U-RISE - Faculty Staff
Program Directors
Dr. Keadle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinesiology & Public Health. Her research focuses on how different physical activities (e.g. exercise) and sedentary behaviors relate to chronic disease prevention. She conducts observational studies to examine the link between these behaviors and health outcomes and intervention studies designed to reduce sitting and increase physical activity. She also has ongoing studies to determine how to accurately measure physical activity and sitting time using wearable sensors and previous day recalls.
Dr. Hagobian is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Kinesiology & Public Health. His research interests are focused on lifestyle interventions with underrepresented populations, community-engaged interventions, and diabetes and obesity prevention and treatment interventions in pregnant and non-pregnant populations. He also has expertise in diabetes and obesity biomarkers, environmental and endocrine disrupting chemical interventions, quantitative methods, nutrition and physical activity interventions.
Co-Investigators
Dr. Lent’s research focuses on healthcare system and policy related access to cancer care in the US, especially among underserved and underrepresented groups. Her dissertation focused on rural urban disparities in the capacity of health systems to deliver cancer care. She uses population-level data to examine how the Affordable Care Act has shaped healthcare coverage and preventive behaviors. She also researches healthcare system barriers faced by individuals who use tobacco who want to quit. Her research in this area is rooted in collaborations with diverse trainees at various stages from underserved/underrepresented backgrounds.
Dr. Phelan’s specialization is in behavioral treatment of obesity and methods to promote cardiometabolic health in perinatal and postpartum women and children. She has been actively involved in behavioral weight control research targeting cardiometabolic risk factors in Hispanic childbearing women for the past 20 years. She has worked on a series of long-term weight loss trials, including Look AHEAD, STOP Regain, and Fit Moms/Mamas Activas. She has co-led the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), tracking behavioral, motivational, and environmental factors among 10,000 long-term successful weight losers. Currently, she is PI of NIH-funded multi-site randomized trials testing behavioral weight management interventions in diverse, multi-cultural patient populations before, during, and after pregnancy. She is also PI on the WW Success Registry (WWSR) that is studying the psychosocial processes underlying long-term successful weight control. She has extensive experience of behavioral weight control approaches, their use in randomized clinical trials, diverse families, and their impact on weight related and cardiometabolic outcomes.
Dr. Tseng’s current studies explore the role of neighborhood or community characteristics on immigrant health. As an epidemiologist, she has conducted numerous externally funded studies examining associations of psychosocial factors, lifestyle behaviors, geospatial, and neighborhood characteristics with risk for chronic illnesses such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. This work is the foundation for a broad perspective on immigrant health status and trajectories, and it underlies her current work among Chinese communities in Philadelphia, PA, and Latinx communities in Santa Maria, CA.
Program Administration Team
Brooke is the Program Coordinator for the U-RISE project. She splits her time between supporting U-RISE and coordinating research projects designed to reduce sedentary screen time and increase physical activity. Brooke began her career in health services research, focusing on maternal and child health and health care. She has managed an evaluation of a distance-learning asthma training program and a case management/care coordination program for children with complex medical needs.
U-RISE Mentors
Click here for more.
