I am a population health scientist and community psychologist with training in qualitative, quantitative, and complex systems science approaches, along with diverse experience as a researcher, educator, and consultant across academic, corporate, and national policy-related settings. I joined the Health and Behavioral Science (HBS) program in the Department of Social Sciences at the University of Houston-Downtown in 2018. Prior to joining UHD, I completed a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Health and Kinesiology at Texas A&M University in College Station, TX, and I then served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. Prior to completing my degrees and entering academia, I was a long-haul and regional truck driver for almost 5 years. My research uses transdisciplinary and multiparadigmatic conceptual and theoretical frameworks and employs multiple methodological and analytical approaches, including qualitative and quantitative techniques, participatory group model building, and system dynamics and agent-based modeling and simulation. My research activities have increasingly sought to innovatively and synergistically integrate qualitative, quantitative, and complex systems science approaches to uncover the dynamically complex causal forces which underlay population health outcomes and identify high-leverage preventive actions. My areas of research concentration are broadly in population health and health disparities research, with a focus on chronic disease and acute injury prevention. A significant part of these activities falls within occupational health disparities, with an emphasis on commercial drivers. My scholarship has also advocated for new perspectives, grounded in complex systems science, in public and population health research and action.
