Affiliate Faculty

Name: Em V. Adams
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
Email address: emiliea@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Adams’ research centers on promoting resilience in communities and individuals that have experienced violence and trauma. At a community level, her research focuses on improving systems to promote accessible, inclusive, and healing communities in both clinical and community-based settings. At an individual level her research focuses on developing and implementing mind-body and leisure interventions to promote healthy coping, identity formation, and mental health.

Name: Kendra Allison
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences School of Nursing
Email address: kendraa@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My program of research is adolescent mental health. Currently, I am the Principal Investigator on a project with Prisma Health to assess adolescent sexting and associated depression scores in primary care, which includes parental educational materials on sexting. Concurrently, I am a GoMobile HRSA (UK146052) workforce grant team member to increase medical services in rural and underserved populations in Appalachian and Midlands, South Carolina, including mental health equity. Future research goals include the prevention of adolescent substance abuse.

Name: Skye Arthur-Banning
Title: Association Professor and Director of Research and Development for the US Center for Mental Health and Sport
Department: PRTM
Email address: sarthur@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Interested in developing sport environments that allow for optimum mental wellness by providing mental health training and resources, opening pathways to access additional mental health support services, and committing to the advancement of mental health and sport research. I seek to do this largely by providing mental health awareness training to the entire sport community (coaches, parents, athletes, administrators and officials) in an effort to encourage sport to be a safe space to have mental health conversations and grow opportunities for help-seeking behaviors.

Name: Anna Baker
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Psychology
Email address: abake26@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Baker has expertise in clinical work and research in mental health assessment, as well as cognitive and behavioral based interventions. Dr. Baker did clinical rotations in a VA hospital in the Addictive Disorders Treatment Program (ADTP) and through clinical and other research experiences has been trained in interventions particularly relevant to substance use disorders such as motivational interviewing, problem solving, anger management, communication/social skills training, and prolonged exposure in individual and group formats. Her research expertise in mixed methods approaches to examine barriers to and interventions for adherence, as well as behavioral pain management are also particularly relevant.

Name: Kristie Boswell
Title: Family Nurse Practitioner, Assistant Director, Mobile Health Operations
Department: Clemson Rural Health
Email address: khirt@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Kristie Boswell is a board-certified family nurse practitioner serving as Clemson Rural Health’s Associate Director of Mobile Health Operations. She is the primary nurse practitioner on the mobile health unit and travels throughout the Upstate and Midlands of South Carolina, providing care related to hepatitis c, PrEP, HIV, substance use, MAT, reproductive care, and women’s health. Her work on the mobile health unit reaches many rural patients of various racial and ethnic backgrounds with the majority of these patients having no access to healthcare due to finances, distance, and language barriers.

Name: Thomas W. Britt
Title: Professor and Clemson Health Research Director
Department: Psychology
Email address: twbritt@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My current research programs investigate how meaningful work, coping strategies, and other factors promote resilience among employees in high stress occupations, and how stigma and other barriers to care influence employees in high stress occupations seeking needed mental health treatment. I have conducted a number of recent studies on stress, health, and well-being of healthcare professionals, especially emergency medicine clinicians.

Name: Edmond P. Bowers
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Youth Development Leadership
Email address: edmondb@clemson.edu

Research Interests

As the positive youth development (PYD) perspective grows in popularity, I aim to enhance the links among PYD theory, research, and practice at local, national, and global levels. My primary research interest is in understanding how youth-adult relationships can promote positive and healthy development in diverse young people. I am particularly interested in applying and adapting the Five Cs model of PYD to explore how adults can facilitate the strengths of youth to promote PYD outcomes and reduce youth depressive symptoms, substance use, and delinquency. In my projects, I often partner with practitioners to design, implement, and evaluate programs, exploring the best ways to build the capacity of programs and professionals who serve youth.

Name: Dr. Asa T. Briggs, DNP
Title: Clinical Assistant Professor
Department:  School of Nursing 
Email address: AsaB@clemson.edu

Research Interests 

My research interests are the expansion of mental health services in marginalized communities, and the impact racial injustice and limited access to care have on patient outcomes.  Mental health services in marginalized communities should be contextualized –meeting the unique needs of a specific people group or population. 

