William Hogan M.D., M.S.

Director Of Biomedical Informatics And Data Science
Phone: (352) 294-4197

Dr. Hogan is Director of the Division of Biomedical Informatics in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, Director of Biomedical Informatics for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at the University of Florida, and Director of Informatics for the statewide OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium. He is the co-principal investigator on OneFlorida’s Clinical Data Research Network, which makes OneFlorida part of the National Patient Centered Clinical Research Network or PCORnet. OneFlorida is one of just 9 Clinical Research Networks in PCORnet 2.0 nationwide. Dr. Hogan is a Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Health Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida. To these endeavors, he brings over 20 years of experience in development and implementation of large informatics systems, electronic health records, healthcare data warehouses at three institutions and the OneFlorida Data Trust, the National Retail Data Monitor for biosurveillance, and a suite of research informatics applications used in the National Children’s Study. Dr. Hogan is an accomplished researcher and practitioner of biomedical informatics, with expertise and research interests in biomedical ontology and terminology, electronic health records, research informatics, and biosurveillance. He has authored over 60 journal publications and peer-reviewed papers at conferences and has been principal investigator or co-investigator on over $90M of grant funding.

Research Summary:

Dr. Hogan has research interests and expertise in biomedical ontology and terminology, translational science, the reuse of clinical and administrative data—especially electronic health record data—in research, and the development and deployment of large-scale informatics systems that span the state of Florida and the nation. He also has a strong research interest in the fundamental ways in which information is structured and represents biomedical reality, as well as how mismatches between information and reality impact data and information quality. Dr. Hogan has led or played a significant leadership role in the successful creation, implementation, and ongoing operation of (1) a national system for biosurveillance using point-of-sale data of over-the-counter healthcare products, (2) a system used for biosurveillance in Pennsylvania (the success of which led to several additional state and county health departments adopting the system), (3) a suite of open-source software applications for use in clinical and translational science both at a single institution and at multiple institutions participating in the National Children’s Study, (4) institutional and state-wide integrated data repositories in support of research, (5) electronic health records.

Research Interests:
  • Biomedical ontology
  • Biomedical terminology
  • Clinical and translational science
  • Electronic medical records
Stephanie Staras

Stephanie Staras Ph.D.

Associate Professor And Division Director
Phone: (352) 294-8299

Stephanie A. S. Staras, M.S.P.H., Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and director of the department’s Division of Health Outcomes and Implementation Science. She is also a faculty member of the University of Florida’s Institute for Child Health Policy.

Dr. Staras is an expert in human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine implementation research. She has served as principal investigator on eight implementation research grants, including a 5-year, $2.9 million grant from the NCI in 2019 to evaluate a multi-level intervention to boost HPV vaccine rates among 11- and 12-year-olds in Florida. Dr. Staras’ work highlights the strong association between HPV vaccine initiation and parents’ beliefs about the HPV vaccine’s ability to prevent cancer safely. Additionally, she led one of a handful of studies to assess a direct link between provider recommendations and parent beliefs. By simultaneously targeting parents with reminders and providers with an in-clinic, parent-tailored decision aid, Dr. Staras’ real-world, multi-level implementation trial demonstrated a synergistic increase on HPV vaccine initiation among girls. To target interventions at geographic areas of the greatest need, Dr. Staras is characterizing HPV-related disease burden in the University of Florida Cancer Catchment Area by triangulating data with an environmental scan that includes vaccination records, stakeholder interviews, and a provider discrete choice experiment.

Dr. Staras is a graduate of the highly recognized Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer program sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. Her excellence in research also was recognized by her inclusion in the University of Florida’s 2018-2019 University Term Professorship cohort. Dr. Staras also contributes her implementation science expertise to research grants on meningococcal B vaccination, smoking cessation, and cancer screenings.

Biomedical Informatics Faculty

Jiang Bian

Jiang Bian Ph.D.

Professor; Chief Data Scientist & Chief Research Information Officer, UF Health
Phone: (352) 273-8878

Biomedical Informatics is an interdisciplinary field, where the central theme is to explore the effective uses of data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem-solving, and decision making, motived by efforts to import human health. I have a diverse yet strong multi-disciplinary background in data integration, semantic web, machine learning, natural language processing, social media analysis, network science, data privacy, and software engineering. Nevertheless, my expertise and background serve an overarching theme: data science with heterogeneous data, information and knowledge resources.

I currently serve as the Chief Data Scientist and Chief Research Information Officer for UF Health, Director of Cancer Informatics Shared Resource (and its eHealth Core program http://bit.ly/36IBw5s jointly supported by the UF CTSI), Associate Director of the Biomedical Informatics Program for the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI; https://www.ctsi.ufl.edu/about/ctsi-programs/biomedical-informatics/), and the Chief Data Scientist for the OneFlorida+ Clinical Research Consortium (https://onefloridaconsortium.org/).

Research Summary:

I have a diverse yet strong multi-disciplinary background. Nevertheless, my expertise and background serve an overarching theme: data science with heterogeneous data, information and knowledge resources. My research areas can be divided into two logical sections under this overarching theme: (1) data-driven medicine—applications of informatics techniques, including AI/ML methods in medicine on solving big heterogeneous data problems, providing insights into health-related behavior and health outcomes of various populations and finding ways to develop interventions that promote public and consumer health; and (2) development of novel informatics methods, tools, and systems to support clinical and clinical research activities such as tools for data integration and harmonization, clinical trial design, and cohort discovery.

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ysr–voAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate

Research Interests:
  • Cancer Informatics
  • Social media
  • data privacy in healthcare
  • data science
  • eHealth and user-centered design
  • semantic web
Megan E Gregory

Megan E Gregory Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Phone: (352) 627-9467

Dr. Gregory is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics.

