Participating Faculty

Allison H. Burfield, RN, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Nursing; Affiliate Faculty, Gerontology Program. Research Interests: Geriatrics/geropsychiatrics—pain assessment and treatment, falls prevention, medication management, social engagement, pharmacotherapeutics, pharmacoeconomics, secondary dataset use, interdisciplinary practice, and care level transitions. aburfiel@uncc.edu

Cynthia H. Cassell, PhD, MA, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Public Health Sciences (Fulbright Scholar). Research interests: Health service use, timeliness of services, access to services, cost, quality of life, and outcomes of children with special health care needs, especially children with birth defects; and public health ethics. ccassel2@uncc.edu

Maren Coffman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing. Research interests: Health literacy and access to health care in adult Latinos with diabetes. mjcoffma@uncc.edu

Judith Cornelius, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Nursing. Research interests: HIV prevention in African American families; HIV prevention in older African American women. jbcornel@uncc.edu

Boyd Davis, Ph.D., Professor, Department of English. Research interests: Discourse among individuals with cognitive impairment. bdavis@uncc.edu

Christine Davis, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies. Research interests: Community children’s mental health system of care. christine.s.davis@uncc.edu

Claudia Flowers, Ph.D., Department Chair and Professor, Department of Educational Leadership. Research interests: Large-scale assessment, assessing students with disabilities, applied statistics. cpflower@uncc.edu

Virginia Gil-Rivas, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychological Science. Research interests: Exposure to adversity (i.e., traumatic events, chronic illness, violence) and development of physical and mental health difficulties across the life-span. vgilriva@uncc.edu

Tricia Hubbard Turner, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Kinesiology. Research interests: Ankle instability, physical activity. thubbar1@uncc.edu

Donna Kazemi, PhD, RN. Associate Professor, School of Nursing. Research Interests: Diseases, Substance Abuse, Rural and Migrant Health. dkazemi@uncc.edu

Bob Herman-Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor, School of Social Work. Research interests: early childhood intervention programs and policies intersect with child welfare and early childhood mental health. bherman@uncc.edu

Crystal Piper, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences. Research interests: Health Education & behavior, health planning & evaluation, and research methods, health disparities. cpiper1@uncc.edu

Elena Platonova, Ph.D., MHA, Associate Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences. Research interests: strategic health care management, public health systems, and health services research; patient trust, patient satisfaction, and patient loyalty to primary care physicians. eplatono@uncc.edu

Beth Racine, Dr.PH., Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences. Research interests: Nutrition and physical activity intervention, behavioral nutrition and food insecurity. efracine@uncc.edu

Stacy Smallwood, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Public Health Sciences. Research interests: African American Men who have sex with men and HIV disparities. ssmallw2@uncc.edu

Lori Thomas, Ph.D., M.S.W., Associate Professor, School of Social Work. Research interests: Aging, homelessness, and mental health, religion and social welfare, and social work macro practice. mthom117@uncc.edu

Meredith Troutman-Jordan, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Nursing. Research interests: Instrument development and theory testing related to successful aging; investigation of how older adults characterize successful aging; identification of strategies for successful aging; health promotion in older adults. meredithtroutman@uncc.edu