Research Faculty

Faculty Member Affiliation Research Specialties Profile link
Leah Hamilton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Social Work

Research Fellow
  • Public Policy
  • Asset Development
  • Economic Justice
  • Universal Basic Income
Emily Lakey, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research Fellow
  • Autism
  • Early Intervention
  • Preschool Language Disorders
  • Interprofessional Practice
  • Service Delivery Models in Speech-Language Pathology
Gary McCullough, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education
Professor

Beaver College of Health Sciences

Research Fellow
  • Adult swallowing and voice disorders
  • Adult neurogenic disorders
  • Interprofessional research and education development
  • Rural health education
  • Research and development
Martie Thompson, Ph.D.
Blue Cross NC Distinguished Endowed Professor
IHHS Director of Community Research

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Fellow
  • Risk factors and consequences of violence
  • Risk factors for suicidal behavior
  • Substance abuse and mental health services
Bryan Belcher, MPH
Director of the Interprofessional Clinic

IHHS

Research Associate
  • Interprofessional Education
  • Rural Health
  • Community-based Practice
Karen Caldwell, Ph.D.
Professor

Recreation Management and Physical Education

Research Associate
  • Interrelationship between the mind and the body
Tandrea Carter, Ph.D.
Director of Counseling for Faculty and Staff

IHHS

Research Associate
  • Public Health Issues
  • HIV Prevention and Support
Jordan Hazelwood, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research Associate
  • Swallowing and swallowing disorders in adults
  • Physiologic measures of swallowing
  • Patient-reported outcome measures and quality of life
  • Voice and resonance disorders
  • Interprofessional education
  • Clinical research ethics
Adam Hege, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Public Health Program Director

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Associate
  • Health disparities and the social and environmental determinants of health
  • Rural health
Jill Juris, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Recreation Management and Physical Education

Research Associate
  • Intergenerational programming
  • Community-based programs for older adults
  • University and community partnerships
Rebecca Kappus, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Associate
  • Cardiovascular disease prevention in high risk populations
  • Sex differences and effects of aging on cardiovascular function
  • Exercise and endothelial function
  • Oxidative stress and disease
Sandi Lane, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Director, Masters of Health Administration

Health Care Management

Research Associate
  • Impact of health system structure
  • Policy and financing on quality of care
  • Structure and management processes that contribute to successful implementation of new policies and processes
  • Pedagogies that contribute to student learning health care management competencies and their perception of being competent
Kim McCullough, Ph.D.
Professor, Speech-Language Pathology

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research Associate
  • Adult neurogenic communication disorders
  • Mild cognitive impairment & dementia
  • Aging and cognitive-communicative decline in rural populations
  • Interprofessional education
Alan Needle, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Injury Neuromechanics Laboratory Director

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Associate
  • Neuromechanical implications of joint injuries
  • Impact of attention and cognition on joint stability
  • Central nervous system adaptations to training and rehabilitation
  • Data processing & analysis in exercise science & sports medicine
Manan Roy, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Health Care Management

Research Associate
  • Assessing the differential mobility of racial groups across the food insecurity spectrum
  • Effects of low health literacy and adverse childhood events on health behavior and food insecurity
  • Cognitive and non-cognitive factors to adult health and socio-economic outcomes
David Russel, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Sociology

Research Associate
  • Medical Sociology
  • Aging & the Life Course
  • Sociology of Stress and Mental Health
  • Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods
Jared Skinner, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Associate
  • Enhancing the quality of life in older and diseased populations through physical rehabilitation and neurorestoration
  • Biomechanical analysis of gait and activities of daily living
  • Neural control of movement
  • Clinical symptoms and treatment of movement disorders
Trent Spaulding, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Associate
  • Effects of IT adoption in the healthcare industry
  • Performance effects of the automation of business processes
  • Patterns of adoption and automation
  • Integration of information systems
  • Economics and efficiency of online auctions; thin markets; collectables; automated data collection using Internet enabled software agents
Maggie Sugg, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Geography and Planning

