Members of the Center of Excellence for Integrative Health Research
Who We Are
The Center’s faculty is made up of our director, our steering committee, and other core faculty members/faculty associate members.
Faculty & Staff
Translational Neuroscience Therapeutics
Centers and Institutes Staff
Member Profile
Center of Excellence for Integrative Health
Director of Integrative Health Research
Chwan-Li (Leslie) Shen, PhD, Certified Clinical Research Professional (CCRP)
- Associate Dean for Research, School of Medicine, TTUHSC
- Founding director, Center of Excellence for Integrative Health
- Professor, pathology with joint appointment at Dept. of Laboratory Science and Primary Care & an adjunct appointment at Dept. of Nutritional Sciences
- Chancellor’s Council Distinguished Research Award 2011
- Published 100+ peer-reviewed journals and 6 book chapters
- Made 120+ national and international conference/invited talks.
- Served on editorial board for 13 journals
- Served on grant reviewer for NIH (NCCIH, NIDDK), USDA, national, private, and foreign funding agencies.
- Fellow, United State Bone and Joint Initiative
- Fellow, NIH Clinical Research Management
- Fellow, Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® (ELAM)
- Research Interests: dietary supplement/phytochemicals and exercise in musculoskeletal
health and obesity related chronic diseases.
(806) 743-2815
Mohamad Al-Rahawan, M.D., M.P.H.
- Associate Professor and Division Chief of Pediatric Hematology Oncology, SOM.
- Research Interests: Pediatric Cancer treatment and prevention. Vitamin deficiency and supplementation in survivors of childhood cancer.
Phone: (806) 775-8600
Michael Blanton, PhD.
- Professor and Vice Chair of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, SOM
- Senior Associate Dean and MD/PhD Program Director.
- Co-Director of Center for Membrane Protein Research, TTUHSC.
- Research Interests: structure/function of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors;
development of smoking cessation agents and for the treatment nervous system disorders.
(806) 319-1778
Jean-Michel Brismée, PT, ScD.
- Distinguished Professor in the Doctor of Science Program in Physical Therapy, School of Health Professionals.
- Research Interests: Intervertebral disc hydration/height, musculoskeletal health manipulative therapy, mind-body therapies including yoga, meditation, Tai Chi.
(806)743-3243
Ming-Chien Chyu, PhD.
- Professor of Healthcare Engineering
- Research Interests: Non-pharmacological approaches in musculoskeletal issues-healthcare engineering approach- biomechanics.
(806) 834-8982
Jannette M. Dufour, PhD.
- Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Biochemistry, SOM.
- Research Interests: Mechanisms of Sertoli cell immune privilege, transplantation of genetically modified Sertoli cells and co-transplantation of Sertoli cells and pancreatic islets.
Christopher A. Enakpene, MD.
- Associate professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Permian Basin.
- Research Interests: diabetes in pregnancy and obesity, REDSOAP Study, ARABIN Study.
christopher.a.enakpene@ttuhsc.edu
Arturo Figueroa, PhD.
- Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, TTU
- Research Interests: arterial stiffness, aortic hemodynamics, wave reflection, blood flow, endothelial function, L-citrulline supplementation, resistance exercise, muscle metaboreflex
arturo.figueroa@ttu.edu
(806) 834-5587
Kwanghee Jung , PhD.
- Multivariate Statistics and Functional Data Analysis, Psychological Measurement and Testing Theory, Data Analytics and Big Data Analytics.
- Bio-medical Data and Patient-Reported Outcomes Research.
- Human Brain and Mental Health Research, Statistical Software Development, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality Development
Office: (806) 834-0023
Gurvinder Kaur, PhD.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Education, SOM.
- Research Interests: immune privileged properties of Sertoli cells & how to improve islet cell survival after transplantation.
Jaehoon (Jason) Lee, PhD.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Psychology and Leadership
- Research, Evaluation, Measurement, and Statistics (REMS) program and the co-director of the Institute for Measurement, Methodology, Analysis and Policy at TTU
- Research Interests: high dimensional data analysis, experimental design and sample size calculation, as well as multiple testing adjustments.