Her research broadly examines individual, social, and organizational factors and conditions that impact health care safety and quality, with a particular focus on improving healthcare teamwork and patient care. Dr. Gregory also seeks to develop, implement and evaluate interventions, clinical informatics tools (including mHealth and telehealth), and educational programs (including simulation and virtual reality methods) to improve health care quality. As part of this work, she studies the development and validation of survey measures, and has developed and validated self-report measures around topics such as COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, organizational readiness to address diversity, and resident self-efficacy. She has served as Co-Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator on numerous funded projects, including from AHRQ, NIH, and Ohio Department of Medicaid grants and contracts. She is highly involved in the international Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES), where she serves as Program Chair—Elect for the Health Care Technical Group and is on the Editorial Board for the Human Factors in Healthcare Journal.

Dr. Gregory holds a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Central Florida, and completed an Advanced Fellowship in Health Professions Education, Evaluation and Research at the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness & Safety with the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Yi Guo

Yi Guo Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5969
Email: yiguo@ufl.edu

I have a multi-disciplinary background in the analysis of real-world data such as those from electronic health records (EHRs) and administrative claims, experimental and observational study design, predictive modeling (e.g., statistical and machine learning), causal modeling, and analysis of patient-reported outcomes. Together, my areas of expertise serve an overarching research theme: generating real-world evidence to support healthcare decision-making for disease prevention and control. Under this overarching theme, my research areas and expertise can be divided into three key methodologies: (1) EHR-based phenotyping and risk stratification – the identification of sub-populations with certain conditions or at higher risk for diseases, (2) Causal modeling and inference – the examination of causal relationships and pathways in clinical research, particularly treatment studies, and (3) Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical and public health applications – the development, validation, assessment, analysis, and reporting of PROs among various populations, especially vulnerable populations.

Christopher N Kaufmann

Christopher N Kaufmann PhD, MHS

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5800

Dr. Kaufmann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics (HOBI) at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He is a public health researcher with interests at the intersection of aging, sleep, and health services research. His research focuses on using epidemiologic data to identify patterns in use of health services for sleep disorders among older adults and examining how such patterns affect trajectories of aging (e.g., cognitive decline and neurodegeneration) across the life course.

Dominick Lemas

Dominick Lemas Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5971

Dominick Lemas is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida. Dr. Lemas received his bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Vermont in 2006 and completed his doctorate in biochemistry & molecular biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2012. His research is devoted to understanding the fetal origins of pediatric obesity with a specific interest in the functional implications of gut microflora and the critical host-microbe interactions that regulate maternal-infant metabolism.

Research Interests:
  • Biomedical informatics
  • Child-maternal health
  • Computational biology
  • Metagenomics
  • Molecular epidemiology
  • Pediatric obesity
Todd Manini

Todd Manini Ph.D.

Professor; Chief, Division Of EDGE
Phone: (352) 273-5914

Dr. Manini is a Professor at UF’s College of Medicine in the Department of Aging and Geriatric Research. He is the Chief of the newly formed Division of Epidemiology and Data science in Gerontology (EDGE) and leads the Data Science and Applied Technology Core at the UF Claude D. Pepper Older American’s Independence Center. He is recognized for his work on the sarcopenia and dynapenia, frailty, activity epidemiology, and energy metabolism specifically focused in older adults. Recently, he has gained considerable recognition for his team science work on wearable mobile technology (e.g. smart watches) that will allow an unprecedented understanding of the exposome—environmental and behavioral exposures in the free-living world— and their impact on geriatric syndromes. He currently receives or has received support from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Cancer Institute and National Institute on Aging to conduct this work. At an international level, he has fellow status at two societies: The American College of Sports Medicine and The Gerontological Society of America (GSA). He is the Chair of the American College of Sports Medicine Strategic Health Initiative on Aging and he carried this leadership to the GSA where he served as the Co-Chair of the Measurement, Statistics, and Research Design (MSRD) Interest Group. He was a steering committee member of the Sarcopenia Definition and Outcomes Consortium that provided unprecedent new knowledge for defining sarcopenia for clinical use. He was also honored with being a standing member on NIH’s Center for Scientific Review as part of the Neurological, Aging and Musculoskeletal Epidemiology (NAME) Study Section. Lastly, he is serving as an Associated Editor of the Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences since 2020. He is an active mentor and teacher that strives to provide opportunities for the next generation of scientists. He was awarded in 2011 with the UF College of Medicine Exemplary Teachers Award and in 2018 he was recognized as a Master Mentor. He also graduated from the inaugural class of the UF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s Academy of Research Excellence which emphasizes rigor and reproducibility. He is the principal investigator of a new National Institute on Aging training program called TRAM— Translational Research on Aging and Mobility. The training program is centered on mentoring trainees on translational research to preserve mobility in late-life. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his wife and trying to being a great father to his son and daughter. He is a perpetual learner always keeping busy not only as a scientist, but a handyman, devoted podcast listener, avid disc golfer, ball golfer, chess and billiards player, soccer coach, and Minecraft gamer.

Mamoun Mardini

Mamoun Mardini Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 273-8962

Dr. Mardini is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida (UF). He is a trained computer scientist and engineer with research expertise in applied artificial intelligence and wearable technology in healthcare

Research Summary:

Dr. Mardini’s research interests lie in using data science approaches and wearable technology to improve healthcare. This plan is significant because it is highly responsive and in line with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) vision for artificial intelligence: “the NIH is dedicated to harnessing the potential of the computational and quantitative sciences to elevate the impact and efficiency of biomedical research”

Dr. Mardini is directing the GeronTechnology lab that aims to employ data science and wearable technology to extract insightful knowledge from data & solve age-related health problems. Dr. Mardini is mainly interested in pursuing two research directions. The first focuses on mining electronic health records (EHR) to build evidence-based platforms that can aid in clinical decision-making. This research can help facilitate the communication between patients and clinicians to maximize benefit and minimize hurt.

