Team Biographies
Troy Hooper
Troy Hooper is the Associate Dean for Research and Innovation for the School of Health Professions. He has worked at TTUHSC since 2007. He began his academic career in the Master of Athletic Training program and moved to the ScD in Physical Therapy (now Rehabilitation Sciences) program in 2012. He is also a faculty member in the PhD in Rehabilitation Science program. He was promoted to associate professor in 2018 and was appointed Director of Research Data Management in the SHP Office of Research and Innovation in 2021. His duties in that role included assisting faculty with research design, IRB submission, and data analysis. In addition to his duties at TTUHSC, he is International Faculty at the Universidad del Desarollo in Santiago, Chile. Dr. Hooper earned a BS degree in Biology from Angelo State University (1996) and Master of Physical Therapy (2001) and PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences (2015) degrees from TTUHSC. He is a licensed physical therapist and a licensed and certified athletic trainer. He began his clinical practice as an athletic trainer in 1996 and additionally worked as a physical therapist for Covenant Hospital and University Medical Center in outpatient and inpatient settings from 2001 until he joined TTUHSC in 2007. His teaching responsibilities include coordinating both programs’ research methods and statistical analysis courses.
Dr. Hooper is a member of the Clinical Musculoskeletal Research Laboratory in the Center for Rehabilitation Research. His research interests include understanding soft tissue alterations with musculoskeletal conditions using shear wave ultrasound elastography, how tissue stiffness changes in response to clinical interventions including exercise and manual therapy, and how these changes affect pain and function. He also investigates motor control changes with spine and lower extremity dysfunction.
McKenzie T. Wilkes
McKenzie Wilkes is the School of Health Professions (SHP) Director of the Office of Research and Innovation. She also teaches a graduate course in human growth and development as an adjunct Clinical Counseling & Mental Health instructor in SHP. Dr. Wilkes earned her Ph.D. in Human Development and Family Studies with an emphasis on Addictive Disorders and Recovery Sciences and Marriage and Family Therapy from Texas Tech University in 2016. She has over 14 years of experience in the field of addiction recovery, working at the Texas Tech University Center for the Study of Addiction and Recovery, Trac9 Informatics, and NLW Partners, LLC. Dr. Wilkes taught a senior-level course on eating disorders and a collegiate community seminar for almost a decade. Her research interests include how eating disorders and mental health impact substance use disorders and long-term, sustained recovery.
Julie St. John
Julie St. John is an Associate Professor in the Office of Research and Innovation, School of Health Professions, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Abilene. Dr. St. John has served as the principal and co-investigator on numerous projects in rural and underserved areas that utilized community based participatory research approaches. Dr. St. John completed a fellowship with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) and a fellowship with the Rural Health Fellows Program and a Rural Scholar with The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, TTUHSC. Her scope of work includes: teaching; research; health status assessments; strategic and operational planning; continuums of care; implementation science; program evaluation; community partnerships facilitation; Community Health Worker (CHW) training; and program development. Dr. St. John has served as the principal and co-investigator on numerous projects in rural and underserved areas that utilized community based participatory research approaches. She is currently the PI on a colorectal cancer prevention and screening grant funded by Cancer Prevention Research of Institute of Texas; and a Co-PI on an NIH funded maternal health implementation science grant. Dr. St. John completed a fellowship with the National Rural Health Association (NRHA) “Rural Health Fellows Program” and a Rural Scholar fellowship with The F. Marie Hall Institute for Rural and Community Health, TTUHSC. She Also published a CHW textbook as lead editor titled, “Promoting the Health of the Community – Community Health Workers Describing their Roles, Competencies, and Practice,” with Springer in April 2021. She has also taught several undergraduate and graduate courses and works internationally on various public health initiatives.