Our Team Directors Aliza Norwood, MD, FACPAssociate Professor of Internal Medicine & Population Health, Dell Medical School & Co-Director, Institute for Community Health ResearchAliza Norwood, MD, FACP, is a board-certified internal medicine specialist in UT Health Austin’s Primary Care Clinic. She specializes in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) care and prevention and LGBT health. Additionally, Dr. Norwood is an associate professor in both the Dell Medical School Department of Internal Medicine and the Dell Medical School Department of Population Health at The University of Texas at Austin. She also serves as the Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine for the Dell Medical School Department of Internal Medicine. A graduate of The University of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio, Norwood’s interests span HIV primary care, gender-affirming care, medical education, and health policy.Anton L.V. Avanceña, Ph.D.Assistant Professor of Health Outcomes, College of Pharmacy & Co-Director, Institute for Community Health ResearchAnton Avanceña, Ph.D., is a decision scientist and health policy researcher with expertise in mental and behavioral health, pediatrics, oncology, and infectious diseases. He conducts evaluations of treatments and interventions using real-world data analysis and simulation modeling. Anton’s main area of research involves understanding and addressing the health, economic, and social consequences of mental and behavioral conditions such as alcohol misuse, substance use disorders, depression, and PTSD. Anton is especially focused on evaluating the costs, benefits, cost-effectiveness, and equity impacts of new and existing treatments, pharmacotherapies, and population-level interventions through real-world data analysis, simulation modeling, and economic evaluation.See current and ongoing research. Affiliated Faculty Nazan Aksan, Ph.D.Senior Biostatistician, Biomedical Data Science Hub, Dell Medical SchoolNazan Aksan is a senior biostatistician in Dell Medical School’s Office of Research. The substantive focus of her training in developmental psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was on children’s development at multiple levels of analyses including emotion, behavior and cognition from infancy through school years with implications for mental health outcomes. This focus from functional outcomes early in life shifted to developmental declines associated with disease and healthy aging, exploring implications for mobility and higher-order cognition while at University of Iowa-Neurology. Lifespan developmental behavioral sciences coupled with a graduate minor in Statistics at UW-Madison gives her a deep appreciation of investigator questions around behavioral change in addition to quantitative skills to model and test ideas concerning change.Jessica Calderón-Mora, DrPHAssistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Population Health, Dell Medical School; Operational Director of the Cancer Prevention & Control Program, Livestrong Cancer InstitutesJessica Calderón-Mora, DrPH, earned her master’s and doctoral degrees from the UTHealth School of Public Health, focusing on health promotion and behavioral sciences with a particular emphasis on health disparities and cancer prevention within the Latinx community. Her research centers on health disparities and cancer prevention in the Latinx community, particularly in cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination. Calderón-Mora seeks to expand her work in HPV self-sampling and cervical cancer prevention among Latinx populations in Texas.See current and ongoing research.E. Ciszek, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Advertising & Public Relations, Moody College of CommunicationsDr. Ciszek’s is a leader in strategic communication on LGBTQ research and queer theories research. They are committed to advocacy and broader social change in public relations and strategic communication. Ciszek’s research engages in theoretically and empirically rigorous work with hard-to-reach populations and hard-to-study publics…publics that are historically marginalized, vulnerable and difficult to represent. Their work has received national and international recognition, with topical expertise in: Strategic Comms; PR; Prosocial Communication; Public Interest Communication; Advocacy/Activism; Health Communication; Historically marginalized & minority populations; Gender, race & sexuality research; Intersectionality; and Sexual & gender minority populations; as well as LGBTQ+ studies.Nessette A Falu, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, African and Africa Diaspora Studies, College of Liberal ArtsNessette Falu is an Assistant Professor of African and Africa Diaspora studies in the College of Liberal Arts at UT Austin. Her work examines the intersections of anti-Blackness, heteronormativity, medicine, trauma, resistance, and freedom. She seeks to expose and challenge hidden and silenced forms of power, focusing particularly on abuses within gynecology and medicine. Her past work in neurosurgery, internal medicine, HIV care, hematology/oncology, and pain management critically informs her research, collaborations, and