Research Associate
  • Patiotemporal patterns of environmental health illnesses and how these patterns relate to environmental, socioeconomic, and climatic determinants
Annette Ward, MS
Senior Lecturer

Social Work

Research Associate
  • Screening for Substance Abuse
Dave Williams, Ph.D.
Professor
Undergraduate Program Directory, Health Care Management

Health Care Management

Research Associate
  • Biopharmaceutical & healthcare IPOs
  • Economic amalgamation in healthcare
  • Mergers & acquisitions in healthcare
  • Real option reasoning
Ben Alexander-Eitzman, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Social Work

Research Affiliate
  • Adult homelessness & substance abuse
  • Crisis assessment and intervention
  • Spatial & longitudinal research
  • Bayesian methods
  • Systems science and complex service systems
Becky Battista, Ph.D.
Professor
Director, Dept of Public Health and Exercise Science

Public Health and Exercise Science
Office of Student Research

Research Affiliate
  • Physical activity and children and youth
  • Improving motor development to increase physical activity in children
  • Youth sports
  • Physical characteristics of college athletes across a competitive career
Laura Chapman, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Speech-Language Pathology

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Research Affiliate
  • Use of eyetracking and pupillometry to study cognitive effort, attention, and working memory in the context of normal aging and in neurogenic language disorders including aphasia, mild cognitive impairment, and dementia
Richard Christiana, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
HOPE Lab Co-Director

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Affiliate
  • Promotion of rural children's outdoor play and physical activity
  • Lifelong maintenance of physical activity
  • Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches in rural areas
Melissa Gutschall, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Theory-based nutrition education programs for behavior change and maintenance among rural dwelling patients
Brook Harmon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Community-based participatory research (particularly with faith-based partners)
  • Nutrition and physical activity behavior change
  • Obesity and chronic disease prevention
  • Influence of health messaging and social networks on diet and physical activity practices
Jennifer Howard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Affiliate
  • Assessment of Function and Health-Related Quality of Life
  • Clinical Applications of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures
  • Articular Cartilage Repair and Restoration
Sydeena Isaacs, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Understanding and reducing barriers to access and utilization of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in rural Appalachian North Carolina
Joy James, Ph.D.
Professor
Director for the Department of Recreation Management and Physical Education

Recreation Management and Physical Education

Research Affiliate
  • Children in the outdoors
  • Learning in non-formal educational settings: outdoor, adventure, experiential and interpretation
  • Natural and cultural interpretation
  • Environmental socialization
  • Healthy lifestyles/children
  • Formative evaluation in non-formal educational settings
  • Human dimensions of natural resources
Denise Levy, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Academic Support
Beaver College of Health Sciences Associate Professor

Social Work

Research Affiliate
  • How LGBTQ individuals with a Christian upbringing resolve conflict between sexual/gender identity and religious beliefs
Gregory Marler, DNP, ACNP, RN
Assistant Professor

Nursing

Research Affiliate
  • Simulation-based learning
  • Innovative nursing educational strategies
  • Bias surrounding persons living with obesity
David Nieman, Dr.PH
Professor
Dept of Biology Director

Human Performance Lab, North Carolina Research Campus, Kannapolis

Research Affiliate
  • Exercise immunology and nutritional products as countermeasures to exercise, and obesity-induced immune dysfunction, inflammation, illness, and oxidative stress
Danielle Nunnery, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • How nutrition knowledge and access to resources translates into behavior in the perinatal period
  • Examining life course theory and how stressors and environment impact nutrition intake and therefore health outcomes for mother and baby
Christopher Osmond, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Leadership and Educational Studies

Research Affiliate
  • Curriculum theory
  • Arts-based, autobiographical, resolutely qualitative approaches to issues
  • Social foundations of education to undergraduates
  • Preparation of caring professionals for long, thriving careers, especially teachers
Ashley Parks, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Healthcare quality topics such as patient experience in long term care settings
  • Performance improvement
  • Healthcare workforce preparation and mentorship
  • Mental health
  • Information technology
  • Telehealth
  • Healthcare administration workforce development, professional preparation, mentorship, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)
Kellie Reed Ashcraft, Ph.D.
Professor

