Health Experts Database

Professor Cloud’s research focuses on health promotion, health disparities and cultural diversity.

Dr. Hulme’s expertise and teaching is in the area of geriatrics, neurological physical therapy and women’s health. Her research focuses on student readiness for teamwork in professional practice after IPE experiences, and innovative models for interprofessional education.

Dr. Feret’s research and practice interests include delivery and assessment of experiential education, a pharmacist’s role in emergency preparedness, and self care.

Dr. Vadiveloo’s research focuses on using behavioral theory to favorably influence food choices, dietary quality, weight control and cardiovascular health. She develops strategies to make it easier for consumers to choose healthy foods that are tasty and filling, with the ultimate goal of helping individuals and populations develop lifelong dietary patterns they enjoy and that promote healthy body weights.

Dr. Buchanan has years of experience collaborating on HIV/AIDS research, working closely with colleagues both domestically and internationally to develop and apply causal methodology to improve treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS. Her research focuses on causal inference, generalizability, HIV/AIDS, substance use disorder treatment and prevention, randomized trials, observational studies, survival analysis, longitudinal analysis and network science.

Dr. Walls specializes in contemporary self-experimentation, intensive longitudinal data and the developmental aspects of health behavior.

Dr. Robbins’ research interests focus on health promotion, disease prevention and decision-making, particularly for planned change at both the individual level and on a population basis. His current efforts are centered on the Transtheoretical model to better understand decision-making and behavior change in organ donation and transplantation, blood donation, advanced care planning and multiple health behavior change.

Dr. Branch focuses on adult learning and development in relationships among diverse students in collegiate settings. Her research also includes assessment in higher education persistence, educational attainment, and environmental theory and assessment in higher education. Dr. Branch has expertise in qualitative inquiry, including using photography as a visual research method.

Dr. Matson’s research focuses on judicious antimicrobial use to prevent and control bacterial resistance, the use of novel antimicrobials within the pediatric population, substance abuse education and childhood nutrition and obesity prevention.

Dr. Paiva’s research In behavioral statistics includes measure development analyses (principal components analysis, structural modeling), cross-sectional analyses, longitudinal methods and cluster-randomized designs. Particular interests include applied undergraduate and graduate student training in statistics and research methodology. In health psychology, her focus has been on health behavior change and applications of the transtheoretical model to health-related behaviors, with particular interest in substance abuse prevention, alcohol harm reduction, HPV vaccine adherence, blood donation and distracted driving behaviors.

Dr. Carley’s research focuses on primary care of women, spirituality, graduate nursing education and care for the homeless.

Professor Hames’ research interests lie in issues surrounding death and bereavement, specifically as they relate to children and nursing education. Her research focuses on thanatology, grief and loss in children and adolescents and death education.

Dr. Seeram’s research group, the Bioactive Botanical Research Laboratory, investigates plant foods and natural products for therapeutic and preventive effects against chronic human diseases. The research focuses on bioassay-guided discovery of natural products from medicinal plants including medicinal foods targeting neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, diabetes and inflammation; investigation of bioavailability, metabolism, tissue disposition and mechanisms of action of bioactive food components.

Dr. Breines’ research focuses on behavioral science, examining how people process and respond to social evaluative threats, with a focus on the effects of self-compassion and self-criticism on health-relevant behavioral and biological outcomes.

Dr. Cadely’s primary research area addresses adolescent romantic relationships. Most recently, he has focused on the change in dating aggression from adolescence to young adulthood and factors that can contribute to adolescent dating aggression. He also has conducted studies that evaluate the effectiveness of lessons designed to teach adolescents about characteristics of healthy romantic relationships. Dr. Cadely’s secondary research interest involves examining predictors of identity formation and the influence of identity formation on adolescent development.

Dr. Kovarsky’s research has focused primarily on the analysis of clinical discourse from an ethnographic perspective. Much of his work has been funded by the United States Department of Education.

Dr. Oaks focuses on maternal and child nutrition within the United States and internationally, with the goals of reducing adverse birth outcomes in high-risk populations and determining the long-term effects of prenatal and early childhood nutrition.

