Co-Directors
Jerel Calzo
Email: jcalzo@sdsu.edu
Download CV (pdf)
Education
- MPH, Health and Social Behavior, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health (2016)
- PhD, Developmental Psychology, University of Michigan (2010)
- BA, Psychology and English, University of California, Los Angeles (2005)
Biography
Dr. Jerel Calzo (he/him/his) is an Associate Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University. He is a developmental psychologist with postdoctoral training in social epidemiology. Dr. Calzo’s research focuses on adolescent and young adult health, gender, sexual orientation, and community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches. His current research includes partnering with school and community-based programs to develop evidence-based practices to support positive youth development and resilience among LGBTQIA+ youth, and using survey and mixed method research designs to examine and address health inequities among LGBTQIA+ populations, particularly in the areas of eating disorders and substance use. Dr. Calzo leads the Action Research on Community Health Equity and Stigma (ARCHES) Lab — a research group and training space for CBPR and public health practice focused on social justice and addressing issues of health inequity.
Publications
Co-Director
Heather L. Corliss
Phone: (619) 594-3470
Email: hcorliss@sdsu.edu
Download CV (pdf)
Education
- PhD, Epidemiology, UCLA (2004)
- MPH, Community Health Sciences, UCLA (1999)
Biography
Dr. Heather L. Corliss (she/her/hers) is a Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University and Co-Director of the San Diego State University-University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Health Behavior. She is a social and behavioral epidemiologist with postdoctoral training in adolescent and young adult health and development. Dr. Corliss’s research focuses primarily on identifying and addressing health disparities among LGBTQ+ populations. She has collaborated with schools, healthcare organizations, and other community-based organizations to carry out health research and promotion aimed at achieving LGBTQ+ health equity. Her projects have focused on diverse health topics including substance use/disorders, mental health/disorders, chronic disease including type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular health, sexual health, adolescent health, and health impacts of stigma.
Publications
Participating Scholars
Aaron Blashill, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Eric Walsh-Buhi, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
Jennifer Felner, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Biography
Dr. Felner is a core investigator and postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Behavioral and Community Health at San Diego State University. She received her PhD in Community Health Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2017 and her MPH in Behavioral Sciences and Health Education from Emory University in 2009. Dr. Felner is a former National Institutes of Drug Abuse postdoctoral trainee and is currently pursuing an independent research agenda supported by the California Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program. In her research, Dr. Felner leverages expertise in community-based participatory research approaches, and qualitative and social epidemiological methods to elucidate and intervene on the socio-structural drivers of health inequities among communities of young people. Her research has focused on several local and national public health issues, including substance use among sexual and gender minority (SGM) young adults; barriers to LGBTQ-specific youth resource access among low-income youth of color; and homelessness and housing-related stigma among transitional-aged youth. Dr. Felner’s current research aims to identify structural drivers of adolescent tobacco use inequities at the intersection of SGM-status, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic position. Prior to beginning a research career, Dr. Felner worked in child advocacy and welfare in Atlanta, GA, where she developed, implemented, and evaluated community- and hospital-based child maltreatment prevention programs.
Hee-Jin Jun, Sc.D.
Investigator/Adjunct Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Hee-Jin Jun is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University. She is a social epidemiologist with 20 years of research experience focused on health disparities. Dr. Jun was an Instructor at Harvard Medical School/Brigham & Women’s Hospital in the Channing Division of Network Medicine. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham & Women’s Hospital where she received advanced training in health disparities research. Dr. Jun’s current research focuses on understanding psychological, physiological and behavioral impacts of stress and stigma. She is an investigator with the SDSU HealthLINK Center, which focuses on enhancing the capacity and improving the infrastructure at SDSU and its partner organizations to advance minority health and health disparities research among racially/ethnically diverse, sexual and gender minority, and lower-income populations using a community-engaged transdisciplinary research approach.