The second direction focuses on building a digital phenotyping framework that can facilitate data collection from personally-held devices, such as smartwatches. This direction has great impact on understanding individuals’ behaviors momentarily in their real-life environment (a.k.a. ecological momentary assessment) and allowing clinicians to intervene quickly.

Note: I am always looking for motivated students and postdocs to join my research lab. Drop me a brief email about your background and your research interests

Research Interests:
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Digital Health
  • frailty
  • mHealth
Keith E Muller

Keith E Muller Ph.D.

Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5957

Professor Muller has external research funding from a variety of federal and state agencies. His more than 150 peer-reviewed journal publications are split roughly equally between scientific collaborations and biostatistical methodology developments. In addition, Professor Muller is the first author of two books on the theory and practice of linear models.

With funding from a series of NIH grants, Professor Muller serves as co-principal investigator in collaboration with Dr. D. H. Glueck (University of Colorado Denver Medical School) for the development of GLIMMPSE software and the website SampleSizeShop.org. The site includes a free online short course on design, power and sample size for studies with multilevel (clustering) and longitudinal dimensions. The site also includes free and open-source software, GLIMMPSE, that requires only a web browser to compute power and sample size for multilevel and longitudinal designs.

Research Summary:

Professor Muller’s current research centers on power and sample size for multilevel and longitudinal designs, especially with trajectories as predictors. He and colleagues also pursue advances in adaptive designs and High Dimension, Low Sample Size (more variables than participants).

Research Interests:
  • Biostatistics
  • Health outcomes research
  • Statistical methods
Deepa Ranka

Deepa Ranka

Assistant Scientist
Phone: (352) 265-0111
Jessica Ray

Jessica Ray

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 627-9467

Dr. Ray is interested in how technology can support clinical and patient decision-making in the complex socio-technical healthcare delivery system. She brings expertise in leading observations in the clinical setting, qualitative interviews, physiologic measurement of stress and workload, complex system process improvement and design, and studying system impacts on human performance including decision making. She joins the University of Florida after four years as a faculty member in Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine where she supported a variety of simulation educational programs and research in the areas of clinician stress, decision-support, and teams. Prior to returning to academia and research, she worked as a simulation learning consultant for Yale-New Haven Health where she facilitated interprofessional groups working on process improvement efforts across a variety of clinical settings including supporting simulation-based design sessions for the Yale Center for Healthcare Innovation, Redesign and Learning’s (CHIRAL) work on care transitions. During her graduate training, she worked as a graduate research fellow studying technology-based adaptive training methods for complex cognitive skill development. Dr. Ray has extensive experience in design facilitation, holds a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification, and is a TeamSTEPPS master instructor. Her current work focuses on how we can better understand and support clinician decision-making and patient-clinician interactions through informatics and technology-based interventions.

Yonghui Wu

Yonghui Wu

Associate Professor & Director Of Natural Language Processing
Phone: (352) 294-8436

Dr. Yonghui Wu is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the College of Medicine, Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida. He also serves as the Director of Natural Language Processing (NLP) at UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and OneFlorida Clinical Research Consortium. Dr. Wu’s research interests include natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, computational drug repurposing, and applications of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to electronic health records for clinical and translational research. He has published over 80 peer-reviewed papers and has been the principal investigator for grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

Dr. Wu received his Ph.D. from the Harbin Institute of Technology, School of Computer Science with a focus on natural language processing. Then, he entered medical informatics research with a motivation to help improve the quality of healthcare delivery and the safety of patients. He has Biomedical informatics training at Vanderbilt University and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Jie Xu

Jie Xu Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 627-9467
Email: xujie@ufl.edu

My research interests are focused on the intersection of machine learning and health informatics, with a particular emphasis on disease progression subtyping, predictive modeling, and federated learning techniques. Prior to joining UF, I completed postdoctoral research at Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, working closely with Dr. Fei Wang and Dr. Jyotishman Pathak in the Department of Population Health Sciences. I earned my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Xidian University in 2018, during which time I completed a joint doctoral program in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Texas at Arlington from 2016 to 2018. I am enthusiastic about continuing my research in this field at UF and contributing to the advancement of healthcare through innovative machine learning techniques.

Research Summary:

I have been working on developing novel computational algorithms, including advanced AI methods for analyzing various kinds of healthcare data, including Electronic Health Records (EHRs), medical and pharmacy claims data, and medical imaging data. One research direction that I am pursuing in fundamental AI methods development is patient similarity evaluations, i.e., assessing the clinical similarity between patients based on their medical histories. Such AI-driven approaches can be applied to advance disease surveillance, disease sub-phenotyping, and comparative effectiveness research. I also have strong expertise in predictive modeling, including developing models for various risk predictions, such as mortality, disease onset, and disease state change. Furthermore, I am actively investigating federated learning (FL) techniques, which allow for training an algorithm across multiple decentralized institutions without sharing their data samples. My research has yielded over 30 peer-reviewed publications in both machine learning and health informatics venues, with papers appearing at top-tier artificial intelligence and machine learning conferences such as NeurIPS, AAAI, KDD, IJCAI, at health informatics conferences such as AMIA, as well as at journals such as JHIR, JMIR.

Research Interests:
  • Machine learning and applications
Mei Liu

Mei Liu

Associate Professor
Phone: (352) 627-9143

Dr. Liu is an Associate Professor with Tenure in the College of Medicine, Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics (HOBI) at the University of Florida. She also serves as the Director of Predictive Analytics and Associate Director of Graduate Education in HOBI.