Dr. Blissmer’s research focuses on delivering theoretically based interventions to promote a healthy lifestyle and analysis of the psychosocial outcomes of those interventions. This research involves collaboration with faculty in Psychology and Nutrition and has included populations ranging from adolescents to older adults. He has also focused on continuing to evolve the emerging field of multiple behavior change, physical activity promotion, health behavior theory, psychosocial outcomes of PA engagement.

Dr. MacDonnell focuses on the pedagogy of interprofessional education, medication therapy management, and diseases of the eyes and skin.

Professor Doyle-Moss’ research focuses on matters concerning disaster preparedness in bioterrorism, and simulation in nursing education.

Dr. Murphy’s research interests include suicide, loss, grief, sexuality, gender and radical pedagogy.

A certified health fitness specialist and strength and conditioning specialist, Armstrong’s research interests include strength and conditioning, biomechanics, and youth physical activity.

Dr. Dugault’s studies focus on research utilization, evidence-based practice, competency-based evaluation, pain management, evaluation/outcomes research and translation research.

Dr. Mahler’s research focuses on motor speech disorders and cognitive-linguistic abilities in adults with neurological diagnoses, including Parkinson’s disease, brain injury, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy. She investigates how principles of motor learning can drive activity-dependent changes in neural plasticity with long-term benefits that improve functional communication. She also evaluates the impact of deep brain stimulation on speech and swallowing abilities in people with Parkinson disease and essential tremor, and on the role of cognition in diet and exercise for older obese women.

Dr Earp’s research focuses on morphological adaptations to exercise, muscle-tendon interaction during exercise and the use of exercise in tendon health and adaptation. He specializes in tendon rehabilitation, muscle morphology, sports biomechanics, and hormonal response to resistance training.

Professor McGrane’s research interest is in the area of school nurse teacher presence and positive student outcomes in the educational setting.

Dr. Barbour specializes in cardiovascular pharmacotherapy. Her research focuses on clinical studies of patients with cardiovascular disease, in addition to collaborating on pharmacoepidemiologic studies of cardiovascular drug use.

Ms. Larson’s research focuses on implementing and evaluating new strategies in the classroom to enhance student learning, including collaborative testing in large general education courses.

Dr. Quilliam’s research focuses on improving the safety of medications in vulnerable populations, particularly older adults. Key topics of research include pharmacoepidemiology, medication safety, older adults, and technology to improve healthcare.

Dr. Weiss’ research focuses on the role of emotion dysregulation in posttraumatic stress disorder and the risky, self-destructive and health compromising behaviors that frequently co-occur with PTSD. In particular, her research aims to clarify the role of emotion dysregulation in the development and maintenance of PTSD, as well as explore whether maladaptive ways of responding to emotions heighten involvement in risky behaviors among individuals with PTSD. Dr. Weiss is also interested in the conceptualization and measurement of difficulties regulating positive emotions, and examination of the role of emotion dysregulation stemming from positive emotions in PTSD and related risky behaviors.

Dr. Clapham’s research has centered on “new” physical education, girls sports, motivation and physical activity participation and ocean therapy for children with disabilities. As an avid surfer, she has always been interested in the benefits of ocean therapy. She noticed the calming effects she personally experienced after time spent in the ocean and wondered what impact surfing ocean therapy would have on the children with disabilities. After implementing a surfing program for children with disabilities, she studied the effects of surfing and ocean therapy on the children’s physiological, social and emotional responses.

Dr. Hume’s research focuses on interprofessional education/practice, geriatric pharmacotherapy, integrative medicine, and applying evidence-based guidelines in primary care.

Dr. Ghonem’s research interests include translational and basic research, focusing on novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of chronic liver and kidney diseases, including cholestasis and ischemia-reperfusion injury during organ transplantation.  She also focuses on molecular mechanisms of inflammation as it relates to chronic gastrointestinal diseases, regulation of drug transporters in the setting of chronic liver diseases and nuclear receptors as therapeutic targets for liver and kidney injury.

