Labs
PATCH Lab
Headed by Dr. Theodore V. Cooper
The Prevention and Treatment in Clinical Health (PATCH) laboratory is located in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at El Paso. Supervised by Dr. Ted Cooper, the lab researches several areas related to disease prevention and health promotion including tobacco use, sedentary behavior, diet, food intake, and cancer prevention. Many current research endeavors focus on Hispanic populations in the El Paso/Ciudad Juárez region. For more information, visit his lab website here: https://www.utep.edu/liberalarts/patch-lab/
Field Lab
Headed by Dr. Craig Field
My primary focus in health psychology is addressing alcohol related health disparities among Hispanics. I have conducted four comparative effectiveness trials of brief motivational interventions for drug and alcohol use funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Patient Center Outcomes Research Institute. These studies apply the principles of motivational interviewing in the health care setting to reduce the public health impact of alcohol use disorders particularly among Hispanics. Through funding by Paso del Norte Health Foundation, we facilitate the dissemination and implementation of screening and brief motivational intervention in the health care, judicial and community settings in the Paso del Norte region. For more information, visit his lab website here: https://www.utep.edu/lahdr/
SEVER Lab
Headed by Dr. Mitchell E. Kirwan
Research in the SEVER Lab focuses primarily on the underlying and in-the-moment factors associated with sexual violence perpetration and sexual violence victimization, most notably: emotion regulation, alcohol use and intoxication, LGBTQ+ identification, hostile masculine attitudes, and impulsivity. By conducting this research, the lab hopes to better understand the factors that facilitate sexual violence, allowing the development of future prevention and intervention programs. These programs would seek to reduce the prevalence of sexual violence perpetration and reduce the severity of the negative consequences experienced by sexual violence survivors. For more information, visit his lab website here: https://sites.google.com/view/sever-lab-utep/home
HAPPY JDM Lab
Headed by Dr. Osvaldo F. Morera
Research at Health, Applied Psychometrics and Judgment/Decision Making Laboratory is conducted by Dr. Osvaldo F. Morera at the University of Texas at El Paso. By training, Dr. Morera is a quantitative psychologist and his research covers three general areas, (1) Human judgment and decision making, (2) Applied psychometrics, and (3) health psychology.
Research in this lab often connects two of these areas of inquiry. For example, one primary focus of research interest involves the use of decision aids to help patients make informed decisions about cancer screening decisions. For more information, visit his lab website here: https://www.utep.edu/liberalarts/happyjdm-lab/
