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Untitled Document
Research Assistants
Research Affiliates
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Nancy Atkinson is a health education and public
health communications expert who specializes in health education instruction,
research, program evaluation, and multimedia product development, with emphases
on women's health, health behavior, health communication, and health care
provider training. She has served as project director, project coordinator,
instructional designer, field test coordinator, and design team member on
a variety of expert system health education products and training applications
whose topics include: breast and cervical cancer screening and early detection
for Hispanic women, human papillomavirus prevention and control, and decision-support
for cystic fibrosis gene carrier testing. Currently she is serving as principal
investigator for a Department of Defense project titled CD-ROM Technology
to Increase Appropriate Self-Care and Preventive Behaviors Among Army and
Navy Women. Dr. Atkinson received her undergraduate training in psychology
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received her masters
and doctoral degrees from the Department of Health Education at the University
of Maryland, College Park. Her dissertation focused on diffusion of innovations
as it applies to the adoption of interactive health educational interventions.
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Robert Gold is an accomplished researcher and
nationally known expert in the application of technology in health education
and health promotion. His publications include numerous research and evaluation
articles, dozens of pieces of software for organizations such as the Addiction
Research Foundation and the American Cancer Society, and commercially published
software and textbooks: Dr. Gold is Professor of Health Education and Director
of the Public Health Informatics Research Laboratory at the University of
Maryland and has served as Vice President at ORC Macro. Dr. Gold holds a
Ph.D. in health education with major emphases in computer science and research
design, and a Dr.P.H. in Community Health Practice with major areas of study
in program evaluation and epidemiology. Over the last 10 years, he has directed
a number of SBIR and related technology development grants and contracts,
including three NCI studies examining the potential for applying advanced
health communications technology for cancer prevention among high risk populations.
Most recently, he has worked on several technology related projects including
a national surveillance system on factors affecting quality of life in communities
associated with a five-year applied research project called Accelerating
Community Transformation, a Prevention Science Decision Support System for
The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and building a technology infrastructure
for the Collaborative Center for Child Well-Being. |
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Amy Billing
is a researcher
with a varied background, having conducted both public health and child
welfare research. She has experience in designing surveys, data analysis,
qualitative data collection, and program evaluation. Her research interests
are concentrated on health care issues relevant to underserved populations,
health communication/literacy, and health care access. She has also had
experience working with low-income children and families providing clinical
mental health services. Currently, she is involved in a project targeted at
promoting positive health outcomes among food stamp recipients in the State
of Maryland. Ms. Billing earned her Master of Science in Social
Administration at Case Western Reserve University, and attained her Bachelor
of Arts in Health and Human Services from the State University of New York
at Buffalo. |
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Daniel Kessler is a multimedia and web engineer
who specializes in working with children's games and instructional applications.
His projects include award winning cross-platform CD-ROM applications and
multi-player games, CBT applications, kiosks, DVDs, presentations, training
applications, as well as streaming media. On these projects he has been
the programmer, project manager, graphic designer, and quality assurance
analyst. Currently, he is the multimedia developer for enhancing the Body
Fun game, which helps to teach children to eat better and exercise more
for better health. Mr. Kessler received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the
University of Maryland in 1990. |
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Jing
Tian is a Ph.D. student
in the Department of Public and Community Health at the University
of Maryland. She works in the Public Health Informatics Research
Laboratory. She has an MD degree in China and formerly practiced
as a Cardiologist, specializing in Coronary Artery Disease
(CAD), for five years in Beijing. She also holds a Master of
Science degree and has done research on gene therapy of CAD.
From 2003-2004, she worked as a Pre-doctoral Visiting Fellow
at Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology, National Institute
of Mental Health (NIMH) and did research on the molecular mechanism
of fear and anxiety. Jing also has experience in developing
surveys, as well as quantitative and qualitative data collection
and has conducted research on HIV/AIDS prevention in minority
populations. She is also proficient in the use of SPSS in conducting
data analysis. Her current research interest is health care
and health communication in both the community and clinical
setting. |
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Sylvette La Touche is a graduate research assistant in the Public Health Informatics Laboratory in the Department of Public and Community Health. Sylvette received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and Women's Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She also received her graduate specialization in Human Relations and Family Life Education from McGill University and her M.A. in Community Counseling from Andrews University. Sylvette is currently working on her Ph.D in Public and Community Health at the University of Maryland, College Park. Sylvette has taught at the university level in the department of psychology and has also worked on various research projects related to women and children in the areas of parental-child relations, eating disorders and depression. |
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Dr. Sharon Desmond is an associate professor in the Department of Public and Community Health and an affiliate researcher in PHI. She received her Master of Science and Education in Public Health (1984) and Doctor of Philosophy (1988) degree in Health Education from the University of Toledo, joining the University of Maryland faculty in 1989. Dr. Desmond's research interests are in minority and community health issues, including violence prevention programs for high-risk youth and community-university partnerships (she is a founding member of the Seat Pleasant-University of Maryland Health Partnership). She also has experience with program evaluation and survey development; she worked on the Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation Preference Study (an evaluation of consumer directed personal care services for the elderly and people with disabilities), funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Over the years, Dr. Desmond has published over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals and given numerous presentations at national conferences (i.e. American School Health Association, American Public Health Association, Society of Behavioral Medicine and the Gerontological Society of America). Finally, Dr. Desmond teaches undergraduate courses in Community Health, Women's Health, and Minority Health, and graduate level courses in Health Behavior and Foundations of Public Health and Health Education. |
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Dr. Min Qi Wang is a professor in the Department of Public and Community Health and an affiliate researcher in PHI. Dr. Wang's interests are in health risk behavior reduction in arellinuch as drug use and HIV risk-related behaviors, disease prevention in areas such as cancer early detection, and public health surveillance systems. All of these areas are identified as priorities in the nation’s health goals in Healthy People 2010. Currently, Dr. Wang is involved in several research projects to 1) evaluate the HIV prevention programs for the Alabama Health Department, 2) assess the effectiveness of community-based organizations for the delivery of HIV prevention interventions for CDC, and 3) reduce cancer (prostate cancer, oral cancer, etc.) prevalence by promoting early detection and screening. |
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