Dr. Larrat, Dean of the URI College of Pharmacy, specializes in drug benefit design issues, formulary compliance strategies, pharmacoeconomic evaluation, decision analysis, outcomes assessment, health policy and drug utilization management.

Dr. Clark, professor and director of both the URI gerontology department and the Rhode Island Geriatric Education Center, focuses on interprofessional education, health promotion with older adults, ethical issues in geriatric care, comparative health care policy, narrative gerontology, and aging and disability.

Dr. Tovar works across the disciplines of nutrition and psychology. She focuses on community-based participatory interventions to prevent obesity at early stages in life and among ethnic minority populations, in particular.

Dr. Pawasauskas’ research focus is on the development of pain management education strategies for interdisciplinary practice.

An interest in maternal-child health and evidence based care practices. A specific focus on birth practices such as the management of the umbilical cord in term and preterm infants.

Dr. Akhlaghi’s research interests include the effect of diabetes mellitus on drug disposition and the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of immunosuppressive agents used in organ transplantation.

Dr. Bach’s research focuses on NMR spectroscopy, structure elucidation and biophysical chemistry.

Dr. LaPlante’s foremost research expertise is in the treatment, outcomes, prevention, virulence inhibition (biofilm and toxin) and decolonization of multiple drug resistant bacteria, specifically Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Her research program has recently expanded to include an antimicrobial research outcomes component, which focuses on antimicrobial stewardship and comparative effectiveness research using the National Veterans Affairs database and statewide initiatives.

Dr. Lavin’s research focuses on medical surgical nursinge, ducational issues in the clinical area, oncology nursing, pain management, spirituality, mentoring and health-care in the primary care setting.

Dr. Cohen is a social epidemiologist and applied public health demographer studying the impacts of aging on health and health care delivery. He studies socioeconomic and demographic disparities in informal, family caregiving in the United States, and their impacts on caregiver health and quality of life. He also examines social factors and place-based characteristics associated with health, health behaviors and healthcare services use in older adults, with a primary focus on rural-urban and other sociodemographic disparities.

Professor Dassie’s research focuses on prostate and testicular cancer research, minority health issues, men’s health issues, and diversity in nursing issues.

Dr. Stoner specializes in the prevention of and intervention in behavioral problems, early school success, parent and teacher support, and professional issues in school psychology.

Dr. Lemay’s research focuses on clinical services provided by the community pharmacist in the community pharmacy and ambulatory care settings.

Dr. Faust is a clinical psychology professor who focuses his research on psychology and law (methods for improving courtroom evaluations, cross-cultural applications and issues, and science-legal interface), neuropsychology (strengths and limitations of assessment methodology and means of enhancing accuracy; cross-cultural issues in neuropsychological evaluation; legal applications), clinical judgment and decision making (identification of practices that impede or enhance diagnostic and predictive accuracy; increasing use of scientifically-based methods for maximizing accuracy) philosophy/psychology of science (examining scientists’ higher level decision making, such as theory evaluation, and developing methods for enhancing scientific judgment), and methodology, especially applied issues in psychological and neuropsychological assessment.

Dr. Leedahl’s research is focused on improving overall health and quality of life for older adults at multiple levels (societal, community, family, individual). Her research fits within three themes: enhancing social integration and health for older adults; improving community and social engagement of older adults; strengthening health and social services. Dr. Leedahl’s research projects involve developing and evaluating public programs, interventions and services for addressing social and health needs of older adults. One of her recent interdisciplinary projects combines her research, teaching and service efforts to bring together college students and older adults.

Dr. Deng’s research focuses on bile acids and cholesterol homeostasis; drug transporters, toxicology and delivery; and biological and pharmaceutical therapy development. The long-term objective of his research program is to understand how cholesterol metabolism and bile acid homeostasis are regulated in physiological as well as pathological conditions.

Dr. Willis has established national and international reputations in cognitive developmental neuropsychology, professional decision making in psychology, and professional practice issues in school psychology.