Name: Matthew Browning
Title: Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Virtual Reality & Nature Lab
Department: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
Email address: mhb2@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My work is at the nexus of environmental science and public health, examining how technological nature benefits human health. My role as director of the Virtual Reality & Nature Lab (VRN, Sirrine 368) involves leading interventional and observational research using immersive technologies (i.e., VR, smartphone apps, holographic imagery) in the newly renovated Research Innovation Suite (RIS, Sirrine 374). The RIS includes four reservable rooms for CBSHS colleagues with features that allow for tightly controlled experiments. The VRN also specializes in spatial epidemiology and advanced exposure assessments to investigate how built and natural environment factors influence mental health/well-being, disease, and mortality. Other skills and interests include artificial intelligence, climate change, health inequities, healthcare facility design, telehealth, and wearables.

Name: Kaileigh Byrne
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Psychology
Email address: kaileib@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Byrne’s background is in cognitive neuroscience research that examines reward processing and habitual behavior. She applies this work to examine cognitive risk factors and outcomes associated with Substance Use Disorder. Additionally, she is interested in developing effective interventions for addiction and mental health. Currently, Dr. Byrne’s intervention-based work is focused on peer recovery coaching and mental health apps.

Name: Chao Fan
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences
Email address: cfan@clemson.edu

Research Interests

• Create and test theoretical and computational models to determine the relative influence of socio-demographic characteristics, geography, and physical environment on mental health at national scales.
• Examine the prevention and treatment strategies by creating physical and digital infrastructure in rural and historically marginalized communities.
• Model the interactions between environmental stressors including climate change on mental health among different population groups.
• Develop AI and virtual reality technologies to create psychological connections between humans in a physically isolated environment.

Name: Ryan Gagnon
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management
Email Address: rjgagno@clemson.edu

Research Interests

The factors that inhibit or promote youth thriving, out-of-school-time program success, methodological innovation in youth program assessment, the development of evaluation capacity in programs that serve marginalized and/or underrepresented youth, youth with disabilities and/or chronic illness.

Name: Barry A. Garst
Title: Professor and Coordinator, Youth Development Programs
Department: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Email address: bgarst@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My research focuses on the developmental potential of out-of-school time youth development programs and settings. As Research Chair for the Alliance for Camp Health, I also examine factors impacting health outcomes for youth and staff within the context of summer camp. Recent projects have explored overparenting and parent anxiety; organizational health care practices to reduce communicable disease spread and promote participant mental, emotional, and social health (MESH) within summer camps; and summertime food insecurity. My work also seeks to improve communication across parents, health care providers, and summer programs to promote year-round youth health outcomes.

Name: Lucia Gonzales
Title: Associate Director of Research
Department: Clemson University School of Nursing
Email address: luciag@clemson.edu

Research Interests

I conducted a 3-year research change project supporting providers in their prescribing of a bowel regimen when prescribing opioids. My certificate in women’s studies with course work on the woman in developing countries enhanced my knowledge of socio anthropological explanations for aspects of disease and well-prepared me to conduct of research on behaviors that align with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework-- the cultural and social determinants of health. My passion is to perpetuate interest in performing and applying research. This life’s work has engaged over 231 clinicians in research.

Name: Moonseong Heo
Title: Professor
Department: Public Health Sciences
Email address: mheo@clemson.edu

Research Interests

• Identifying optimal HCV treatment patterns of daily adherence to directly acting antiviral (DAA) medications for successful cure of HCV among people who inject drugs
• Identifying factors associated with support for harm reduction services in rural populations
• Developing integrated and collaborative models of treating OUD
• Developing real-time data integration and surveillance system to localize high-risk areas vulnerable to opioid overdose epidemic.

