Exercise Experts
Michael Calik
Expert on: Sleep and sleep apnea
Dr. Michael Calik is a teaching associate professor of Nursing in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. He is a neuroscientist with expertise in the study of the neurobiology, neurophysiology and neuropharmacology of sleep and sleep apnea in rat models. His research focuses on innovative pharmacological treatments of sleep apnea. Dr. Calik also studies the effect of exercise and meal timing on sleep in normal and obese rats.
Eileen Collins
Expert on: Quality of life in chronic disease through physical activity
Dr. Eileen Collins is the Dean of the College of Nursing and professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. Her research focuses on improving quality of life in persons with chronic disease through physical activity. She works with pulmonary patients on breathing retraining and physical activity interventions. She has strong research expertise in the measurement and conduct of randomized clinical trials.
Cynthia Fritschi
Expert on: Diabetes, self-care behaviors, real-time data collection
Dr. Cynthia Fritschi is an associate professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. Her research has focused on the relationships between physical function, physical activity and system experiences among obese, sedentary adults with Type 2 diabetes. The overarching goal of her research is to develop real-world physical activity interventions in aging, urban adults with or at risk for cardiometabolic diseases to maximize metabolic health, enhance quality of life, and attenuate the risks for early disability associated with being sedentary.
Dr. Fritschi has conducted behavioral intervention studies in which she assesses the effects of using real-time continuous physical activity and glucose monitoring to examine the psychological, behavioral, and glucose outcomes in aging adults with Type 2 diabetes.
Ellen Goldstein
Expert on: Trauma-informed perinatal mental health
Dr. Ellen Goldstein is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Nursing Science. Her research focuses on mental health during peripartum and developing a trauma-informed approach for prenatal care to lessen the impact of maternal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other traumas on maternal and child health outcomes. The goal of her research program is to test acceptable, effective, behavioral interventions that can be delivered during routine prenatal care to improve psychosocial and socioemotional functioning in under-resourced pregnant women.
Mary Hannan
Expert on: Lifestyle behaviors, particularly physical activity, in kidney disease
Dr. Mary Hannan is an assistant professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. The goal of her research is to improve health and quality of life for adults with kidney disease through participation in healthy lifestyle behaviors. She develops lifestyle interventions, particularly physical activity interventions, that seek to improve health and quality of life for adults with kidney disease.
Onome Henry Osokpo
Expert on: Self-care, care transitions, and health disparities in adults with complex health/social needs
Dr. Onome Henry Osokpo is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Nursing Science. His research aims to reduce health disparities, advance health equity, and mitigate adverse social determinants of health with a particular focus on improving self-care and transitions of care for vulnerable adult populations, including Black/African immigrants and their caregivers. Dr. Osokpo’s research goal is to understand and address the multilevel barriers to health care, including sociocultural (language), economic, behavioral, and system (organizational) barriers that adversely impact the health and outcomes of vulnerable adults with chronic disease and complex health and social needs.
Lauretta Quinn
Expert on: Improving health of diabetics, diabetes complications
Dr. Lauretta Quinn is a clinical professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science. Her research program focuses on improving the health of people with diabetes and reducing the burden of diabetes complications. Her research has examined the interaction of psychological (e.g. quality of life) behavioral (e.g. diabetes self-management), and physiological (e.g. substrate response to exercise) aspect of diabetes. Her early research focused on examining the effect of aerobic exercise on the metabolic derangements of both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and their relationship to CVD disease. Dr. Quinn has collaborated on research that contributes to the development of an artificial pancreas for people with Type 1 diabetes. She also researches sleep and glycemic variability in Type 1 diabetes. Metabolic measurements are central to her work and have included measures of insulin resistance, glucose tolerance, energy expenditure, physical activity measurements, and continuous glucose monitoring in both Types 1 and 2 diabetes.
Lisa Sharp
Expert on: Improving health of marginalized individuals due to race, ethnicity or socioeconomic status
Dr. Lisa Sharp is a professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing Science and is associate dean for research, leading the college’s Office of Research Facilitation. She is a behavioral scientist with training in nursing sciences, social psychology, and health psychology. Her research focuses on developing patient-centered behavioral interventions that aim to support people in managing their health and chronic diseases. This work centers the contextualized lives of the individuals with whom she seeks to support which means that the social determinants of health and individual-level health-related social needs are critical.