Social Work

Research Affiliate
  • Adverse childhood experiences
  • Child welfare workforce issues
  • Family support/family preservation
  • Latino health
  • Social Welfare Policy
  • Needs assessment
  • Community-based participatory research
  • Rural practice
Jennifer Runkle, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
App State University Research Scholar

Geography and Planning
North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, North Carolina State University

Research Affiliate
  • Examining the effects of environmental exposures on human health with a particular focus on vulnerable populations and identifying community-level pathways to resilience
Julie Sakowski, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Health care delivery process improvement and the value of process redesign
  • Estimating the costs of complex health services delivery activities that span multiple departments
  • Implementation, optimization and outcomes of health services delivery innovations
Abigail Stickford, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Affiliate
  • Autonomic (neural) control of circulation (e.g., blood pressure, blood flow) and vascular function under conditions of health, stress (e.g., pregnancy, exercise), and disease
  • Sex differences in cardiopulmonary physiology
  • Relationships between kinematics and ventilatory, cardiovascular, and metabolic parameters during exercise
Daniel Theriault, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Recreation Management and Physical Education

Research Affiliate
  • Leisure history
  • Social justice
  • Youth development
  • Power
  • Resistance
Kyle Thompson, DCN, RDN, LDN, CNSC
Assistant Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Rural Health
  • Public Health Nutrition
  • Simulation in Dietetics Education
  • Nutrition Care for Gastroenterological Conditions
  • Nutrition Support
Laurel Wentz, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Research Affiliate
  • Sports nutrition to improve performance for athletes and military service members
Brian Whitaker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Management

Research Affiliate
  • Feedback in organizations
  • Ethics in the workplace
  • Employees selection
Kevin Zwetsloot, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Public Health and Exercise Science

Research Affiliate
  • Mechanisms responsible for sarcopenia (the age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and strength)
  • Exercise interventions for the treatment/prevention of sarcopenia
  • Mechanisms responsible for skeletal muscle recovery and regeneration after injury
  • The role inflammation plays in muscle atrophy, as well as during recovery and regeneration after injury
Cynthia Anderson, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President of Applied Behavior Analysis & Director National Autism Center
The May Institute Research Professor, Institute for Health & Human Services
Licensed psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Autism, neurodiversity, and related disorders
Molly Benedum, MD
Program Director, Family Medicine Residency, UNC Health Appalachian

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Best practices in mentoring and educating future physicians and healthcare professionals
Deeanna Burleson, Ph.D., RN, IMC
Owner and CEO, Full Spectrum Solutions

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Creating cultures of well-being through organizational development and systems science approaches. Research initiatives include mixed methods, action research and cross discipline approaches.
Kevin Henson, DNP
Senior Director, Surgical & Anesthesia Services, UNC Health Appalachian

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Best practices in pain management and the delivery of anesthesia during surgical procedures
Benjamin Parker, MD
AppORTHO Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Medial patellofemoral ligament reconstruction
  • Brachial plexus nerve injury following interscalene blocks for shoulder surgery
  • Arthroscopy techniques in patients with mediscal injuries
  • Subacromial vs. intramuscular injection of ketorolac for shoulder impingement syndrome
Martin Root, Ph.D.
Associate Professor

Nutrition and Health Care Management

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Diet and chronic diseases
  • Apple phytochemicals
  • Nutritional biomarkers
  • Nutritional epidemiology
Khurram Tariq, MD, FACP
Director of Oncology & Research Seby Jones Cancer Center, UNC Health Appalachian
Research Professor, Institute for Health & Human Services

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Cancer
  • Medical Oncology
A. Kyle Wilson, MD, MPH
Associate Program Director, MAHEC Boone Family Medicine Residency Program Watauga Medical Center

Community Clinical Research Faculty Affiliate
  • Rural health
  • Education and mentoring of future family medicine physicians