Faculty Research Focus Areas

Our faculty experts are available to provide context and commentary on a variety of topics. For interviews, additional information or assistance, please contact Nicole Meares.

Category	Name	Department	Expertise
Cardiovascular Health,  Health Disparities, Health Equity, Health Risk Behavior Change, Men's Health, Rural Health	Abshire, Demetrius	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Cardiometabolic assessment and behavioral clinical trials.
Cancer Research	Adams, Swann	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	A systems theory approach to the study of colon and lung cancer health disparities using novel data linkages
Cardiovascular Health,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Risk Behavior,  Change	Andrews, Jeannette	Dean and Helen Gurley Wolford Professor of Nursing	Community engaged research, tobacco cessation, lifestyle behavior change, cardiovascular risk reduction, cancer prevention.
Health Disparities	Armstrong, Stephanie	Professional Nursing Practice	Women and infant health, Human Trafficking, International Nursing Education
Mental Health	Baliko, Beverly	Advanced Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership	Stress, mental health disorders, violence and abuse educational interventions.
Health Policy	Bartmess, Marissa	Professional Nursing Practice	Health services policy , nurse staffing , developing and retaining the nurse workforce and nurse well-being.
Health Equity, Rural Health, Women's Health	Baumstark, Jennifer	Advanced Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership	Gender diversity, midwifery
Health Equity, Pediatric Care, Nursing Education	Chappell, Kate	Professional Nursing Practice	Developing and testing programs to support families of children with specific health care needs. Child abuse prevention, intervention, and recognition. Caregiver vigilance for child sexual abuse. Effect of Adverse Childhood Experiences on families. Experiential learning in nursing education.
Infectious Disease	Custer, Sabra	Professional Nursing Practice	Interprofessional Education in Infection Prevention: Establishing the South Carolina Regional Infection Prevention Training (SCRIPT) Center
Neonatal Care	Dail, Robin	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Observational trials, RCTs, mixed methods.
Chronic Illness, Health Informatics, Women's Health	Donevant, Sara	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Using technology and informatics to address significant issues in health care and improve patient outcomes.
Cancer Research, Chronic Illness, Health Disparities, Sleep	Dyer, Amanda	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Complexities of sleep disturbances in survivors of early-stage lung cancer to improve sleep quality, sleep quantity, and overall quality of life among this population to develop symptom management strategies aiming to improve symptom outcomes among early-stage lung cancer survivors.
Neonatal Care	Everhart, Kayla	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Medical management of preterm infants as well as the basic physiological processes related to the development of Necrotizing Enterocolitis (NEC) in very premature infants to reduce infant morbidity and mortality.
Cancer Research,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Women's Health,  Maternal Health	Felder, Tisha	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Community-engagement, mixed methods (qualitative + quantitative), Black women's health, racial and socioeconomic disparities, health equity, social and structural drivers of health, breastfeeding and breast cancer prevention and survivorship, mentoring and training, workforce diversity.
Women's Health, Sleep	Harris, Eboni	Professional Nursing Practice	Rest and sleep, nursing education.
Cardiovascular Health, Health Disparities, Health Equity	Magwood, Gayenell S.	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Characterizing the influence of COVID-19, Racial Trauma, and Social Networks on CV Health Factors among young Black women in the South
Chronic Illness,  Data Equity,  Geriatric Care,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Policy,  LGBTQ+	May, Jennifer	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Health issues and health care experiences of sexual and gender minorities, particularly older adults. Investigating factors that affect health outcomes and access to care for marginalized populations. Researching the unique challenges faced by SGM individuals living with dementia and their caregivers. Examining patterns of healthcare use among LGBTQ+ populations and advocating for policy changes to improve access and quality of care.
Cardiovascular Health, Dietary Behaviors,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Risk Behavior Change	McCoy, Carrie	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Hypertension self management through lifestyle behavior change.
