Research Areas

Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences

Social justice, community youth development, community youth engagement, youth-adult partnerships, recreational healing spaces, youth development frameworks and concepts, public health community engagement approaches

Contact Aishia Brown


Mental/emotional health and sexual health of youth and young adults, digital mental health interventions for college students, racial disparities in help-seeking behavior, access to mental health services

Contact Sara Choate


Health policy, health and health care disparities, medical education, health literacy, health communication, psychosocial experiences of marginalized groups, sexual and gender minority health, LGBTQ+ communities, racial justice, community-based participatory research, qualitative methods

Contact Ryan Combs


Power, youth development, sociopolitical development, healing, human rights, suffocating white supremacy, liberation, global perspectives

Contact Trinidad Jackson


Wealth and health outcomes, economic policy, banking practices, social equity, structural violence

Contact Gabe Jones


HIV/AIDS disparities of racial/ethnic minorities, individual and structural factors that influence HIV epidemic, HIV prevention and care, stigma, program development, community-engaged research, knowledge translation

Contact Jelani Kerr


Social, cognitive and emotional factors that influence health behavior, health-related decision-making, COVID-19 prevention among LGBTQ people, HPV vaccination and screening among refugees, the use of environmental indicators to inform health risk communications

Contact A. Scott LaJoie


Social determinants of health including housing, poverty/low-income, food insecurity, transportation, health disparities, gender inequities

Jovita Murrilo León


Public health and the criminal legal system, mixed methods, alternative responses in behavioral health crises, public health interventions to address crime and safety, the collateral consequences of criminal legal system and police organizations, investigations and culture

Contact Brian Patrick Schaefer