The University of Oregon approaches human health from all angles, from how our brains work to how microbes in buildings can make us sick or get us better. We know about childhood obesity, autism spectrum disorder, concussions, and recuperating from trauma. Below find the full list of experts in health. To refine, click on one of the sub-topics listed in the menu at the left.
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Linguistics expert, focusing on speech perception and production, with special attention to non-native speakers and listeners.
Elliot Berkman is an expert in motivation and self-control, and studies how people pursue their goals, including eating habits, exercise, smoking, and addiction.
Brendan Bohannan is an expert in microbes, from how they affect (or are affected by) climate change, to how they affect our health, especially when microbes that are meant to live outside are brought into indoor locations, like classrooms, hospitals, and schools through the air or by users of indoor spaces.
Tiffany Brown is an expert in addiction, recovery and self-harm. A licensed marriage and family therapist, Tiffany’s expertise includes self-harm education and educating college students about addiction and recovery issues.
Elizabeth "Liz" Budd, a member of the University of Oregon's Prevention Science Institute and the Health Promotion and Obesity Prevention Initiative, focuses on obesity and chronic disease prevention. Her approach is done primarily through community-based promotion of physical activity and healthy eating, especially among girls and adolescents.
Anita Christie is an expert on healthy aging and how brain injuries, like concussions, impact motor functions. Anita studies the function of the neuromuscular system in healthy individuals and in individuals under situations of dysfunction, like aging and mild traumatic brain injury.
Bill Cresko is an expert in evolution, development, genomics and molecular biology. At the University of Oregon, he is a professor of biology and the associate vice president for research. Bill is interested in how the evolution of genes and developmental processes produces to the amazing diversity of life on earth.
Jessica Cronce is an expert in the prevention of harm related to risky behaviors, including substance use, in college students. At the University of Oregon, she is an associate professor of counseling psychology and human services. Jessica works with the UO’s Office of Student Life to evaluate and increase the efficacy of prevention strategies utilized by the university and design research-based risk prevention programs for first year students.
Hans Dreyer is an expert in muscle physiology, metabolism and physical rehabilitation. At the University of Oregon, he is an associate professor of human physiology. His current research, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), looks at the effects of total knee replacements on muscle physiology and metabolism.
Ihab Elzeyadi is an expert in architecture as it relates to occupant’s health, productivity, and well-being. His multi-disciplinary research area combines sustainable design, occupational health, indoor environmental quality, and employee’s productivity and well-being. At the University of Oregon, he is a professor of architecture and the director of the High Performance Environments Lab (HiPE), where he develops tools and technologies for the design and assessment of High Performance Environments and the Green Building industry.
Caitlin Fausey is an expert in child development. At the University of Oregon, she is an assistant professor of psychology. Research in her Learning Lab explores how infants and toddlers learn to recognize words and objects. Her work has opened a window on early human learning by studying what babies initially see around them and how their visual environments change as they age.
Phil Fisher is an expert in child development, specifically related to the effects of early stressful experiences, including child abuse and neglect. Through his work, Phil develops programs for improving abused and neglected children's ability to attach to caregivers, build relationships with peers, and function in school.
Kerry Frazee is an expert in sexual violence prevention, specifically among college students. At the University of Oregon, she is the director of Sexual Violence Prevention and Education. She leads the team that develops educational programs, such as Get Explicit, designed to engage students in creating a healthier campus community.
Jennifer Freyd is an expert in sexual harassment, campus sexual violence, betrayal trauma, and institutional betrayal. She researches the causes and impacts of interpersonal violence. Jennifer coined the term DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender), which refers to how perpetrators may respond to a wrong doing.
Nicole Giuliani focuses her research on emotion, self-regulation, health behaviors and family dynamics in relationship to the decisions people make about the foods they eat. She uses multiple methods, including neuroimaging, to explore for the basic brain processes and mechanisms that are tied to emotion and self-regulation.
Jessica Green is an expert in biology, ecology, engineering and sustainability of the "built environment," (i.e., buildings, homes, apartment complexes, offices, subways, etc.). She studies ways we can improve our health by improving how and what we build. Jessica also speaks about women in STEM careers and encouraging advancement in STEM.
Karen Guillemin is an expert in microbiology, cell and developmental biology and host-microbe systems. At the University of Oregon, she is a professor of biology in the Institute of Molecular Biology.
Mike Hahn is an expert in biomechanics and sports science. At the University of Oregon, he is an associate professor of human physiology and the director of the Bowerman Sports Science Clinic.
John Halliwill is an expert on post-exercise hypotension, in which a person's blood pressure drops after workouts. Halliwill has sought to identify hormonal, neural or metabolic factors responsible for heart-related changes during exposure to environmental and physical stresses. He also is seeking to understand the mechanisms that underlie beneficial effects of exercise, particularly in aging populations.
Ben Hansen is an expert in risky behaviors, like drug and alcohol abuse, and policies to reduce risk. His research has explored policies related to marijuana, school bullying, DUIs, and law enforcement, and he is a fellow of the Institute for the Study of Labor.
Ellen Herman is an expert in psychology, family, adoption, and gender studies, and how each has developed throughout American history. Ellen's work explores topics like the policy and practices surrounding open and closed adoptions, and how we have diagnosed and treated (or avoided), autism spectrum disorder in the U.S.
Jocelyn Hollander is an expert in the prevention of sexual assault and other forms of violence against women. Her recent research investigates the effectiveness of women’s self-defense training for preventing sexual assault, both on college campuses and in the larger community.