Name: Xia Jing
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Public Health Sciences
Email address: xjing@clemson.edu

Research Interests

• Health/medical informatics applications in opioid use disorders
• Clinical decision support systems in resource-limited primary care settings
• Health IT interoperability
• Ontology, knowledge bases, and machine-processable health information
• Scientific hypothesis generation in clinical research

Name: Karyn Ogata Jones
Title: Associate Professor
Department: Communication
Email address: karynj@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My research interests are rooted within an overall goal of improving and advancing our understanding of the role of communication in efforts to improve health. My passions include looking at how stigma impacts communication and health, including challenges in seeking care and support for those with stigmatizing conditions, particularly among at-risk populations; how communication can be strategically applied to identify, reduce, and eliminate health disparities and improve health; and identifying relationships between care provider (lay and professional) well-being, patient-provider communication, and patient outcomes.

Name: Anjali Joseph
Title: Professor and Endowed Chair, Director of Center for Health Facilities Design and Testing
Department: Architecture
Email address: anjalij@clemson.edu

Research Interests

She studies the impact of the healthcare-built environment on patient and staff safety and quality of care outcomes. Her work is at the intersection of evidence-based healthcare design and healthcare human factors. She is interested a using multi-disciplinary systems approach to designing and evaluating solutions that impact patient safety in high-risk patient care environments such as operating rooms, patient rooms and emergency departments.

Name: Caitlin Moore Kickham
Title: Associate Director, Clinical Operations
Department: Clemson Rural Health
Email address: caitli8@clemson.edu

Research Interests

• Underserved and rural populations
• Mobile health solutions
• Nurse practitioner models of care

Name: Anne Koci
Title: Clinical Professor, Distinguished Scholar, Center for Research on Health Disparities, Coordinator, Appalachian American Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (AAANP),Clemson University
Department: School of Nursing
Email address:  akoci@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My focus of research includes marginalization, health outcomes of abuse, and rural/Appalachian health. I am a Family Nurse Practitioner, a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner, and the coordinator of the Appalachian American Alliance of Nurse Practitioners (AAANP), a network of Nurse Practitioners (NPs) …NPs in SC deal with addicted patients on a routine basis. Marginalized individuals frequently self-medicate and become addicted to substances.

Name: Ye Luo
Title: Professor
Department: Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
Email address: yel@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Ye Luo is a life course scholar with research expertise in social determinants of health and health behaviors and in survey methodology. She is particularly interested in the interplay of individual, family, community and societal factors on drug addiction and the impact of drug addiction on mental health.

Name: Rachel M. Mayo
Title: Professor
Department: Public Health Sciences
Email address: rmayo@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Mayo's research interests include substance use disorder and it's impact on maternal and child health. She has several current projects related to Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. She focuses on interventions to improve and the reduce the impact of SUD on women and infants.

Name: Olivia McAnirlin
Title: Co-Director of the Virtual Reality and Nature Lab
Department: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Email Address: omcanir@clemson.edu

Research Intrests:

The Paradox of the Appalachian Region Between Greenspace and Health Outcomes 
This commentary aims to discuss this paradox of ample green space but poor health conditions of residents living in Central Appalachia and its surroundings and highlight potential explanations for this conflict based on a summary of existing literature and research.

Psychological well-being benefits of cocreating nature-based VR
This research examines the psychological well0being benefits of participating in co-created nature-based virtual reality (VR) experiences for people living with severe chronic obstructive pulmonayr disease (COPD). This work focuses on personalizing virtual reality for posiitve improvements for well-being and has many imp0lications for clinical populations unable to safely access outdoor spaces.

Name: Bryan Lee Miller
Title: Professor
Department: Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice
Email address: blm2@clemson.edu

Research Interests:

Dr. Miller’s work has evaluated substance use and misuse, probation practices, offender reentry, deviant peers, and drug treatment. He has worked on projects to reduce the number of individuals with mental illnesses and co-occurring disorders in jail, evaluate treatment courts, and provide substance use disorder treatment to justice-involved individuals. Additionally, he conducts research investigating use dynamics and market factors around explaining the emergence of novel and synthetic drugs.