design work.Josephine (Tres) Hinds, Ph.D.Assistant Professor of Health, Department of Psychological, Health and Learning Sciences, The University of Houston; Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Health Education, The University of Texas at AustinTres Hinds, Ph.D., uses mixed methods to identify and explain LGBTQ+ tobacco and substance use disparities. Tres received a BS from The U.S. Military Academy at West Point and a PhD in Health Behavior & Health Education from UT Austin, with specialized training in Tobacco Regulatory Science. Following a T32 postdoc focused on cardiovascular health equity, Tres received a K01 award focused on the intersection of tobacco use and multidimensional queer identity development. Over the long term, Dr. Hinds intends to develop identity- affirming initiatives and communications designed to reduce SM tobacco and other substance use disparities. Maria C. Monge, M.D., FACPAssociate Professor, Department of Pediatrics Courtesy Associate Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Department of Medical EducationMaria C. Monge, M.D., previously served as director of adolescent medicine at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas and as an adolescent physician at People’s Community Clinic in Austin and Lone Star Circle of Care. Monge is director of the adolescent medicine rotation for the Pediatrics Residency at Dell Medical School and is a member of both the UT Austin Pediatrics Resident Clinical Competency Committee and the Program Evaluation Committee.Jenny Spencer, Ph.D.Assistant Professor of Population Health, Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine Dell Medical SchoolJenny Spencer, Ph.D., employs econometric and decision science methods to improve health equity in cancer screening and prevention, including disparities in cervical, breast, and colorectal cancer. This includes projects in HPV vaccination and cervical cancer screening with NCI’s CISNET cervical collaborative, modeling approaches to improve colorectal cancer screening in Texas, and a K01 award to study breast and cervical cancer screening disparities for LGBQ+ women. Spencer earned her master’s and Ph.D. from UNC Chapel Hill and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Harvard School of Public Health.Mark Townsend, MDAssociate Chair of Education and Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral SciencesMark H. Townsend, MD, MS, is a board-certified psychiatrist in the UT Health Austin Adult Psychiatry Clinic. He specializes in treating patients with more than one psychiatric condition and is also board-certified in addiction medicine disorder. Dr. Townsend is professor in the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where he is also Associate Chair of Education. Prior to joining Dell Medical School, he was Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Tulane School of Medicine and Executive Vice Chair & George C Dunn Professor of Psychiatry at the LSUHSC School of Medicine New Orleans, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. He has been the principal or co-investigator in numerous psychopharmacology clinical trials in the treatment of anxiety, mood, and psychotic disorders.Julie Zuniga, PhD, RN, FAANAssociate Professor, Nursing Interim Director, Center for Global Nursing and HealthDr. Julie Zuniga is an associate professor whose research focuses on self-management of stigmatized illnesses alongside co-morbid conditions, particularly HIV and diabetes. She earned her doctorate in nursing from The University of Texas at Austin and completed her post-doctoral fellowship at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Staff Kyle MurphyAcademic Program CoordinatorKyle Murphy serves as program coordinator for the Institute for Community Health Research (ICHR), as well as the UT Public Health Coalition and the School of Human Ecology. He brings more than 20 years professional experience to the role, including ten in public health and public interest communications, with a particular focus in HIV. He has served as Communications Director for AIDS United, and Public Affairs & Outreach Director for the National Minority AIDS Council, both in Washington, DC. He also worked as senior associate at Corkery Group Unlimited, a full-service healthcare and global development communications consultancy based out of New York City. Kyle moved to Austin, TX in 2022 and has been working with the College of Natural Sciences since Nov. 2024. Collaborating Researchers Phillip SchnarrsAffiliate Faculty, Population HealthDell Medical School Phillip W. Schnarrs, Ph.D., is primary faculty in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Public Health but retains an affiliate faculty position in the Dell Medical School’s Department of Population Health. He is an applied health researcher and expert in LGBTQ+ populations, specializing in sexual health, mental health and substance use disorder. As an applied scientist engaged in community-based participatory research, Schnarrs engages the community as co-collaborators throughout the research process and develops meaningful programs to address the health of medically underserved populations and shift social policies.