Andy Karduna is an expert in biomechanics and neurocontrol of the upper body, shoulder injuries and science education. Andy is interested in how and why people use their bodies in space, an innate awareness called proprioception. He works with physicians at the Slocum Center for Orthopedics & Sports Medicine and physical therapists at Oregon Medical Group to help people overcome connective-tissue injuries to shoulders, arms, wrists, knees and ankles that disrupt vital signaling between limbs and the brain. He also studies how it relates to shoulder impingement, a common condition of adults 45–65 years of age, under a grant from the National Institutes of Health.
Nichole Kelly, a member of the Prevention Science Institute and Health Promotion and Obesity Prevention Initiative, conducts research on eating behaviors and weight gain. She seeks to understand the cognitive and emotional mechanisms that work against healthy eating decisions.
Leslie Leve is an expert in adoption, foster care, child abuse, interventions and outcomes for youth in the juvenile justice system, child development and teen girls. At the University of Oregon, Leslie is a professor in the Counseling Psychology and Human Services Department and the associate director for the Prevention Science Institute.
Diana Libuda is an expert in genetics, molecular biology, and cell and developmental biology. Diana’s research lab focuses on how DNA is repaired during sperm and egg development to ensure faithful genome inheritance and to prevent infertility and birth defects.
Andrew Lovering is an expert in cardiopulmonary and respiratory physiology. He studies the heart, lungs and breathing and the impact of environmental conditions such as high-altitude and heat/cold on the human body. His lab, the Cardiopulmonary & Respiratory Physiology Laboratory, has been funded by the Department of Defense, NASA, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association in Oregon.
Ulrich Mayr is an expert in multitasking, brain training, effects of aging on cognitive functioning, eye-witness memory, concussions, ADHD, gender differences in competitiveness and altruism. Ulrich’s research examines neuro-cognitive functioning across the entire life span with a particular focus on executive control and memory. He uses neuroimaging and behavioral methods to better understand complex social phenomena, such as altruism or competitive behavior. Media frequently comes to him on issues of brain training (does it work?) and altruism.
Laura Lee McIntyre is an expert in mental health, autism, obesity, children, families, youth, teens and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). As the University of Oregon's co-director of the Child and Family Center at the Prevention Science Institute, she studies autism spectrum disorders, early childhood intervention and education, and behavioral disorders.
Benedict McWhirter is an expert in adolescent risky behavior, prevention and interventions. At the University of Oregon, he is the head of counseling psychology and human services. Benedict investigates the factors that contribute to adolescent risky behaviors. He is especially interested in developing effective preventive interventions.
Chris Minson is an expert in exercise physiology, women’s health, heart health and thermoregulation. Chris investigates the impact of estrogen and progesterone on heart health in women. He also studies the effects of aging and heat on athletic performance.
Nicolae Morar’s research interests lie at the intersection of biology, ecology, and bioethics (especially biomedical, genethics, environmental, and research ethics). His work looks at how various conceptual analyses in philosophy of biology and ecology influence and transforms debates in bioethics, and in ethics broadly construed. His collaborative research has provided a critical assessment of the normative role of biodiversity in environmental ethics debates.
Cris Niell is an expert in neuroscience, interested in understanding how the brain interprets sensory information and drives our actions. His lab has developed methods to study the activity of neurons and brain regions during perception and cognition, with applications that range from childhood development and education to understanding autism and schizophrenia.
C.J. Pascoe is an expert on sexuality, gender, masculinity, transgender issues, and body image, especially related to youth. C.J. also studies the use of social media by LGBT and straight youth to police gender roles and body image.
Patrick Phillips is an expert in ecology and evolution, the biology of aging, molecular biology and the genetics of complex traits.
Ken Prehoda is an expert in molecular biology and molecular evolution. At the University of Oregon, he is a professor of chemistry and biochemistry. Ken studies how cells evolve over time and how cellular evolution can help find clues to diseases. He is particularly interested in how proteins work inside cells. Ken and his team identified an ancient mutation that contributed to evolution of multicellular animals.
Elizabeth Skowron is an expert in counseling psychology and prevention science, early childhood adversity, and family-based interventions. Her research examines at the neurobiology of parenting at risk, developing self-regulation, and family interventions that are effective for supporting positive, healthy parenting and reducing child maltreatment.
Paul Slovic is an expert in human judgment, decision making, and risk perception. At the University of Oregon, he is a professor of psychology and president of Decision Research. Paul studies the psychology of risk and perceptions of risks. His most recent research examines psychological factors contributing to apathy toward genocide.
Tasia Smith, a member of the Health Promotion and Obesity Prevention Initiative, focuses on the prevention and reduction of health disparities among under-served populations. Her research centers on obesity prevention among African American and Hispanic/Latino families and rural communities. She seeks to identify risk and protective factors that influence people’s engagement in health-promoting behaviors.
McKay Sohlberg is an expert in special education, early intervention, communication disorders, and brain injury recovery, especially related to concussion. She also collaborates with the Department of Computer and Information Sciences to design technologies to help people with brain injuries.
Merle Weiner is an expert in domestic abuse law, family law, international and comparative family law, family law policy and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. At the University of Oregon, she is a Philip H. Knight Professor and faculty director of the Domestic Violence Clinic.
Kristin Yarris is an expert on transnational migration, especially in the Americas. At the University of Oregon, she is an assistant professor of international studies and is affiliated with the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies and the Center for the Study of Women in Society, as well as the Center for Global Health.