Name: Lior Rennert
Title: Assistant Professor and Director
Department: Center for Public Health Modeling and response, Department of Public Health Sciences
Email address: liorr@clemson.edu

Research Interests

• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Biostatistics
• Substance use/addiction
• Mindfulness
• Policy

Name:  Amanda D. Rumsey
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Education and Human Development
Email address: arumsey@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My research revolves around topics related to (a) suicide, substance abuse, and trauma, with an emphasis on counselor training and preparation, and (b) school-based counseling, with an emphasis on supporting student social, emotional, and mental health needs of children and adolescents. Within these themes, I explore topics and conduct investigations that inform counseling practice and support work with underserved and vulnerable populations. Employing quantitative and qualitative methods, I investigate issues that inform pedagogy and promote the development and practice of professional counselors. My funded work includes collaborative partnerships with multiple schools, agencies, and community partnerships.

Name: Corrine Sackett
Title: Associate Professor of Counselor Education
Department: Education and Human Development
Email address: csacket@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Dr. Sackett’s research agenda centers on accessing and utilizing client perspectives of the counseling process to improve client engagement and outcomes. She is primarily a qualitative researcher. Her research ultimately helps to improve the quality and outcome of care for mental health and addictions counseling in a variety of settings through accessing and utilizing client perspectives to inform treatment. Dr. Sackett is also involved in funded projects aimed at training counselors to better meet the mental health and addiction-related needs of clients in a variety of settings.

Name: Cedomir Stanojevic
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management
Email address: cstanoj@clemson.edu

Research Interests

Cedomir Stanojevic is a recreational therapist researching leisure-related interventions and improved quality of life of individuals with disabilities. Focusing on Socially Assistive Robotics and Ecological Momentary Assessment, Cedomir aims to understand how implementing and adopting emerging technologies improve various populations' health outcomes. Dr. Stanojevic is committed to developing evidence-based practices that can contribute to positive health outcomes for individuals with disabilities (specifically the population diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders). He utilizes the ecological momentary assessment philosophy as the guide in research design and tends to collect participant interaction data in real-time while characterizing variations in behaviors within a participant over time.

Name: Amanda N. Stover
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Department of Public Health Sciences
Email address: anstove@clemson.edu

Research Interests

I am a community health and behavior researcher.  Most of my work focuses on the connection between mental and behavioral health research. My primary research focus is addressing how mental and behavioral health can be integrated to more wholistically treat substance use disorders and decrease risk of self-harm for individuals in rural communities.  Specifically, I am interested in the relationship between self-injury behaviors, suicide, and opioid overdose, and how these behaviors can be addressed to improve prevention and treatment strategies.  I enjoy working with research groups in rural communities and have spent a majority of my research career working with Appalachian populations.  

Name: Jason R. Thrift
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: School of Nursing
Email address: jasont@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My research has focused on virtual reality (VR) and Virtual Reality Simulation (VR-Sim) for patient treatment modalities and student nurse education. I am currently working on research projects involving nature-based VR as a complementary treatment for hospice and palliative care patients.

Name: Shirley M. Timmons
Title: Professor
Department: School of Nursing
Email address: stimmon@clemson.edu

Research Interests

My research interests include refinement of knowledge about cultural factors that influence health disparities experienced by African Americans born in the United States compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Since religion has played a critical role in quality of life of this population (pre and post-slavery) and church affiliation as a vital social, physical, and emotional support, my research identifies aspects of the African American-church dynamic that fosters “health.” For example, academic-community partnerships that target vulnerable African Americans must incorporate equity in decision-making about health outcome goals that include culturally relevant human resources (i.e., diverse African Americanworkforces) and material/environmental resources (i.e., evidence-based, church-based health promotion interventions). My research uncovers and highlights the positive influence of equitable decision- making to weight-management, illicit drug use recovery, hypertension and cardiometabolic health, and HIV/AIDS among underserved African Americans.

Name: Irene Pericot-Valverde
Title: Assistant Professor
Department: Psychology
Email address: iperico@clemson.edu

Research Interest

Dr. Pericot-Valverde is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Clemson University. Dr Pericot-Valverde is dedicated to conducting research aimed at improving treatment outcomes among people living with addictive behaviors, improving currently available interventions for treating addictive behaviors, and elucidating the underlying mechanisms for addictive behaviors. Her research has primarily focused on tobacco use, opioid use and misuse, and the intersection of both addictions. She leverages her expertise and training in clinical psychology, clinical trials research, psychopharmacology, and experimental psychology for conducting research on these three public health issues.