Roles
Research Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences and Architecture
Director, University of Miami Built Environment, Behavior and Health Research Group
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Biography
I am a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Miami (UM) Miller School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the UM School of Architecture. I am a founding member of the interdisciplinary UM Built Environment, Behavior and Health Group. Over the past 20 years, as a PI, Co-PI or Project Director, I have directed ten grants on the health impacts of the built environment in populations that include children, elders, recent immigrants, and minorities. I have a broad background in team science, project leadership, management and analyses of “big data” to conduct cross-sectoral, cross-disciplinary research. I have experience assessing social determinants, including urban built environmental policies and initiatives, in relation to populations’ health. I led our team in the development of an innovative approach, combining US Medicare data with high-resolution satellite imagery, to identify the role of block-level greenness in 12 different chronic conditions, in ~250,000 Miami Medicare beneficiaries. I am PI on two NIH-funded R01 grants on greenness’ impacts on chronic health conditions in minority populations. My interdisciplinary research team includes colleagues in architecture, biostatistics, cancer epidemiology, exercise physiology, geography, medicine, neurology, nutrition, public health, and urban planning. I provide day-to-day scientific leadership and project management including oversight of all research and fiscal activities. My program of research, long-time leadership of my interdisciplinary research group, and my experience at methodological innovation, enable me to catalyze team member contributions and create a collaborative environment where researchers bring their best expertise in a spirit of innovation and discovery. -
Education & Training
Education
Post Graduate Training
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Honors & Awards
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Teaching Interests
I teach EPH 640 (Urban Environment and Public Health), a graduate-level course which I developed in 2012, and which I have now taught 12 times. The course receives outstanding teaching evaluations (average mean evaluation of 4.7 out of 5.0). -
Research Interests
My highly interdisciplinary team of behavioral scientists, physicians, methodologists and architects extended research on built environment-behavior-health to Hispanics; I conducted research on a sample that minimized the confound of choice on walkability; used a nationally available walkability measure to facilitate national replications, and established the role of greenery in 12 chronic conditions in Medicare beneficiaries. My published research findings have informed the recently developed Active Design Miami strategies for promoting healthy communities, and have been cited in the US EPA Guide to Smart Growth and Aging. -
Publications
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Professional Activities
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