Dr. Liu received her PhD in Computer Science from the University of Kansas and completed her National Library of Medicine (NLM) postdoctoral fellowship in biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University. Her research interest in bioinformatics began during her doctoral study with the development of novel machine learning algorithms to improve prediction of protein-protein interactions and protein functions. Her research interest expanded to medical informatics while at Vanderbilt with the development of machine learning models to detect and predict adverse drug reactions using electronic health records (EHRs). Her other research interests include the secondary use of EHR data to model patient risks and disease trajectory and discover underlying risk factors.

Dr. Liu’s current research focus is on the development of novel machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques to accelerate risk factor identification and discovery in medicine using EHR data. Clinical applications of her research include adverse drug reaction, diabetic kidney disease, acute kidney injury (AKI), and sepsis predictions. She is the Principal Investigator for a NIDDK R01 project and an NSF Smart and Connected Health project that focus on the identification of personalized risk factors of AKI with personalized modeling and causal learning and building a secure and robust AKI prediction model with privacy-preserving federated transfer learning using EHR data from 11 PCORnet sites across 9 states.

Research Interests:
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Biomedical informatics
  • Machine Learning
  • machine learning for predictive analytics
Rui Yin

Rui Yin

Assistant Professor
Research Interests:
  • Biomedical informatics
  • Genomics
  • Health Equity
  • Machine learning and applications
  • Precision Medicine
Aokun Chen

Aokun Chen

AST SCTST
Phone: (352) 284-7986
Xing He

Xing He

AST SCTST
Phone: (813) 573-3122

Health Outcomes and Implementation Science Faculty

Caterina Alacevich

Caterina Alacevich

Research Faculty
Phone: (352) 627-9467
Mailing Address:
2004 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32611
Physical Address:
2197 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32611
Education:
  • 2016
    Ph.D. in Economics
    Università Cattolica – DEFAP Graduate School of Public Economics
Carma Bylund

Carma Bylund

Professor And Director Of Education
Phone: (352) 627-9467
Mailing Address:
2004 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32611
Physical Address:
2022 WEIMER HALL
GAINESVILLE FL 32606

I am Professor and Director of Education for the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics. I also serve as Educational Liaison for the Cancer Control and Population Science Program for the UF Health Cancer Center. I am a behavioral scientist with international expertise in healthcare communication across the cancer continuum and in dementia. My research focuses on the development, implementation, and testing of communication interventions for clinicians, patients, and caregivers to improve health outcomes. I have been funded by the National Cancer Institute as Principal Investigator on 4 grants and Co-Investigator on 8 grants. In addition, I have received 13 grants from non-profit organizations including The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the State of Florida. I have published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and co-edited three Oxford books on healthcare communication and the Wiley International Encyclopedia of Health Communication. I am Editor-in-Chief of PEC Innovation and Associate Editor of Patient Education and Counseling.

I lead the department’s educational programs and am committed to ensuring that students receive training that will prepare them to help answer pressing health-related research questions. As an educator, I equip students with methodological skills that will enable them to pursue their research goals. As a mentor, my primary goal is to help my mentees fulfill their potential, recognizing that for each mentee this may differ considerably.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Feb 2023 ACTIVE
    Clinical Trials Education in GME: A Needs Assessment
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    ReMARk: A multi-level strategy to address disparities in rural HPV-related cancer prevention
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Aug 2022 ACTIVE
    S.E.N.D.: Developing a web-based, interactive guide to enhance patient-clinician electronic communication by focusing on specificity, expressing concerns, need, and directness
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Jun 2022 ACTIVE
    Recruitment Support For Enhancing Access To Cancer Clinical Trials Among Underrepresented Patients
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Principal Investigator
  • May 2022 ACTIVE
    Understanding CLL Caregivers Experiences and Support Needs
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Co-Project Director/Principal Investigator
  • May 2022 ACTIVE
    Improving Family and Healthcare Communication for Caregivers of Spouses with Blood Cancer
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2021 ACTIVE
    Dignity Therapy for Older Cancer Patients: Identifying Mechanisms and Moderators
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2021 – Aug 2022
    Understanding Older Adults Cancer Experiences, Support Needs, and Communication
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Co-Project Director/Principal Investigator
  • Apr 2021 ACTIVE
    Enhancing Communication Skills of Primary Care Providers to Improve Patient Access to Clinical Trials and Quality Cancer Care.
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Principal Investigator
  • Jul 2020 ACTIVE
    Adequate selection of patients for thyroid biopsy: evaluation of a shared decision making conversation aid
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Other
  • May 2020 – Apr 2023
    Communication of Dementia Diagnoses: Investigating Patient, Family, and Physician Experiences and Developing Best Practices
    FL DEPT OF HLTH ED ETHEL MOORE ALZHEIMER · Co-Project Director/Principal Investigator
  • Jul 2019 ACTIVE
    Text and Talk: A multi-level intervention to increase provider HPV vaccine recommendation effectiveness
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2019 – Jun 2022
    Improving Family and Healthcare Communication for Caregivers of Parents with Blood Cancer
    LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOC · Principal Investigator
  • Aug 2018 – Jun 2020
    College of Journalism and Communications Faculty Seed Award
    UF FOUNDATION · Project Manager
  • Apr 2018 – Jul 2019
    Together: Transforming and Translating Discovery to Improve Health
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCATS · Project Manager
  • Apr 2017 – Jun 2021
    OoR CTSI Institutional Matching Support
    UF DIV OF SPONSORED RES MATCHING FUNDS · Project Manager
  • Apr 2015 – Jun 2021
    Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
    UF DIV OF SPONSORED RES MATCHING FUNDS · Project Manager
  • Feb 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Pilot Project Grants funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
Jaclyn M Hall

Jaclyn M Hall Ph.D.

