Public Health — �鶹Ƶ��University News

Bhavneet Walia

Sophie Gomprecht — Mon, 30 Jan 2023 16:38:44 +0000

Bhavneet Walia is associate professor of public health, senior research associate in the Center for Policy Research, faculty affiliate in the Aging Studies Institute, research affiliate in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion and Population Health.

Walia is an applied health and labor econometrician. Her research interests are in the areas of health care efficiency (including markets for health care workers), maternal-child health, disability research and sports epidemiology. Her research work has appeared in leading field journals, including JAMA Network Open,��PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,��BMJ Global Health,��JMIR Human Factors,��Journal of Market Access & Health Policy,��Journal of Organizational Behavior, and Journal of Sports Economics.

David Larsen

Lily Datz — Wed, 03 Jun 2020 20:21:11 +0000

David Larsen is an infectious disease epidemiologist. His content expertise lies broadly in global health, with specific expertise in infectious disease surveillance.

Brooks Gump

Lily Datz — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 15:25:07 +0000

Brooks Gump’s research seeks to understand environmental impacts on children’s health outcomes, with a focus on exposures to toxicants and psychosocial stressors. His current research is exploring methods to buffer the impacts of these chronic exposures. As a separate line of inquiry, he also considers the impact of work vacations on health and functioning.

Shannon Monnat

Lily Datz — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 13:38:37 +0000

Shannon Monnat is an associate professor of sociology and the in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at �鶹Ƶ��University. Monnat also serves as a senior research associate in the and is the co-director of the Policy, Place, and Population Health Lab at SU.

Monnat’s research interests broadly fall at the intersection of place, public policy, and health. A common theme binding much of her research is a concern for rural people and places. Her most recent research has focused on fatal drug overdose and other diseases and deaths of despair, particularly trying to understand why rates of substance abuse and mortality are higher in some places than others.

She has published over 70 peer-reviewed academic journal articles, book chapters, research briefs, and reports, and has presented her research to numerous public, academic, and policy audiences, including the United Nations, the National Academy of Sciences, the Aspen Institute, and at Congressional briefings. Her research has been featured in several media outlets, including CNN, NPR, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Atlantic.

Maria T. Brown

Michele Barrett — Fri, 19 Jul 2019 18:08:18 +0000

Maria Brown is an Associate Research Professor in the School of Social Work, and a 2008-2010 John A. Hartford Foundation Doctoral Fellow in Geriatric Social Work. She earned a Ph.D. from �鶹Ƶ��University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Her dissertation, entitled, “Psychiatric history and cognition trajectories in later life: variations by sex, race and ethnicity, and childhood disadvantage,” examined the relationship between psychiatric history and cognitive function in later life.

Bryce Hruska, Ph.D.

Michele Barrett — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 13:25:46 +0000

Bryce Hruska, Ph.D. is an expert in the field of psychological stress. His research focuses on better understanding how stress “gets under the skin” to impact physical health with an emphasis on identifying the behavioral, biological, and psychosocial pathways through which stress operates to impact downstream health outcomes. The ultimate goal of this research is to inform public health policies and practices that can promote societal health and well-being.

To date, Dr. Hruska’s work has followed two main lines of interest: (1) traumatic event exposure and the identification of psychosocial and biological risk factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its co-occurring physical and mental health challenges; and (2) recovery experiences (e.g., vacationing) and their impact on the relationship between occupational stress and cardiovascular health.

Research conducted by Profs Bryce Hruska and Brooks Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, was featured in several media outlets, including the New York Post story “”

Brittany Kmush

Daryl Lovell — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 14:56:21 +0000

Brittany received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her dissertation was entitled, “Risk factors for antibody loss after Hepatitis E virus natural infection and vaccination.” She earned a master of science in infectious disease epidemiology from the Bloomberg School at Johns Hopkins University and holds a bachelor of science in biochemistry from the University of Rochester where she graduated cum laude. Her areas of specialization include epidemiology, global health, infectious diseases, vaccines, nutrition, immunology and environmental exposures particularly within the context of risks for infectious diseases, and Hepatitis E virus.

In addition to a series of graduate research assistantships at Johns Hopkins, she was a student investigator at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh and the National Institute for Diagnosis and Vaccine Development in Infectious Diseases, School of Public Health, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China where she Implemented a study examining the persistence of antibodies after hepatitis E virus infection.

Her professional portfolio includes participation on numerous research grants, including an award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation where she was a student investigator on the project, “Determinants of Immunological Persistence of Hepatitis E Virus Antibodies.” The purpose of the study was to determine antibody persistence after Hepatitis e virus and vaccination in South Asia.

Margaret Voss

Daryl Lovell — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 14:54:00 +0000

Dr. Margaret Voss teaches courses in nutritional biochemistry and metabolism in the Department of Public Health, Food Studies, and Nutrition. She received her Ph.D. from �鶹Ƶ��University for doctoral work in comparative physiology (foraging behavior, energetics, and reproductive physiology). Her research focus is on vertebrate metabolism and incorporates the study of feeding behavior and energy balance. She works collaboratively as part of a large multi-university project to identify physiological mechanisms underlying latitudinal variation in vertebrate metabolic rates (parental and embryonic). Her current project examines the role of embryo metabolites as attractants for an invasive parasitic fly that is threatening to push several species of Darwin’s Finch to extinction.

Dr. Voss has published several papers that clarify how changes in photoperiod may accelerate embryonic metabolism and interact with clock gene control of ovulation. She has recently submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to further examine how photoperiod, genetics, and diet interact to influence metabolic health. The project makes use of a free living avian system to model “shift work” under artificially extended photoperiods and to track associated changes in the circadian regulation of glucose and lipid homeostasis and steroid biosynthesis.

Dr. Voss is an associate editor for the Journal of Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. She has served as book review editor and as an officer in her professional society, and is an elective member of the American Ornithological Union. Dr. Voss is an ad-hoc reviewer for several journals, including Behavioral Ecology, Proceedings of The Royal Society, Journal of Applied Ecology, Behavior, The Journal Ethology, The Journal of Thermal Ecology, Ibis, Functional Ecology, and Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology.

Dr. Voss’ teaching expertise is in physiology-related courses for pre-health professions students, including classes in exercise physiology, nutritional biochemistry, micronutrient and macronutrient metabolism, and medical terminology.