CHET Core Faculty
Olufunmilola Abraham, PhD, MS, BPharm
Dr. Olufunmilola Abraham is a tenured professor and chair of the department of pharmacy practice and science at the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy. Her work is currently funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Dr. Abraham was an NIH/UW Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (ICTR) KL2 Scholar. She received her BPharm degree from the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and practiced as a hospital and community pharmacist in Nigeria. Dr. Abraham received her MS and PhD in social and administrative pharmacy from the UW School of Pharmacy. She also received a PhD minor in industrial and systems engineering from UW, focused on human factors and ergonomics, and a graduate certification in patient safety.
Dr. Abraham has served as a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Pharmacy, Medicine (departments of pediatrics, biomedical informatics), Health Policy Institute, Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing (CP3), and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). Dr. Abraham鈥檚 research goal is to improve medication use for vulnerable and underserved populations such as children, young adults, women, and people living with serious chronic health conditions. Dr. Abraham has over 15 years of experience in conducting research to improve pharmacy practice and quality of patient care. Her research focuses on the development and dissemination of innovative interventions, such as serious games, to promote medication safety and adherence. Dr. Abraham uses human factors and system engineering concepts and techniques to characterize pharmacy practice and the medication use process.
Dr. Abraham is the author of over 75 publications and has given more than 70 scientific presentations, including invited lectures, seminars, and conference presentations.
Adebola Adegboyega, PhD, RN
Adebola Adegboyega, PhD, RN, is an associate professor in the 好色先生 College of Nursing. Broadly, her work is driven by a commitment to making cancer prevention and health promotion more accessible. Her research uses community-informed interventions and incorporates mixed methods approaches to address the social and structural factors contributing to poor outcomes in cancer and chronic diseases. One of her completed NIH-funded projects focused on adaptation and evaluation of an intervention to increase cervical cancer screening in African American and Sub-Saharan Africans populations.
Matthew L. Bush, MD, PhD, MBA
Professor and chair in the department of otolaryngology 鈥 head and neck surgery, in the 好色先生. Dr. Bush is a surgeon scientist who has a research focus on increasing access to and timely delivery of specialty health care in underserved populations. His current work is NIH-funded and involves clinical trial design and execution among vulnerable populations, which incorporates mixed methodology along with dissemination and implementation research approaches.
Laneshia Conner, PhD, MSW, CSW
Dr. Conner is an assistant professor in the 好色先生 College of Social Work. A Lexington, Ky., native, she earned her BASW from 好色先生, MSW from the University of Georgia, and PhD from the University of Louisville.
Her primary research focuses on HIV risk reduction for older Black women, developing culturally relevant sexual health programs and educational tools for aging communities, and advancing health equity. Her research and professional development have received funding support from both internal and external sources, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, and, most recently, a 5-year research grant funded by the NIA and the Office of AIDS Research (1K01 AG092253-01A1).
Dr. Conner鈥檚 scholarship also explores innovative teaching methods using horror films and critical pedagogy to engage students on social justice issues. She is deeply committed to community engagement, serving in multiple leadership roles and coaching youth and high school track teams.
Mark Dignan, PhD, MPH
Professor in the department of internal medicine of the College of Medicine. Dr. Dignan鈥檚 research is focused on cancer prevention and control for rural and medically underserved populations. His projects have developed and evaluated the effectiveness of interventions to increase screening and follow-up for abnormal screening test results and have included partnerships with community members, healthcare providers and healthcare delivery systems. His current NIH-funded projects include development and assessment of multiple level interventions to increase colorectal and cervical cancer screening in Appalachian populations.
Rachel H. Farr, PhD
Professor, department of psychology, College of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Farr鈥檚 research in developmental psychology focuses on diverse families, particularly those parented by LGBTQ+ adults and formed through adoption. For nearly 20 years, she has conducted a large longitudinal study about how parental sexual orientation relates to child, parent, and family outcomes among diverse adoptive families across the U.S. Funded by the William T. Grant Foundation, Dr. Farr is currently studying racially, socioeconomically, and geographically diverse adolescents with LGBTQ+ parents.
Alison Gustafson, PhD, MPH, RD
Martin Gatton Foundation Endowed Chair and professor of dietetics and human nutrition in the department of dietetics and human nutrition, Martin Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment and College of Nursing. Dr. Gustafson serves as director of the Food as Health Alliance in Kentucky. Her research focuses on how various components of the food environment are on the pathway to poor dietary outcomes among rural and geographically isolated communities, with funding through NIH, CDC, USDA, and other non-profits. Dr. Gustafson addresses health disparities through the food insecurity lens to improve policy approaches for those in social safety networks. As director, she leads the Food as Health Alliance鈥檚 collective mission to build and expand the translational research between clinical and community interventions to target food insecurity as an approach to improve diet-sensitive disease and health outcomes.