Research Scientist
Phone: (352) 627-9099
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100177 RM 116
2199 MOWRY RD BLDG 2020
GAINESVILLE FL 32611
Physical Address:
ROOM 3128 TURLINGTON HALL
GAINESVILLE FL 32611

As a medical geographer, I contribute to a variety of health outcomes studies, and to the larger initiatives of the department and college. Due to my diverse background in spatial technologies and experience with environmental data, I contribute to a variety of community health and heath policy related research, both in geographic analyses and geographic data management. My research provides insight into the rurality and other spatial trends of patient data that is vital to several initiatives of the UF Cancer Center, Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, several large Medicaid Managed Care evaluation projects, and multiple studies using data from the OneFlorida Clinical Data Research Network. My contributions include working with researchers on study design, managing the process of geocoding (generating spatial locations from written address data) multiple large data sources, analyses of health care network adequacy, hotspot identification, cluster analyses, and creation of new spatial data sets.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    Health Policy Training in Tobacco Prevention and Control
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    ReMARk: A multi-level strategy to address disparities in rural HPV-related cancer prevention
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Nov 2021 – Jun 2022
    FLDOH PO – 2021-2022 – Educating Community Leaders about Tobacco Regulation
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Oct 2021 ACTIVE
    Describing Tobacco-Related Health Systems by County Analysis of OneFlorida Data
    RTI INTERNATIONAL · Principal Investigator
  • Oct 2021 – May 2023
    RESEARCHING COVID TO ENHANCE RECOVERY (RECOVER) INITIATIVE
    WEILL MED COLLEGE OF CORNELL UNIV · Other
  • Feb 2021 – Jun 2021
    Health Policy Training in Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2020 ACTIVE
    Sunshine Portal Year 2
    FL DIV OF EARLY LEARNING · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2020 ACTIVE
    Research Data Centers: Florida Research Data Center
    NATL SCIENCE FOU · Co-Investigator
  • Jun 2020 – May 2022
    RAPID: Adaptive Sampling Strategies for COVID-19 Mass Testing
    NATL SCIENCE FOU · Co-Project Director/Principal Investigator
  • May 2020 – Oct 2022
    Prevention of Vaping and Tobacco Product Use Among Rural Youth in Florida
    AETNA FOUNDATION · Co-Investigator
  • Jan 2020 – Aug 2020
    The provision of research and evaluation to determine the short and long-term human health impacts from harmful algal blooms (HABs)
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Apr 2013 – May 2016
    Collaborative Research: Building Forest Management into Earth System Modeling: Scaling From Stand to Continent
    NATL SCIENCE FOU · Project Manager
Education:
  • 2009
    PhD Geography
    University of Florida
  • 2002
    MA Geography
    University of South Florida
  • 1996
    BA Geography
    Stetson University
Georges Khalil

Georges Khalil Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 294-8415
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2004 MOWRY RD OFC 2252
GAINESVILLE FL 32610

Georges Khalil is a cancer prevention scientist and health communication specialist in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics. Prior to his appointment at the University of Florida, Dr. Khalil served as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then Instructor faculty at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He earned a Master of Public Health from the University of Southern California (2010) and a Doctoral degree in Communication from the State University of New York at Buffalo (2015).

Dr. Khalil’s research interests are cancer prevention, digital technologies, and social interactivity. His work primarily focuses on the design and evaluation of entertainment programs and technology-based interventions that aim to improve clinical and behavioral outcomes related to cancer prevention and control among youths. He is particularly passionate about the application of games for health to bring about behavior change.

Most recently, his research has focused on tobacco prevention, exploring adolescents’ reactions to ASPIRE, a web-based smoking prevention program, and the study of young adults’ experience with a mobile health campaign for tobacco-risk communication. He has also conducted studies on Re-Mission, a video game designed to improve medication adherence among pediatric cancer patients and cancer-risk communication among young-adult college students. Funded by an R00 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Dr. Khalil is currently developing and testing social influence strategies for tobacco prevention and cessation among adolescents.

Dr. Khalil has presented at both national and international conferences including the World Cancer Congress and has been recipient of a variety of awards including the Early Career Investigator Award from the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco and a New Investigator Workshop Award from the American Society of Preventive Oncology.

Accomplishments:
  • Outstanding Trainee Award Nomination
    2019 · Division of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • NIH Travel Award for Collaborative Research on Addiction
    2019 · National Institute on Drug Abuse
  • Early Career Investigator Award
    2018 · Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco – Europe
  • New Investigator Workshop Award
    2016 · American Society of Preventive Oncology
  • NCI R25T Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in Cancer Prevention Research
    2015 · University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Top Student Paper Award in Health Communication
    2014 · National Communication Association, Health Communication Division
  • NCI R25T Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Award in Cancer Prevention Research
    2013 · University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
  • Competitively Selected Research at the Games for Health Europe Conference
    2013 · Foundation of Applied Games
  • Teaching Assistantship Stipend
    2012 · University at Buffalo, Department of Communication
  • Graduate Student Employee Union Doctoral Retention Enhancement Award
    2011 · University at Buffalo, Department of Communication
Publications:
Grants:
  • Jun 2020 ACTIVE
    Social Influence Strategies during a Web-based Smoking Prevention Intervention for Adolescents
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIDA · Principal Investigator
Jennifer H LeLaurin

Jennifer H LeLaurin Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5993
Mailing Address:
2004 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2004 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32610

Dr. LeLaurin is a faculty member in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine and Assistant Director of the Learning Health System Initiative at the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. She has a background in implementation science and public health. She specializes in using qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to support implementation of technology-based interventions in clinical settings. Her current research focuses on social determinants of health and tobacco control.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    Health Policy Training in Tobacco Prevention and Control
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
Ramzi G Salloum

Ramzi G Salloum Ph.D.

