Faculty Spotlight

FACULTY RECOGNIZED BY THE CITY OF MIAMI FOR COVID-19 RESPONSE EFFORTS

The City of Miami recognized three Stempel College faculty for their expertise and tireless contributions to the city’s COVID-19 response efforts.

Dr. Mary Jo Trepka, chair and professor of Epidemiology; Zoran Bursac, chair and professor of Biostatistics; and Gabriel Odom, assistant professor of Biostatistics, have continuously worked with mayors and representatives from across South Florida since the start of the

pandemic, helping them translate complex data into clear messages to help communicate the state of the pandemic to their constituents and make policy decisions. The faculty have spent countless hours curating data, giving interviews to local and national media outlets, and writing reports on daily COVID-19 cases, testing, vaccinations, hospitalizations, and deaths.

From L to R, Gabriel Odom, Zoran Bursac, Mary Jo Trepka, Emir Veledar & Roy Williams

Michael Anastario

Assistant Professor Department of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention

Michael Anastario is a sociologist who draws on his research experience with ethnographic and quantitative methods to investigate how sequential phenomena concerning humanchemical interactions shape and reflect rural health disparities. Through a competitive multi-stage process, Anastario was selected as 1 of 14 junior faculty to participate in the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program, funded by The JPB Foundation and administered by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Anastario will receive funding, as well as mentoring, and training in proposal development, leadership, communications, and more.

Cristina Palacios

Chair and Professor Department of Dietetics and Nutrition

Cristina Palacios was elected as chair of the Department of Dietetics and Nutrition. Palacios has conducted several trials in adolescents and adults to determine the effects of dietary supplements and functional foods on bone and body composition. Her research is currently focused on studying the role of diet and physical activity on obesity and weight gain in infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant women. She has been funded by NIH, USDA, RCMI and RTRN, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. In addition, she is a consultant for the World Health Organization in Vitamin D and for the Pan-American Health

Organization in infant nutrition.

Diana Sheehan

Assistant Professor Department of Epidemiology

Diana Sheehan was awarded a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to improve ART adherence among adult Latino MSM with HIV using a sequential, multiple-assignment, randomized trial (SMART).

Melissa Ward

Assistant Professor Department of Epidemiology

Melissa Ward was awarded an $893,255 grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to lead a 5-year project to improve engagement in care and access to services for women

with opioid use disorder (OUD).

HONORING OUR DISTINGUISHED PROFESSORS

The rank of Distinguished University Professor is the highest recognition available to FIU professors. These Professors are the leaders of FIU and set the example for research, scholarship, creative activities, teaching, and service excellence. Congratulations to our faculty for receiving the Distinguished University Professor ranking at FIU!

Marianna K. Baum

Distinguished Professor Department of Dietetics and Nutrition

Marianna K. Baum is a highly recognized researcher nationally and internationally in HIV and metabolism. She created a new field of investigation on the nutritional needs of people infected with HIV, for which she was awarded numerous NIH grants. Later, she initiated a field of research on the nutritional needs of people who abuse drugs who had an increased likelihood of HIV and Hepatitis C infection. She has received close to $100 million in grants and authored hundreds of high-impact publications, book chapters and presentations. In 2020, Baum was asked to develop, establish, and run a High-Complexity laboratory that met and exceeded regulatory, scientific, and policy criteria to pass Federal Inspection from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for accreditation to accept human samples for diagnostic testing. This challenging task benefited the FIU community and was part of the larger effort to help the State of Florida effectively respond to COVID-19. She is an FIU Top Scholar, and has received numerous awards, including the 2022 Badass Woman of the Year award by the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

Mario De La Rosa

Distinguished Professor, School of Social Work Director, Center for Research on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA) Mario De La Rosa is an internationally known researcher who has published over 70 scholarly publications focusing on Latino substance abuse, substance use as a risk factor for HIV/AIDS, violence, delinquency, and crosscultural issues. He has served on numerous NIH scientific review committees and peerreview scientific editorial boards and is a past member of the NIMHD National Advisory Council. In 2022, De La Rosa was elected to the Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine of Florida (ASEMFL). He has won two awards for “Outstanding Research Contributions” at FIU. He is the recipient of the National Award of Excellence in Research by a Senior Investigator from the National Hispanic Science Network on Drug Abuse for his lifelong research efforts.

WITH COURTNEY WILSON

Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work

As a teenager, Courtney Wilson never imagined that he would graduate with a Ph.D. one day.

“School was probably one of the scariest things for me at that time,” Wilson recalls his high school years. He lived in New York City in a rented apartment with his single mother and two siblings. After their landlord passed away and due to a limited income, Wilson’s family was forced to split and find new places to call home. Being the youngest in the family, Wilson stayed with his mom and lived in a homeless shelter in uptown Manhattan. “I was starting high school, living in a shelter, and trying to make friends,” he said. “I had friends asking to come over to my house after school, and I’d say no, not today. There was a lot of anxiety around it.”

Experiences like these—although he didn’t know it at the time—would help shape Wilson into the man, educator, and researcher he is today.

Stempel College: Wilson, how did you end up working in social work?

Wilson: When I graduated from Syracuse University, I found difficulty finding a job that gave me purpose and paid enough. I worked as a case manager for about two years, and it was during that time I realized I wanted to do more in the mezzo and macro areas. My job at the time felt very limiting because there was only so much I could do for the people I was serving. That’s what pushed me to get my master’s in social work. So, I went to Touro College in New York City, and during that period, I went from want to get a better-paying career to wanting to make a significant change in people’s lives. It was during my master’s program that I began to focus on educational outcomes for minority populations, helping teenagers get on the right track and helping them figure out what they want to do post-high school.

Stempel College: What inspired you to work with this age group?

Wilson: I grew up in a family of four. I was the youngest and the first to go to college in my family. In high school, there was no direction whatsoever. It was challenging because I didn’t have anyone to say, hey, this is what to expect, or this is what you should study. I felt like if I had more direction when it came to

undergraduate study, I would’ve structured my goals a little bit differently.

Stempel College: What do you hope to bring to Miami and the community now that you are here?

Wilson: I’ve always focused on education, educational attainment, and building educational capacity for youth. In Miami-Dade County, I want to see more black and brown representation in higher education.

I want to be able to do that through my research as well. Additionally, I want to function as a mentor—as someone students can look up to and say, well, if you made it, I could make it. I want students to feel comfortable reaching out to me to discuss issues and barriers they may have that hinder success. I’d like to work with them to help them overcome those barriers and build capacity and resilience. Ideally, I want to help motivate and encourage students to push beyond the limits they’ve set for themselves and believe that graduate school or a Ph.D. program is achievable.