Dr. Morokoff’s research focuses on gender issues in sexuality such as sexual assertiveness, HIV/AIDS prevention, prediction of risky sexual behaviors, and psychophysiological and hormonal factors affecting sexual functioning.

Dr. Shen’s research is mainly focused on the development of novel drug delivery systems to improve bioavailability and reduce side effects of a variety of therapeutics, with particular interests in sustained and/or targeted brain and ophthalmic drug delivery, as well as oral drug delivery; formulation development and manufacturing of advanced drug delivery systems (such as liposomes and nanocarriers); and in vitro and in vivoperformance testing, as well as the development of in vitro-in vivo correlation (IVIVC) for complex dosage forms (such as microspheres, implants and nanoparticles).

Dr. Ward’s research focuses on drug information, literature evaluation, biostatistics, women’s health (contraception, pregnancy/lactation, infertility) and medication adherence.

Dr. Petrie’s research interests include acute care outcomes, outcome tools in geriatric practice and clinical education.

Dr. DiTomasso’s areas of specialty include antepartum, labor & delivery, post-partum, lactation, and newborn care. He research focuses on breastfeeding, infant weight loss and growth.

Dr. Estus’ research interests include geriatric pharmacotherapy, long-term care, health literacy and improving communication between students and older adults through various intergenerational activities.

Dr. Sparks focuses on the impact of systematic integration of client feedback in couples and family therapy. Her main areas of focus include patterns of the alliance in couples and family therapy, use of client feedback in community-based systems of care for at-risk families, incorporation of outcome management in clinical training and teaching curricula.

Dr. Bueno De Mesquita’s main research focuses include violence prevention and school-based mental health services. He also researches social emotional development, problem-based learning, cultural diversity, self-efficacy and inquiry science education.

Dr. Adams is a licensed practitioner in family psychology, and investigates factors in the therapy process that lead to more successful outcomes for couples and families. He focuses on two related areas that inform this research: understanding how some couples sustain high degrees of happiness throughout their relationship, while others end up divorcing; and the impact of adolescent substance abuse on families. Dr. Adams is actively investigating the skills needed to be an effective teacher of family clinicians, and the role of supervision in developing the skills of emerging professionals.

Dr. Spillane’s research examines substance use, with a specific focus on underserved populations and health disparities. Her work primarily focuses on indigenous populations in North America, including American Indians in the United States and First Nations in Canada. Dr. Spillane’s work helps facilitate the development and/or adaptation of treatment and prevention programs to reduce the harm associated with substance use in native communities. She also has interest in applying positive psychology to addictive behaviors.

Dr. Bourbonniere’s research focuses on health services, continuity of care for frail older adults and outcomes of care delivered by GNPs.

Dr. Sullivan’s research focuses on prematurity, children at risk, context of development including risk and protection, longitudinal methods, biobehavioral models, stress mechanisms and allostatic load.

Dr. Manfredi researches the effects of aerobic and strength training on skeletal muscle morphology in older adults; metabolic related diseases and skeletal muscle mitochondria in older adults; and aging heart and skeletal muscle morphology.

Dr. Flannery-Schroeder’s research examines the nature of anxiety and depressive disorders in children and adults. She focuses on the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral treatment for children at risk of anxiety covers, parent training, and the role of family factors in the onset, maintenance and treatment of anxiety disorders.

Dr. Wen’s research focuses on drug utilization and clinical outcomes, drug safety, drug compliance, outcomes measurement, pharmacoepidemiology, pharmacoeconomics, health education, meta-analyses, and methodologies for observational studies.

Dr. Weyandt’s research focuses on the study of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and young adults. She studies the misuse of prescription stimulant medication, clinical neuroscience and the executive functions in clinical and nonclinical populations.

Dr. Lofgren’s specializes in lipid and lipoprotein metabolism, obesity and cardiovascular disease.

Dr. Rowley’s research focuses on marine natural products chemistry, antibiotics drug discovery and marine microbial chemical ecology.

Professor McLinden stresses integrated clinical experience, facilitating “real life” scenarios for students. He has done extensive research on ergonomic handle design for tools, and the effects of cryotherapy and exercise on the body. His studies have enhanced his teachings in musculoskeletal and professional issues courses.