Cancer Research,  Chronic Illness,  Health Disparities,  Health Risk Behavior Change	McDonnell, Karen	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Developing and testing behavioral and supportive care interventions for survivors of cancer and their partners to promote cancer risk-reducing behavior modification and symptom self-management. Exploring theoretical models of shared decision-making regarding facilitating decision-making between high-risk patients and their professional caregivers concerning lung cancer screening.
Cancer Research,  Health Disparities Health Equity	Mitchell, Sheryl	Advanced Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership	Breast cancer survivorship.
Geriatric Care	Mulkey, Malissa	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Effects of critical illness on cognitive function in older adults, such as delirium, sleep, dementia, and care transitions.
Chronic Illness, Disability & Rehabilitation Research,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Risk Behavior Change	Newman, Susan	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Community engagement/community based participatory research, intervention development and testing, spinal cord injury rehabilitation, spinal cord injury self management peer support, and disability related health disparities.
Cancer Research, Chronic Illness, Health Risk Behavior Change, Women's Health	Pinto, Bernardine	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Motivating patient populations to modify risk behaviors, promotion of physical activity among patient populations (middle aged and older adults), physical activity promotion among cancer survivors, peer mentoring for management of chronic diseases and randomized controlled trials.
Health Equity,  Mental Health,  Rural Health,  Substance Use Disorder Disparities	Raynor, Phyllis	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Primary mental health and substance use disorder treatment for diverse individuals at risk for mental health conditions and substance use disorders (SUDs) across the lifespan using a patient-centered approach to care delivery and facilitate behavioral change. Maternal health outcomes post-newborn birth through the infant's first year of life to determine environmental and systems level supports needed to improve maternal and fetal outcomes. Leveraging digital self-management interventions to support mental health, self-care, parenting, and long-term recovery from mental health and SUD for parenting people and their children.
Cardiovascular Health,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Care Management,  Health Risk Behavior Change,  Rural Health	Sloane, Sarah	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Implementation science, clinical trials, mixed methods, and qualitative methods
Health Disparities, Health Equity, Health Risk Behavior Change, Women's Health	Sweeney, Allison	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Health behavior change (physical activity) through social environmental processes, motivation, community-based participatory research, quantitative and qualitative methods, randomized controlled trials.
Health Informatics	Tavakoli, Abbas	Advanced Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership	Health-related statistical analysis and data management. This includes survey design, general linear modeling, categorical analysis, experimental design, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, as well as sample size and power analysis.
Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Policy,  Women's Health	Tucker, Curisa	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Adverse maternal outcomes such as severe maternal morbidity, postpartum readmissions, maternal death, peripartum cardiomyopathy.
Chronic Illness,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity,  Health Risk Behavior Change,  Mental Health	Vick, Lori	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Biopsychosocial health needs of persons living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Her research interventions use motivational interviewing and  health behavior change to support improvements in self-management, health-related decisions, and health outcomes in individuals with SCD.
Cancer Research,  Health Disparities,  Health Equity	Wickersham, Karen	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Cancer survivorship, targeted therapy, qualitative research, bio-behavioral research, health disparities in cancer care, older adults.
Brain-Gut Axis,  Chronic Illness,  Health Disparities,  Mental Health,  Women's Health	Weaver-Toedtman, Kristen	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Biopsychosocial influences on the brain-gut connection in individuals with chronic abdominal pain and other chronic conditions.
Cancer Research,  Health Risk Behavior Change	Wirth, Michael	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Circadian biology including, but not limited to, shiftwork, sleep, hormone rhythms (e.g., melatonin and cortisol), and chrononutrition (e.g., intermittent fasting). Diet quality with a specific focus on dietary inflammatory potential and the use of the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII). -Intersection of diet quality and sleep quality on health.  -Burnout and stress among early career nurses and nursing students.
Health Disparities, Health Equity	Worthy, Karen	Advanced Professional Nursing Practice & Leadership	SC Nursing Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities & Inequities
Chronic Illness, Health Care Management, Health Risk Behavior Change, Women's Health,	Wright, Pamela J.	Biobehavioral Health & Nursing Science	Resistance exercise as therapeutic management for women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) across the lifespan, social connectedness, and digital technology for intervention delivery.