Associate Professor And Director, UF CTSI Learning Health System
Phone: (352) 294-4997
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2004 MOWRY RD
GAINESVILLE FL 32610

Dr. Salloum is an associate professor in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine and the director of the Learning Health System Initiative at the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute. Salloum is a member of the UF Health Cancer Center and the Institute for Child Health Policy.

Dr. Salloum’s research focuses on the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based practices, especially in cancer prevention and control. He has a demonstrated research record in the area of health services research across diverse health system and policy settings, with a particular focus on the implementation of evidence-based programs. This work has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Florida Department of Health, the International Development Research Centre, Cancer Research UK, and the CVS Foundation.

Dr. Salloum is well-versed in implementation science methods and frameworks and has served as faculty for the National Cancer Institute (NCI)’s Training Institute for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (TIDIRC). He is the recipient of two NCI-supported fellowships from the Health Care Systems Research Network (HCSRN)’s Cancer Research Network (CRN) Scholars Program (2015-2017); and the Mentored Training for Dissemination and Implementation Research in Cancer (MT-DIRC) Program (2016-2018).

Dr. Salloum teaches Fundamentals of Dissemination and Implementation Research (GMS 6851).

Accomplishments:
  • Co-Chair
    2022-Current · Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco – Global Research Network
  • Outstanding Specialist Award
    2022 · Florida Extension Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
  • UF Health Cancer Center Representative
    2020-Current · Florida Cancer Control & Research Advisory Council (CCRAB)
  • Chair
    2019-2021 · American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Global Cancer Research Special Interest Group
  • High-Enroller Award
    2019 · UF Health Cancer Center
  • Member
    2017-Current · American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Tobacco Consortium
  • Vice Chair
    2017-2018 · American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO) Global Cancer Research Special Interest Group
  • Exemplary Teacher Award
    2017 · UF College of Medicine
  • Advisory Committee Member
    2016-2019 · Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco (SRNT) Global Health Network
  • Fellow
    2016-2018 · NCI Mentored Training in Dissemination and Implementation Research (MT-DIRC)
  • Member
    2016-2017 · OneFlorida Cancer Control Alliance – Scientific Advisory Committee
  • Scholar
    2015-2017 · NCI Cancer Research Network (CRN) Scholars Program
Publications:
Grants:
  • May 2023 ACTIVE
    Patient goals and decision-making in chronic limb-threatening ischemia
    UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MEDICAL SCHOOL · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    Health Policy Training in Tobacco Prevention and Control
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    ReMARk: A multi-level strategy to address disparities in rural HPV-related cancer prevention
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    Phone Enabled Implementation of Cessation Support (PHOENICS)
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Principal Investigator
  • May 2022 ACTIVE
    Comparative Effectiveness of Mobile Health Smoking Cessation Approaches among Underserved Patients in Primary Care
    PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES RES INST · Principal Investigator
  • Apr 2022 ACTIVE
    Florida NCI Funds – Pediatric Allocation
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Co-Investigator
  • Apr 2022 ACTIVE
    Point-of-care intervention to address financial toxicity in families facing pediatric cancer
    FL DEPT OF HLTH LIVE LIKE BELLA · Principal Investigator
  • Nov 2021 – Jun 2022
    FLDOH PO – 2021-2022 – Educating Community Leaders about Tobacco Regulation
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2021 ACTIVE
    Scaling Interoperable Clinical Decision Support for Patient-Centered Chronic Pain Care
    AGCY HEALTHCARE RES AND QUALITY · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2021 ACTIVE
    Preemptive pharmacogenetic testing in medically underserved populations
    NATL INST OF HLTH NHGRI · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2021 – Apr 2023
    Project SMART: Social Media Anti-vaping Messages to Reduce ENDS Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Teens
    UNIV OF PENNSYLVANIA · Principal Investigator
  • Jun 2021 ACTIVE
    Reducing tobacco-associated lung cancer risk: A randomized clinical trial of AB-free kava
    FL DEPT OF HLTH BIOMED RES PGM/J&E KING · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2021 – Jun 2021
    Health Policy Training in Tobacco Prevention and Cessation
    FL DEPT OF HLTH · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2020 ACTIVE
    Adequate selection of patients for thyroid biopsy: evaluation of a shared decision making conversation aid
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Other
  • May 2020 – Oct 2022
    Prevention of Vaping and Tobacco Product Use Among Rural Youth in Florida
    AETNA FOUNDATION · Principal Investigator
  • Jan 2020 ACTIVE
    The benefits and harms of lung cancer screening in Florida
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • Oct 2019 – Mar 2023
    Clinically-Efficient Strategies to Address Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Pediatric Practice
    FL DEPT OF HLTH BIOMED RES PGM/J&E KING · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2018 – May 2022
    Eastern Mediterranean Consortium on the Economics of Waterpipe Tobacco Smoking: Capacity Building and Knowledge Translation
    AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT · Principal Investigator
  • Nov 2015 – Oct 2016
    Exploring methods to elicit individual patient preferences at diagnosis to inform patient-centered care
    UNIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA · Principal Investigator
  • Jun 2015 – Dec 2016
    Waterpipe tobacco smoking among University students
    ZAYED UNIVERSITY · Principal Investigator
  • May 2015 – Apr 2017
    CRN Scholars Award – CRN4: Cancer Research Resources & Collaboration in Integrated Health Care Systems
    KAISER FOU RESEARCH INSTITUTE · Principal Investigator
  • May 2015 – Oct 2016
    Building evidence for effective and sustainable cigarette warning label policy
    UNIV OF SOUTH CAROLINA · Principal Investigator
  • Apr 2015 – Jun 2021
    Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
    UF DIV OF SPONSORED RES MATCHING FUNDS · Project Manager
  • Mar 2015 – Jan 2017
    Waterpipe tobacco smoking amoung university students: Testing policy and prevention tools using a discrete choice.
    AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Pilot Project Grants funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
  • Jun 2014 – Dec 2017
    OneFlorida Cancer Control Network
    FL DEPT OF HLTH BIOMED RES PGM/J&E KING · Co-Investigator
Education:
  • 2011-2013
    Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cancer Care Quality
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • 2011
    PhD, Economics
    Wayne State University
  • 2007
    MA, Economics
    University of South Florida
  • 2002
    MBA, Business Administration
    University of South Florida
  • 2001
    BS, Management Information Systems
    University of South Florida
Ryan P Theis

Ryan P Theis Ph.D.