Dr. Boatright-Horowitz focuses on the teachings of anti-racism and public perceptions of domestic violence. She also researches the importance of different aspects of traditions and cultures in primate learning and cognition.

Dr. Delmonico’s research focuses on physical activity, sarcopenia, physical function, aging and epidemiology.

Dr. Audette initiated the Broadening Experience at URI, which allows students to broaden their view of physical therapy locally, nationally and internationally through two-week non-clinical experiences. Every year as part of this program, she travels with students to the highlands of Guatemala to work at a center for children with disabilities. She has done physical therapy related work in China, Haiti, Suriname and Guatemala.

Dr. Thompson’s research focuses on the role of the environmental health nurse as a knowledge broker, strategic and synergistic partnerships, environmental health, multiple environmental chemical exposures (lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls) among childbearing-aged women, contaminated fish consumption among indigenous populations.

Dr. Hatfield specializes in athletic performance, nutritional supplementation, children’s health and exercise. Her research focuses on hormonal responses to resistance exercise, particularly the responses of insulin-like growth factor and growth hormone.  She also has investigated the role of supplementation and resistance exercise, children and exercise, and the weight-loss and health benefits of differing diets in combination with resistance training.

Dr. King’s research focuses on metabolism and enzymology of endo- and xenobiotics (including medications, hormones, neurotransmitters, dietary substances); variation in metabolism caused by disease state, age, genetic polymorphisms and presence of inhibitor/activators/suppressors; protein structure bioinformatics; and drug design.

Dr. Charpentier’s research interests include oral cancer therapy, oncology, supportive and palliative care, and diabetes.

Dr. Taveira’s research focuses on the evaluation of pharmacist-coordinated cardiac risk reduction care models and the impact of mental health conditions on diabetes and cardiac risk factor control.

Dr. Zhang’s central research goal is to apply nanotechnology in drug delivery and advance the development of nanomedicine and immunotherapy. His research focuses on: designing novel subunit vaccines and RNA-based vaccines for cancer therapy, and potentially applying the vaccine platforms to the prevention of infectious diseases; potentiate antitumor immune responses in tumor microenvironment through .nanoparticle-mediated targeted delivery of small molecules and RNA therapeutics; and immune stimulation regimens.

Dr. Kim specializes in aphasia, researching the impact of reading and writing treatments on individuals with the condition. She also works with those with Primary Progressive Aphasia and their family members to develop new approaches in managing the changing symptoms of the disorder.

Dr. Milner’s research focuses on aural rehabilitation, particularly in adults.

Dr. Vyas’ research focuses on treatment patterns, quality of care, pharmacoepidemiology, secondary and claims databases, and systematic review and meta-analyses.

Dr. Laforge’s area of focus is behavioral epidemiology with specific emphasis in harm reduction approaches to substance abuse, biostatistical methods, survey research and cancer epidemiology. He also has interest in health behaviors from college student drinking and alcohol harm reduction in the general public.

Dr. Bratberg’s research focuses on opioid safety, overdose prevention, infectious diseases, public health, emergency preparedness, bioterrorism, pharmacy professionalism, technology in teaching, team-based learning and pharmacy advocacy.

Dr. Harlow’s research focuses on increasing interest, participation, performance and diversity in quantitative science; multivariate statistics, structural equation modeling, methodology, meaning in life, and women’s health.

Professor Dugas’ research focuses on gerontology, and community health nursing.

Dr. Jacobson’s research focuses on innovative collaborative practice agreements, expanding pharmacist-directed patient care, preventing and detecting medication-related problems, interprofessional education, and cultural competence and diversity.

Dr. Slitt’s research interests focus on how expression of drug transporters affects chemical disposition and toxicity; how nutrition and intake of dietary antioxidants affects the expression of drug transporters; how liver disease (i.e. diabetes, cholestasis and ethanol cirrohsis) affects transporter expression and chemical disposition; and how transporter expression affects cholesterol transport and susceptibility to gallstone formation.