Jaehoon.lee@ttu.edu
(806) 834-5907
Sue Ann Lee, PhD.
- Associate Professor, Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences, School of Health Professionals.
- Research Interests: Speech-language impairment, bilingualism, speech-language intervention, speech-language instrumentation, ultrasound, telepractice
Hui Ying Luk, PhD.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, TTU
- Research Interests: Immunoendocrine response on skeletal muscle regeneration and hypertrophy
(806) 834-0827
Lyford, Conrad PhD.
- Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics, TTU
- Research Interests: Behavioral change towards healthy behavior and disease prevention. Community/school interventions for obesity prevention. Cost-benefit analysis. Developing country food security and health system
Phone: (806) 834-688
Schlabritz-Lutsevich, Natalia , MD, PhD
- Associate Professor of OB/GYN, TTUHSC (Odessa)
- Research Interest: Comparative placental physiology (non-human primates and human) in normal and pathological pregnancies. Non-human primate model in pregnancy-related research. Maternal-placental-fetal interaction in maternal obesity, maternal alcohol consumption, pre-eclampsia and racial discrepancies. Fetal programming of adult diseases, in utero fetal brain protection, placenta-fetal brain axis. Placental stress, transport and synthesis of amino acids, lipid derivatives (endocannabinoids), lipid-soluble vitamins and hormones in adverse maternal environment. Microbiome and its role in the reproduction.
Natalia.Schlabritz-Lutsevich@ttuhsc.edu
Office: (432) 703-5169
Madhusudhanan, Narasimhan PhD
- Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, SOM
- Research Interests: Molecular mechanisms underlying fetal alcohol developmental toxicity, Neuropathic pain mechanisms and treatments, Oncogenic signaling in cancer progression and metastasis and oncogene-directed treatment options
Madhusudhanan.Narasimhan@ttuhsc.edu
Office: (806) 743-4079
Mello, Inola, DNP, APRN, FNP-C
- Family Practice SON TTUHSC
- Vitamin D, sexual health, sleep patterns/anxiety, recreation drug use/misuse in college health.
Office: (806) 743-7282
Naima Moustaid-Moussa, PhD. FTOS, FAHA
- Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences.
- Founding Director of the Obesity Research Cluster, TTU.
- Research Interests: Basic and integrated nutrition and obesity research, endocrine function of adipose tissue and nutrient-gene interactions in metabolic diseases, mechanisms of anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds in metabolic and aging-related diseases; beta cell function in diabetes; and childhood obesity prevention.
(806) 834-7946
Mary Murimi, PhD.
- Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences
- Research Interests: food security, maternal and child nutrition, nutrition education
Mary.murimi@ttu.edu
(806) 834-1812
Nair, Nandini, MD, PhD, FSVM, FACC, FAHA, FACP, FHFSA
- Professor, Division of cardiology/Department of Internal Medicine
- Research Interests: Molecular basis of heart failure, proteomics and genomics of chemo related cardiotoxicity, development of risk models to assess cardiovascular outcomes in the post cardiac transplant and mechanical assist device populations
Office: (806) 743-3659
Volker Neugebauer, MD, PhD.
- Professor and Chair of Department of Pharmacology and Neuroscience, SOM.
- Founding Director and Executive Director of the Center of Excellence for Translational Neuroscience and Therapeutics (CTNT), TTUHSC.
- Research Interests: Neurobiological mechanisms of brain dysfunction related to chronically relevant disorders, such as chronic pain, comorbid conditions of anxiety, depression, etc.
(806) 743-3880
Wilna Oldewage-Theron, PhD, RD (SA)
- Professor of Nutritional Sciences
- Research Interests: Community Nutrition using food fortification, supplementation, nutrition education, food product development and implementation, as well as school feeding programs on food insecurity, dietary diversity and nutritional status of women and children as well as the elderly.
(806) 834-0567
Ty Palmer, PhD
- Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management.
- Research Interests: Impact of age-related disparities on muscular function, interventional strategies to improve functional performance in older adults
(806) 834-7884
Oak-Hee Park, PhD.