Research Assistant Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5973
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100147
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2197 MOWRY RD STE 184
GAINESVILLE FL 32611

Dr. Theis is an assistant professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and the Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP) at the University of Florida College of Medicine. He is a medical anthropologist specializing in the use of qualitative methods in implementation and improvement science, health care quality measurement, and program evaluation. His research focuses on health disparities and health care quality in publicly insured populations, with an emphasis on children and adults in Medicaid who require long-term services and supports.

Dr. Theis presently oversees evaluation studies as a key investigator of the External Quality Review Organization for Texas Medicaid and CHIP. He also provides qualitative and mixed-methods expertise in collaboration with other UF faculty to inform the development and adoption of evidence-based practices in local clinical settings, including studies funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (PI: Shenkman), the James and Esther King Biomedical Research Program (PI: Salloum), and the Aetna Foundation (PI: Salloum). Dr. Theis is a member of the operations committee for the UF CTSI Learning Health System Program, and serves as a subject matter expert on Texas DSRIP Program workgroups related to social determinants of health and telehealth. Dr. Theis received his PhD in anthropology from the University of Florida. His dissertation work, funded by the U.S. Fulbright Program, used ethnographic methods to understand experiences and perceptions of discrimination among low-income social service users in Geneva, Switzerland.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Sep 2022 ACTIVE
    Phone Enabled Implementation of Cessation Support (PHOENICS)
    NATL INST OF HLTH NCI · Co-Investigator
  • May 2022 ACTIVE
    Comparative Effectiveness of Mobile Health Smoking Cessation Approaches among Underserved Patients in Primary Care
    PATIENT-CENTERED OUTCOMES RES INST · Co-Investigator
  • Jul 2021 – Apr 2023
    Project SMART: Social Media Anti-vaping Messages to Reduce ENDS Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Teens
    UNIV OF PENNSYLVANIA · Co-Investigator
  • May 2020 – Oct 2022
    Prevention of Vaping and Tobacco Product Use Among Rural Youth in Florida
    AETNA FOUNDATION · Co-Investigator
  • Oct 2019 – Mar 2023
    Clinically-Efficient Strategies to Address Tobacco Smoke Exposure in Pediatric Practice
    FL DEPT OF HLTH BIOMED RES PGM/J&E KING · Co-Investigator
  • May 2018 – Oct 2019
    A Mixed Method Evaluation of the ABP PIMs: Understanding the ABP Diplomat's Perspectives and Experiences for Programmatic Enhancement
    THE AMER BOARD OF PEDIATRICS · Co-Investigator
Carla Vandeweerd

Carla Vandeweerd PhD

Professor; Director, UF Health – Precision Health Research Center
Phone: (352) 247-2493
Physical Address:
ENG 202
4202 E. Fowler Ave
Tampa FL 33620
Publications:
Grants:
  • Oct 2022 ACTIVE
    Assessing Safety and Mobility Benefits of Autonomous Ride Sharing Services Among Veterans in Florida.
    US DEPT OF VET AFF GAINESVILLE MED CTR · Principal Investigator
  • Apr 2022 ACTIVE
    Assessing Safety and Mobility Benefits of Autonomous Ride Sharing Services Among Older Adults in Florida
    FL DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION · Co-Investigator
  • Jan 2022 ACTIVE
    Alzheimer's Disease Staging from EEG and Neurovascular Clinical Data
    APPLIED COGNITION · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2021 ACTIVE
    Tailoring Recruitment Communication using Virtual Human Technology to Increase Participation of Older Minority Adults in Clinical Trials
    NATL INST OF HLTH NIA · Co-Investigator
  • Apr 2021 ACTIVE
    ACTIV-6: COVID-19 Outpatient Randomized Trial to Evaluate Efficacy of Repurposed Medications (Villages)
    DUKE UNIVERSITY · Principal Investigator
  • Apr 2021 ACTIVE
    A Community Based Participatory Research Approach to Improving Health and Wellness for Older Adults in The Villages Comparing Remote Monitoring Device Adherence
    CASANA CARE · Principal Investigator
  • Dec 2020 ACTIVE
    A Community Based Participatory Research Approach to Improving Health and Wellness for Older Adults in The Villages
    ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES · Principal Investigator
  • Feb 2015 ACTIVE
    UF Health Cancer Center Pilot Project Grants funded through the Florida Consortium of National Cancer Institute Centers Program
    UF HEALTH SHANDS HOSPITAL · Project Manager
W B Vogel

W B Vogel Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Phone: (352) 294-5970
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2004 Mowry Road
Office 2240, Clinical and Translational Research Bldg
GAINESVILLE FL 32608

W. Bruce Vogel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida. An economist by training, Dr. Vogel has extensive experience in a broad array of health services research and health economics projects. His interests focus on applied mathematical and statistical modeling in the areas of outcomes, access, and costs across a variety of chronically-ill populations, including Medicaid enrollees, children, and veterans. Dr. Vogel is currently the lead principal investigator on a three-year, $3M evaluation of the Managed Medical Assistance (MMA) Program, Florida’s statewide transition of Medicaid from fee-for-service to managed care. He is also involved in conducting analyses as a part of the Texas Medicaid External Quality Review Organization. Dr. Vogel was previously Co-Director of the original Florida Health Insurance Study and also served as the Director of the Methodology Core at the VA Rehabilitation Outcomes Research Center and the VA Center for Innovation in Disability and Rehabilitation Research. He has served on the VA’s Scientific Merit Review Board and the VA’s National Advisory Panel on Statistics and Analytics, and is currently an Associate Editor of BMC Health Services Research. His research has appeared in Medical Care, Health Services Research, Inquiry, Health Care Management Science, and Advances in Health Economics and Health Services Research, among others. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the George Washington University.