Donald W. Helme, PhD
Donald W. Helme is a professor of communication and associate dean of research for the 好色先生 College of Communication and Information. Over the past three decades, in partnership with colleagues he has received over $101 million grant dollars. He recently served as the primary investigator on the HEALing Communities Campaign Evaluation Study funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse ($542,844) with the purpose of conducting a rigorous scientific evaluation of the health communication campaign promoting the HEALing Communities Study. Notably, Dr. Helme also served as co-investigator on two additional grant-funded projects including the primary HEALing Communities Study funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Drug Abuse ($87,000,000) to implement and test evidence-based interventions to reduce opioid-related overdose and mortality by 40% in 16 Kentucky counties; and the Development and Pilot Randomized Control Trial of a Text Message Intervention to Facilitate Secure Storage and Disposal of Prescription Opioids to Prevent Diversion and Misuse, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse ($692,758). Recently, Dr. Helme also served as principal investigator on a $50,000 project jointly funded by the University of Kentucky鈥檚 Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Wake Forest鈥檚 Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute. This project involved examining messaging strategies for encouraging proper disposal of unused or expired prescription medicines (especially opioids) and reducing non-medical prescription drug use in Appalachia. Dr. Helme also recently served as principal investigator on a $15,000 project funded by the 好色先生 Vice President for Research鈥檚 office examining how masculinity and male role model ideation influence young rural males鈥 uptake and continued use of smokeless tobacco. Dr. Helme has been recognized not only for his success in securing federal funding to conduct high impact interdisciplinary social and behavioral health research in the areas of tobacco/drug use risk reduction, but also has been invited to present at conferences and for various organizations to discuss his expertise in recruiting participants from marginalized populations and the building strong, long-lasting community partnerships.
Pamela Hull, PhD
Associate professor of behavioral science in the 好色先生 College of Medicine, is a medical sociologist with over 15 years of experience in conducting community-engaged research with a focus on reducing health disparities among African American, Hispanic, and low-income populations, in collaboration with community partners. Her research focuses on the implementation of evidence-based practices for cancer prevention and control, including HPV vaccination and obesity prevention, using implementation science and technology-based applications. Dr. Hull serves as associate director of Population Science and Community Impact for the 好色先生 Markey Cancer Center, where she leads Markey鈥檚 community outreach and engagement efforts through the Community Impact Office functions, and she oversees MCC鈥檚 population science research agenda and resources.
Melinda Ickes, PhD
Melinda Ickes received her PhD from the University of Cincinnati in 2010. Dr. Ickes is acting associate dean of research for the 好色先生 College of Education and professor in the department of kinesiology and health promotion. She also has a joint appointment at the 好色先生 College of Nursing, where she serves as the co-director of the tobacco policy research program of the BREATHE (Bridging Research Efforts and Advocacy Toward Healthy Environments) research team. She serves as director of the AppalTRuST Career Enhancement Core, a center focused on tobacco regulatory science.
As a University of Kentucky Research Professor, Dr. Ickes has extensive experience in college and youth health promotion, including tobacco prevention, and has worked with university and community partners to reduce the prevalence of emerging tobacco products among at-risk youth and young adults. Through state and national funding, the #iCANendthetrend initiative has reached nearly 20,000 Kentucky youth to support reduced tobacco use initiation.
Her research interests go beyond tobacco control, including community-engaged research, youth empowerment, substance use prevention, and evidence-based program planning and evaluation.
Dr. Ickes serves as the Health Promotion Program faculty chair and director of the graduate certificate in health coaching. She has taught a variety of specialized undergraduate and graduate courses in health promotion, including Human Health and Wellness, Program Planning, Health Promotion and Behavior Change, College Health Promotion, Community Organizing and Health Promotion, and Worksite Wellness.
Kathy Sheppard-Jones, PhD, CRC
Dr. Kathy Sheppard-Jones is the past executive director of the Human Development Institute (HDI), one of 好色先生鈥檚 Centers and Institutes administered under the Office of the Vice President for Research. The HDI serves as Kentucky鈥檚 University Center on Disability and is home to the state鈥檚 University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities and Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities grants. She holds a doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Kentucky. Dr Sheppard-Jones also serves as adjunct assistant faculty in the counselor education program in the College of Education. An active researcher with over $83 million in lifetime externally funded awards, her interests include return to work, transition to employment, inclusive higher education for students and workforce, universal design, and systems change. She is guided by a vision of a workforce that is inclusive of all people. She is also a certified rehabilitation counselor.