- Senior Research Associate at Research Office, College of Human Science
- Research Interests: Community nutrition, food environment
John W. Pelley, MBA, PhD
- Professor, Department of Medical Education, SOM
- Research Interests: Mindfulness strategies in learning and mind-body wellness; integrative medicine education
(806) 743-1116
Jennifer Phy, MD.
- Associate Professor, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, SOM.
- Research Interests: Polycystic ovary syndrome and weight loss by dietary modification, acupuncture on vascular tone and stress levels in infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization.
(806) 743-4256
Punyanunt, Narissra M. PhD
- Associate Professor & Assistant Dean of International Affairs, Department of Communication, College of Media & Communication TTU
- Research Interests: Health communication; health advocacy, the crafting of messages about health, and strategies for the promotion of health-care services.
Office: (806) 834-3273
Latha Ramalingam, PhD.
- Research Assistant Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, Texas Tech
- Research Interests: Bioactives in maternal obesity, Renin Angiotensin System (RAS) in beta cells, and the interactions between adipocytes and beta cells and their influence on diabetes and obesity.
(806) 834-0841
Eric Rivas
- Assistant professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, TTU
- Research Interests: Exercise and Thermal Physiology. Acute and chronic exercise, cold, heat, and hypoxia effects on metabolic and vascular function in healthy, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension.
(806) 834-8563
Sharda P. Singh, PhD
- Associate professor, Department of Internal Medicine, SOM
- Research Interests: Clinical trials and animal studies – dietary supplement/phytochemicals in prevention of doxorubicin induced cardiotoxicity.
(806) 743-3902
Shin, Andrew C.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences, TTU
- Research Interests: Neurobiology of appetite control, body weight regulation, and nutrient metabolism
Office: (806) 834-1713
Phillip S. Sizer Jr., PT, PhD, OCS, FAAOMPT
- President’s Distinguished Professor, Associate Dean for Research and ScD Program Director in the School of Health Professions at TTUHSC
- Research Interests: Clinical pathoanatomy, sensorimotor control and functional biomechanics of the spine and extremities, tissue and movement screening
(806) 743-3902
Song, Huaxin PhD.
- School of Nursing, TTUHSC
- Research Interests: Chronic Disease Management through inter-professional collaborative practice; Childhood obesity prevention; Big Data and measurement matrix for research and quality improvement programs for healthcare system.
Office: (806) 743-2661
Sun, Grace DNP, APRN, FNP-BC
- Associate Professor, School of Nursing, TTUHSC
- Research Interests: Education in Integrative Healthcare, Whole Body Wellness
Office: (806) 743-9246
Grant Tinsley, PhD.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, TTU
- Research Interests: Body composition assessment methodology, lifestyle interventions to improve body composition, intermittent fasting, dietary supplementation, resistance training
(806) 834-5895
Heather Vellers, PhD.
- Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management, TTU
- Research Interests: Mitochondrial biology and genetics-role in exercise training response and pathological etiologies
(806) 834-8890
Shu Wang, PhD.
- Associate Professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences.
- Research Interests: nutrition and nanomedicine for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases, especially cardiovascular disease and obesity
(806) 834-4050
Zhang, Fangyuan PhD
- Assistant Professor of Statistics of Department of Mathematics and Statistics, TTU.
- Research Interests: Developing statistical methods to detect genetic effects, epigenetic effects, and interaction effects between genes and environment associated with human complex diseases.
- Application of bio-statistical methods to real data analysis.
Office: (806) 834-2587
Yan Zhang, PhD, L.Ac.
- Associate Professor and the Founding Director of Division of Integrative Medicine in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, SOM, TTUHSC.
- Research Interests: Clinical trials-acupuncture and mind-body intervention, health services research-secondary data analysis on CAM related topics, complementary and integrative health education
(806) 743-6056
Zook, Julie Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor, College of Architecture
- Research Interests: Environmental determinants of health related to architectural and urban/community design; use of EHR data to better understand functioning of healthcare architecture.
Office: (806) 742-1400
Mimi Zumwalt, MD.
- Professor, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, SOM
- Research Interests: Female athletes/Injury prevention, exercise techniques/training Rx Natural/alternative nutrition, sex/gender differences
(806) 743-2465