Publications:
Grants:
  • Jun 2019 – May 2022
    OR-DRPD-ROF2019: Early Administration of Steroids in the Ambulance Setting: An Observational Design Trial
    UF RESEARCH · Other
  • Dec 2016 – Jun 2022
    MED180 – MMA (Managed Medical Assistance)
    AGCY FOR HLTH CARE ADMN · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2016 – Sep 2020
    The Child Health Quality (CHeQ) Partnership Program
    AGCY HEALTHCARE RES AND QUALITY · Co-Investigator
  • Sep 2016 – Dec 2017
    Vogel IPA – RVCP
    US DEPT OF VET AFF GAINESVILLE MED CTR · Principal Investigator
  • Sep 2016 – Jul 2018
    Vogel IPA – CREST RESCUE
    US DEPT OF VET AFF GAINESVILLE MED CTR · Principal Investigator
Alyson G Young

Alyson G Young Ph.D.

Assistant Research Scientist
Phone: (352) 294-8128
Mailing Address:
PO Box 100177
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Physical Address:
2199 MOWRY RD RM 141
GAINESVILLE FL 32611

Dr. Young is a biocultural anthropologist with a background in global and environmental health. She is a faculty member in the Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics (HOBI) and the Institute for Child Health Policy (ICHP), a member of the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI), and a faculty affiliate in the Center for African Studies and the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research at UF.

Dr. Young has a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona and more than 15 years of global health research and teaching experience in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on identifying the social and structural factors contributing to environmental and maternal health disparities and strengthening access to health and environmental services in vulnerable and underserved populations. As a mentor and educator, Dr. Young advocates for promoting equity in team science, evidence-based education practices in public health, and active, person-centered teaching practices that help equip health professionals with the skills needed to promote global and environmental health in the COVID-19 era.

At HOBI, Dr. Young applies her expertise in ecosocial epidemiology, community-based participatory approaches, and implementation science research as an Assistant Scientist, designing and overseeing evaluation projects for the external quality review organization (EQRO) for Texas Medicaid and CHIP.

Research Interests:
  • Environmental Epidemiology
  • Global Health
  • Health disparities and vulnerable populations
  • Maternal and Child Health
  • Social Epidemiology
Education:
  • 2008
    Ph.D.
    University of Arizona
  • 1999
    M.A.
    Ohio State University
  • 1997
    B.A.
    Ohios State University

Adjunct Faculty

Michelle Cardel, PhD, MS, RD

Adjunct Professor
Associate Director, Center for Integrative Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease
Phone: 352-273-8811 
Email: mcardel@ufl.edu

Michelle Cardel

Emeritus Faculty

Jonathan J Shuster

Jonathan J Shuster

Professor Emeritus
Phone: (352) 682-0893

Jonathan Shuster is a professor emeritus in the College of Medicine, Department of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics, and Director of Research Design and Analysis Program, University of Florida Clinical and Translational Science Institute.

He has been on the University of Florida faculty since 1969. Between 1980 and 2000, he served as the founding Group Statistician for the Pediatric Oncology Group, one of the cooperative clinical trials groups funded by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH). He has been PI or Co-PI on over $30 million in federal grants. He is a member of the Cardiovascular and Sleep Epidemiology Study Section for the NIH, his fifth term on an NIH study section. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the journal Sequential Analysis. In past years, he has served as Associate Editor, Journal of the American Statistical Association and on the Editorial Board of Blood.

Education:
  • 1969
    Ph.D., Math-Statistics
    McGill University
  • 1967
    M.S., Math-Statistics
    McGill University
  • 1964
    B.S., Chemistry
    McGill University
Alexander C Wagenaar

Alexander C Wagenaar

Professor Emeritus
Phone: (352) 327-8716

Dr. Wagenaar is Professor Emeritus of Health Outcomes & Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine. His second book, Public Health Law Research: Theory and Methods (with Scott Burris of Temple University School of Law), was published by Wiley in 2013. In addition, he has published 200 scientific articles on social and behavioral epidemiology, public health policy, legal evaluations, community intervention trials, alcohol and tobacco studies, traffic safety, injury control, and, most recently, effects of family economic security policies on infant and child health outcomes.

In 1987, Professor Wagenaar received the Exceptional Leadership Award from the American Public Health Association. In 1999, he received the Jellinek Award for lifetime achievement in research on alcohol. In 2001 he received the Innovator’s Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and in 2004 was named by the Institute for Scientific Information as a Highly Cited Researcher, an honor limited to less than one-half of one percent of published scientists worldwide. Other scientists have cited his journal articles more than 10,000 times. In 2009 he received the Prevention Science Award and in 2016 the Nan Tobler Award, both from the Society for Prevention Research, in recognition of his three decades of investigating and advancing the methods and outcomes of prevention research.

Education:
  • 1980
    Ph.D., Health Behavior and Health Education
    University of Michigan
  • 1978
    M.S.W., Program Evaluation and Research
    University of Michigan
  • 1977
    B.A., Sociology
    Calvin College