Judge Bios

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In this section, you will find bios and photos of each of the jury members, so you can get a sense of who they are and the perspective they will bring to the judging process.

Dr. Charles Beeker | Kinesiology

Dr. Charles Beeker is a Professor in the Department of Kinesiology. He serves as the Director of the Center for Underwater Science. Charles Beeker has directed numerous research and educational projects throughout the United States and the Caribbean, many of which have studied shipwrecks in an effort to preserve them as underwater museums. He has extensive knowledge and experience in research, education, and interpretation of underwater resources for the public. His research interests include scientific diver training, protection of underwater cultural and associated biological resources, shipwrecks as marine protected areas, and underwater archaeology.

Dr. Corey Kalbaugh | Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dr. Corey Kalbaugh is an epidemiologist and health services researcher with over 20 years of experience. He is an National Institutes of Health - and American Heart Associated - funded scientist with an extensive history of collaborative work in the health sciences. The animating objective of his current research is to provide clinicians with the best evidence to support the care of patients with peripheral artery disease. His work broadly aims to reduce racial disparities in peripheral artery disease-related treatment and outcomes.

Dr. Danny Valdez | Applied Health Science

Dr. Danny Valdez is a big data scientist, primarily leveraging social media data and computational informatics algorithms to study, visualize, and interpret applied health behaviors, including mental health markers from social media data, persuasive digital marketing, sexual health attitudes, and misinformation's effect on positive health outcomes..

Dr. Drew Capone | Environmental and Occupational Health

Dr. Drew Capone is an assistant professor and researcher within the deapartment of Environmental and Occupational Health. His research focuses on communities that are on the margins of society - in the US and internationally - where water and sanitation infrastructure is inadequate. He has broad interests in the field of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), environmental microbiology, microbial risk assessment, enteric pathogen fate and transport, and evaluating interventions to interrupt the transmission of infectious diseases.

Dr. Wura Jacobs | Applied Health Science

Dr. Wura Jacobs serves as an Assistant Professor within the department of Applied Health Science. Dr. Jacobs' research broadly aims to understand the cultural, biopsychosocial, environmental, and structural drivers of disparities in substance use and use consequences/health effects among adolescents and young adults. Specifically, her work focuses on examining: 1) substance use (e.g., nicotine/tobacco & cannabis products, non-prescribed drugs) risks and outcomes among vulnerable populations (e.g., adolescents and young adults, persons with mental health disorders, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants); and 2) disparities in polysubstance use, comorbidities, and consequences among youth and young adults. Her research interests are social and substance use epidemiology, youth/young adult health and risk behaviors, biopsychosocial and structural determinants of youth and young adult substance use, and disparities in polysubstance use and comorbidities (e.g., mental health).

Dr. Maria Parker | Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Dr. Maria Parker is an epidemiologist whose research interests lie in the field of drug use epidemiology, how drug use and drug use disorders disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, and opportunities for public health strategies. Her focus is on identifying characteristics associated with opioid use at the population level with attention to developing hypotheses that lead to more efficacious interventions or treatment.

Dr. Edlin Garcia | Health and Wellness Design

Dr. Edlin Garcia's research agenda focuses on the intersection of mental health literacy and help-seeking behaviors, with the goal of promoting mental well-being in the workplace. Through interdisciplinary approaches, the overarching goal is to develop effective interventions, tools, and resources to enhance mental health understanding and support within the workplace.

Dr. Misty Hawkins | Health and Wellness Design

Dr. Misty Hawkins is a clinical health psychologist and behavioral medicine researcher on a mission to understand the relationships between cognitive factors (e.g., executive function), emotional factors (e.g. depression), chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disease) and health behaviors (e.g., eating, exercise) -- as they exist in and are impacted by larger socioeconomic contexts. A few of her scholarly interests include: cardiometabolic health (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease), neurocognitive function & brain health, psychosocial stress and wellness, and increasing representation of diverse voices in science.

Dr. Paola Mattey-Mora | Psychiatric Epidemiology

Dr. Paola Mattey-Mora is a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatric epidemiology at Indiana University - Indianapolis, with a minor degree in Neuroscience. Her research focuses on risky behaviors and their association with the brain structural and functional abnormalities. Dr. Mattey-Mora currently is studying adolescent substance use and its association with the decision making and reward circuits, through the analysis of structural and functional neuroimaging, and advanced statistical techniques. She received her PhD in Epidemiology from SPH-B.