Susan Maria Kiene, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
- skiene@sdsu.edu
- Susan Kiene on PubMed
- Susan Kiene’s CV (google doc)
Biography
Dr. Susan Kiene is Professor of Global Health in the Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University. She is a social psychologist that received a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Kiene has focused her work on HIV prevention, maternal and child health, and how to best use mobile apps to improve health service delivery. Her work in HIV prevention has focused on improving risk reduction counseling during HIV testing and linkage to HIV care, alcohol and HIV risk, intimate partner violence, interventions to help ameliorate HIV-related stigma and reduce HIV-related prejudice and discrimination. Dr. Kiene’s research program in rural Uganda (the Salawo Collaboration) develops and tests sustainable community-based public health interventions implemented at individual, group, and community levels. While the bulk of her research is in Uganda, Dr. Kiene also works in South Africa.
Elizabeth (Liz) Reed, Sc.D.
Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Elizabeth Reed is Associate Professor of Global Health in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University and Adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Reed is a social epidemiologist who received a Sc.D. from the Harvard University School of Public Health. Dr. Reed’s research broadly focuses on the intersection of gender inequality, poverty, and health. She focuses her research specifically on the social and economic factors influencing gender-based violence and sexual/reproductive health outcomes, including HIV/STI as well as adolescent and unintended pregnancy. She uses the findings of her research to support the development of public health programming to promote economic opportunity, health, and safety. Her research is based in the US, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa.
Mary Robertson, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Mary Robertson is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Seattle University. Dr. Roberston is a sociologist who received a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Her areas of interest include the sociology of sexualities, sex and gender, and inequalities. She is interested in doing public sociology, which attempts to open a dialogue between the academy and the larger community in which it is situated. Her book, Growing Up Queer: Kids and the Remaking of LGBTQ Identity, published in 2019 explores the changing ways that young people are now becoming LGBT-identified in the US through interviews and three years of ethnographic research at an LGBTQ youth drop-in center.
Esther D. Rothblum, Ph.D.
Professor
Biography
Esther D. Rothblum, Ph.D. is Professor of Women’s Studies at San Diego State University and Visiting Distinguished Scholar at the Williams Institute at UCLA. She is founding editor of the Journal of Lesbian Studies and former president of Division 44 (Society for the Psychological Study of LGBT Issues) of the American Psychological Association. Her research focuses on LGBTQ mental health and relationships. Her longitudinal CUPPLES study has followed same-sex couples in legalized relationships compared with heterosexual married siblings. She has also studied queer-identified individuals, asexual individuals, butch/femme gender roles, and various aspects of LGBTQ mental health. She received her BA from Smith College, MS and Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Rutgers University, and post-doctoral fellowship in psycho-social epidemiology from Yale University.
Erik Storholm
Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Erik Storholm is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science in the School of Public Health at SDSU. Prior to joining SDSU, Dr. Storholm was Behavioral Scientist at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica where he maintains an adjunct appointment. He is also a combination prevention core scientist at UCLA’s Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS). Storholm’s research program focuses on reducing health disparities through behavioral and biomedical interventions that focus on improving mental health, reducing substance abuse, and preventing HIV/STI transmission among high-risk sexual and gender minority populations. Storholm has led several NIH-funded projects in the area of biobehavioral HIV prevention uptake and adherence.
Nhan Truong, PhD.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Biography
Dr. Nhan Truong is Senior Research Associate at GLSEN and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at San Diego State University. Dr. Truong is a social and personality psychologist who received a Ph.D. from the The City University of New York. His research interests involve social/personality psychological processes that contribute to disparities in mental health, substance use and abuse, and HIV sexual risk behaviors among racial/ethnic, sexual minority populations using intersectionality and minority stress perspectives.
Nicole VanKim, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Dr. Nicole VanKim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Dr. VanKim received a Ph.D. in Epidemiology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Dr. VanKim’s research focuses on understanding and addressing disparities in weight-related health, primarily among LGBTQ populations. Aspects of weight-related health Dr. VanKim studies include nutrition, physical activity, weight status, and type 2 diabetes.
Allison Vaughn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Biography
Dr. Allison Vaughn (she/her/hers) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at San Diego State University. She is a social health psychologist and her research focuses on social relationships, stigma, and health. She currently has two active lines of research: 1) social relationships and health of lesbian women and gay men and 2) stigma and associative stigma of a variety of disorders and conditions. Dr. Vaughn is also the Associate Director of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) at San Diego State University where she helps train graduate students in evidence-based pedagogical best practices and hybrid-flexible learning strategies.