Danelle Stevens-Watkins, PhD
Professor and associate vice president for research. Dr. Stevens-Watkins leads the . Broadly, her research focuses on health disparities and barriers to service utilization among Black adult populations. She completed an NIH (K08DA-032296) Mentored Career Development Award with a research emphasis on the dynamic interaction between anxiety, depression, drug abuse, and HIV risk behaviors among African American male prisoners. Currently, she is completing one of the funded by NIDA (R01DA-094333) to examine structural, social, and cultural factors impacting the opioid epidemic among Black Americans by gender and age. Further, in collaboration with Morehouse School of Medicine, she leads a project funded by NIH, National Institute on Minority Health Disparities, focused on increasing PrEP uptake among Black women at high risk for HIV. In addition, she received funding from NIH, National Institute on General Medical Sciences as MPI (NIGMS) R25GM-147296) to co-lead a mentoring program to foster success among racial/ethnic underrepresented faculty. Dr. Stevens-Watkins also leads as PI the NIH NIDA-funded racial equity initiatives coordinating center (U24-DA058961).
Shemeka Thorpe, PhD
Dr. Shemeka Thorpe (she/her) is an award-winning sexuality educator and researcher. Her research focuses on the sexual well-being of Black women using sex-positive frameworks and Black feminisms. Dr. Thorpe鈥檚 primary research focus is on Black women鈥檚 sexual well-being and family planning processes among Black queer women. Dr. Thorpe is an assistant professor in health promotion and the assistant director of the UNITE Research Priority Area. She is also a faculty affiliate of African American and Africana Studies and the Commonwealth Institute for Black Studies. She has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles in journals in the field of sexology, psychology, and public health. In 2023, Buzzfeed listed her as one of the top 20 Black sexologists you should follow. As a Lyman T. Johnson postdoctoral research fellow, she won the 2022 CHET Health Equity Changemaker Award. She has been featured on numerous podcasts, online magazines, and blogs such as Cosmo, Elite Daily, The New York Times, and Essence. Dr. Thorpe aims to make research relevant to Black communities by translating sex science in meaningful and tangible ways through social media.
Keith J. Watts, PhD, MSW
Guided by the principles of social justice, Dr. Keith J. Watts鈥 research program is dedicated to advancing health equity for marginalized populations. He focuses on the significant health disparities affecting racial, sexual, and gender minorities, employing minority stress and intersectionality frameworks to understand these complex dynamics. A central theme of his work is exploring the protective role of belongingness within identity-based communities. Using collaborative, community-engaged methods, Dr. Watts seeks to translate key research findings into tangible interventions and effective policies that foster community well-being.
Corrine Williams, ScD
Associate professor in the department of health, behavior and society, 好色先生 College of Public Health, with a joint appointment in the department of obstetrics and gynecology, 好色先生 College of Medicine. Dr. Williams has conducted research on various women鈥檚 health and maternal and child health topics, and generally focuses program evaluation and quality improvement. She was part of the research team for the project, 鈥淕reen Dot across the Bluegrass: Evaluation of a primary prevention intervention,鈥 a CDC-funded collaborative agreement to evaluate the effectiveness of a violence prevention program targeted to high school students. Related to the Green Dot intervention, she also received funding to evaluate this program among college students. In addition, she served as the evaluator of the Kentucky Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) program, a statewide voluntary intensive home visitation program for high-risk (including young maternal age), primarily low-income, first-time parents that provides services from the prenatal period to the child's third birthday. This work ultimately led to the HANDS program being declared an evidence-based home visiting approach. Dr. Williams is also the acting associate vice president for Student Well-being in the Office for Student Success. As acting AVP she oversees the 好色先生 Counseling Center, the VIP Center, the Disability Resource Center, Campus Recreation and the office of Student Financial Wellness. She also leads a strategic initiative dedicated to a holistic approach to student wellness.
Lovoria B. Williams, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor in the 好色先生 College of Nursing. Her research focuses on implementing multi-level faith-based interventions to reduce obesity and lung cancer disparities among Black and medically underserved population through community based participatory methods. Her work is funded by grants from the NIH, State, and Foundations. Dr. Williams is also the associate director of the CCTS and Sally Humphrey Research Professor, Cancer Health Equity in the Markey Cancer Center.