PhD Students
Jesus Aleman
MPH, 2024 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Eva Moya
Jesus’ research focus is centered around a health-in-all-policies approach to reducing health disparities among minorities, including those related to food insecurity, reproductive health, and infectious diseases such as HPV and HIV.
Curriculum Vitae
April Ansari
MPH, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Vannesa Mueller
April is interested in psychiatric epidemiology and developmental psychology. She contextualizes the impact of trauma-informed care and cultural competence in effectively treating mental health conditions and promoting resiliency.
Curriculum Vitae
Jehu Apaflo
MS, PhD(c), 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi
Jehu is interested in understanding the effects of a high fat diet and physical activity on the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes mellitus. His study aims to elucidate the benefits of exercise, electromyostimulation and dietary interventions in preventing and mitigating the metabolic defects associated with type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Curriculum Vitae
Dave Arellano
MPH, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Beatrice Lee
Dave is interested in educating and empowering individuals on many preventable illnesses in terms of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. He seeks to improve the overall health status of his community and most importantly, help bridge the gap in regards to access to medical services, resources, health information, and linkages to care.
Curriculum Vitae
Abdulahi Ayanwale
MD, MPH, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia
Abdulahi is interested in the emerging infectious fungal disease called Valley Fever/Coccidioidomycosis, which is endemic along the US-Mexico border region among construction and agricultural workers. His study aims to investigate the infection rate and hospitalization among these populations because they are highly exposed to the organism due to the nature of their job.
Curriculum Vitae
Rosa Castellanos Vargas
MS in Gerontology, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Vannesa Mueller
Rosa is interested in mental health and the cognitive aging process of the general population and older people. She is also interested in performing interventions through cognitive activities, as well as promoting active aging to prevent cognitive decline and dementia.
Curriculum Vitae
Denise Chacon-Portillo
MPH, MCHES, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jeannie Concha
Denise is interested in the use of person-first language and strength-based language in diabetes care and research. Additional interests include mental health, LGBTQ+ health, and policy.
Curriculum Vitae
Judith Chavira-Mendoza
MS, MA, RD/LD, 2018 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Bruce Friedman
Curriculum Vitae
Katelyn Conroy
MS, PhD(c), 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Eggleston
Katelyn’s research interests include investigating lower extremity biomechanical variables related to various topics such as sports performance, rehabilitation, and daily living.
Curriculum Vitae
June Contreras
MS, MBA, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Brooke Merritt
June is interested in researching voice and gender perception to inform gender-affirming voice care. She is leveraging Bayesian methods for revealing some of the phonetic-acoustic structure listeners use to categorize speakers based on the gender the listener perceives. She is also looking for ways to synthesize these Bayesian methods with deep learning speech synthesis models to provide a constrained training method that will yield a more naturally sounding speech synthesis model.
Curriculum Vitae
Preyangsee Dutta
MD, 2024 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi
Preyangsee’s research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms and genetic basis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. She plans to explore how genetic variations affect physiological processes that link cardiovascular risk with metabolic diseases. This research aims to improve risk prediction and develop personalized treatment strategies. From a clinical perspective, her work seeks to advance the understanding of cardiovascular and metabolic health, paving the way for more effective prevention and treatment approaches.
Curriculum Vitae
Rosa Escalante Lopez
MSW, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jason Mallonee
Rosa’s research interests include mental health accessibility, removing stigma and education in the Hispanic community. She is also interested in developing interventions for people with a physical disability to navigate mental health impacts after life-changing situations. Additional interests include health accessibility in rural areas, OUD, SUD, and food security.
Curriculum Vitae
Maria Fuentes
MD, MPH, PhD(c), 2018 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia
Maria is studying social determinants of health associated with COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among vulnerable populations in rural areas of El Paso, Texas.
Curriculum Vitae
Samantha Gaytan
MS in Kinesiology, 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Kisuk Min
Samantha’s research aims to develop a nanoparticle-based system to deliver an anti-fibrotic drug, aiming to shield the heart from development of fibrosis caused by chemotherapy and gastric cancer.
Curriculum Vitae
Uchenna Gbugu
PharmD, MPH, BCACP, PhD(c), 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Frietze
Uchenna’s research interests include studying health disparities experienced by racial/ethnic minority populations, especially in diseases and genetic conditions where minorities are predisposed.
Curriculum Vitae
Manuel Gomez
MS in Kinesiology, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Alvaro Gurovich
Manuel's research interests include cardiovascular physiology during exercise. He is particularly interested in blood flow patterns, vascular reactivity, and eccentric exercise
Curriculum Vitae
Amir Hernandez
MPH, PhD(c), 2020 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Frietze
Amir's primary research interests include cancer prevention in Hispanic border populations by reducing disparities in screenings and vaccination. Additional interests include clinical and biomedical informatics research as well as global health and population health topics.
Curriculum Vitae
Robbie Kennebrew
MPH, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gregory Schober
Robbie's research interests include the politics of food systems, food autonomy, food sovereignty, agroecology, and the intersectionality of economic power and food apartheid.
Curriculum Vitae
Joshua Labadah
MPhil, Molecular Cell Biology, 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi
Joshua is interested in investigating the immune modulations associated with metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. He aims to identify immune markers to enhance diagnosis, assessing treatment efficacy and as potential therapeutic targets.
Curriculum Vitae
Alyssa Martinez
MPH, CHES, 2022 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Frietze
Alyssa’s research interests include Hispanic health disparities, infectious diseases and epidemiology. Specifically, Alyssa investigates health topics that Hispanics may be impacted by, such as cancer, human papillomavirus, and COVID-19.
