Research Focus Areas
Our faculty members consist of a diverse and interdisciplinary group of health disparities and equity researchers with areas of focus as follows:
- Community-based participatory research
- LGBT health disparities
- Nutrition and food sciences
- Healthcare management
- Tobacco use
- HIV and other STI disparities
- Mental health
- Medical sociology
- Health informatics
- Many more
Under the current leadership team (since 2017), there has been a total of 18 peer-reviewed publications resulting from collaborations among such core faculty. For each faculty's research, please click on the names below under "Faculty Members."
Examples of Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications
from CHE faculty collaborations.
This list is not comprehensive, but only provides a snapshot.
Avina RM as lead author:
“I Actually Don’t Know What HIV Is”: A Mixed Methods Analysis of College Students’ HIV Literacy. Diseases. 8(1):1. DOI: 10.3390/diseases8010001
Becerra MB as lead author:
Experiences of violence and mental health outcomes among Asian American transgender adults in the United States. PLOS ONE. Mar 4;16(3):e0247812. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0247812
Mshigeni SK as lead author:
“We don’t all have the privilege of having our own quiet place”: College Students in a Hispanic Serving Institution during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Latinos and Education, pre-print available.
Faculty Members
Monideepa B. Becerra, DrPH, MPH, CHES
Executive Director
Coordinator, Certificate in Health Equity
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Dorothy Chen-Maynard, PhD, MS
Director, Student Engagement
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Paulchris Okpala, D.HSc, MHA, MPA, RCP, CRT
Director, Research Development and Dissemination
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Benjamin J. Becerra, DrPH, MPH, MS, MBA
Director, Grants and Research Support
Department: Information and Decision Sciences
Salome Mshigeni, PhD, MPH, MPA
Director, Mentored Programs
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Marwa Ahmad, MPH
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Robert Avina, DrPH, MPH
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Jess Block Nerren, MA
Department: Communication Studies
Dawn Blue, DNP, AGACNP
Department: Nursing
Wagner Prado, PhD
Department of Kinesiology
David Chavez, PhD
Department: Psychology
Sarah Dun, PhD
Department: Kinesiology
Christina Hassija, PhD, MA
Department: Psychology
Neal Malik, DrPH, MPH
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Ethel Nicdao, PhD, MA
Department: Sociology
Henrietta Nwamu, PhD, RN
Department: Nursing
Mahmood Nikbakhtzadeh, PhD
Department: Health Science and Human Ecology
Jacqueline E. Romano, PhD, ACUE
Department: Teacher Education and Foundation