Curriculum Vitae
Perla Michelle Martinez
MD, MPH, 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia
Michelle is interested in exploring how health disparities and social determinants of health affect rural communities, focusing on their impact on the quality of life and well-being of individuals living in these areas.
Curriculum Vitae
Angel Melendez
MHL, MSRC, RRT, NPS, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Alvaro Gurovich
Angel is a healthcare professional and researcher with a focus on clinical applied physiology, respiratory care, and exercise stress testing. Their research aims to improve patient outcomes by addressing health disparities in the Hispanic patient population and enhancing patient education. They advocate for interdisciplinary collaboration, especially between respiratory care and physical therapy.
Curriculum Vitae
Md Mohsin
MS, PhD(c), 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Thenral Mangadu
Mohsin's primary research interest is maternal and child health disparities related to substance use disorder. He is also interested in child malnutrition, specifically in developing/least developed countries.
Curriculum Vitae
Donyeill Mozer
MPA, 2020 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jeannie Concha
Don's research revolves around the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) in military veterans and marginalized communities. He seeks to destigmatize ACE and create programs that will build resiliency within these populations and help improve long-term health outcomes.
Jesse Musah
MSc, 2024 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Oralia Loza
Jesse is interested in exploring the syndemic interactions between substance abuse, mental health, and the risk of HIV/STI transmission in high-risk populations. Jesse's research focuses on using mixed methods to better understand the public health implications of these comorbidities and to identify intervention strategies that address health disparities. Jesse also seeks to expand the application of biostatistical methods and qualitative approaches to broader questions in infectious disease epidemiology, public health policy, and gender minority health. Through this work, he aims to contribute to the development of effective public health interventions that promote equity and well-being in underserved communities.
Curriculum Vitae
Richard Petri
MD, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Gabriel Ibarra-Mejia
Richard is interested in holistic medicine and Integrative Health and Healing. His study proposes using cultural paradigms of health, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine, to understand Western diagnoses and failed treatments, specifically in pain management, to obtain improved outcomes, better targeted and appropriate therapies, and have a significant impact on societal health and satisfaction.
Curriculum Vitae
Katherine Reyes-Brooks
PT, DPT, PhD(c), 2021 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Alvaro Gurovich
Katherine is interested in possible connections between vascular health, neurological health and boxing as a form of exercise intervention for people with Parkinson’s disease.
Curriculum Vitae
Kendra Rosales
MS, CCC-SLP, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Vannesa Mueller
Kendra is interested in pediatric feeding and swallowing disorders. Her research will focus on developing treatment interventions that are efficacious and accessible to all disciplines. The intervention will aim to desensitize aversions to food at the level of sight, allowing children to successfully increase the number of foods accepted across categories and decrease the risk of developing comorbidities related to nutritional deficiencies
Curriculum Vitae
Dwaipayan Saha
MD, 2024 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Sudip Bajpeyi
As a researcher at the MiNER Laboratory, Dwaipayan is focusing on the molecular mechanisms underlying metabolic diseases, particularly obesity and type 2 diabetes, and their links to cardiovascular complications like Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). His work will also explore the interplay between insulin signaling, lipid metabolism, and mitochondrial function, aiming to identify factors that drive disease progression. With a clinical background in medicine, he focuses on the prevention and precision medicine strategies for cardio-metabolic diseases, striving to uncover root causes and therapeutic targets that can effectively mitigate cardiovascular disease risks and reduce the global burden of cardio-metabolic diseases.
Curriculum Vitae
Nicolas Silva
MS, MSW, LMSW, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jennifer Salinas
Nico’s research and practice areas investigate the implications of the arts in health, medicine and society. He is deeply invested in expressive arts therapy and ultra endurance performance, from multi-day ultrarunning and walking, to durational art and Broadway/theatre performance. He has a lifelong commitment to diversifying STEAMM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Medicine), implementation science, clinical trials, and the professoriate.
Curriculum Vitae
Leonardo Vinicius Thome Teixeira da Silva
PT, MPT, 2023 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Camila Torriani-Pasin
Leonardo's research interests center on investigating the factors influencing stroke survivors' engagement in physical activity and reduction of sedentary behavior, ultimately fostering increased community participation. By delving into the interplay of factors such as physical features, self-motivation, and environment barriers and facilitators, Leonardo aspires to identify key determinants that can positively impact stroke survivors' community roles. Leonardo's research seeks to contribute valuable insights that inform tailored interventions and enhance the overall quality of life of stroke survivors.
Curriculum Vitae
Monica Urquieta
MA, PhD(c), 2016 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jason Mallonee
Monica is interested in learning about the lived experience of individuals living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) who are part of the Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) program. The interest that drives this study is learning about the perceptions of people living with SMI regarding their recovery in AOT; their insight of their illness and anosognosia; stigma; and recidivism and their involvement with the criminal justice system.
Curriculum Vitae
Andrew Vernon
MD, MPH, MS, 2024 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Emre Umucu
Andrew is deeply committed to understanding and addressing public health challenges, focusing on the intersection of climate change and mental health. His interests extend to supporting vulnerable populations through research and policy, emphasizing social determinants of health and strategies like conditional cash transfer programs to alleviate intergenerational poverty. Additionally, Andrew aims to enhance healthcare systems and community resilience through evidence-based interventions and innovative public health practices.
Curriculum Vitae
Donald Williams-Gutiérrez
MPH, CHES, 2017 Cohort
Advisor: Dr. Jeannie Concha
Donald's broader research interests are health disparities in cardiovascular disease risk along the U.S.-Mexico Border. He will be investigating specific CVD issues within this area. Donald is also interested in holistic approaches to addressing border community health and wellness in order to improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities.
Curriculum Vitae
