Faculty Active in Research

The publication record for Department of Family Medicine and Community Health faculty is consistently strong. Between 2005 and 2006, our faculty produced 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and were awarded over $8 million in external research funds.

Faculty who are active in research and their research interests:

Sharon Allen, MD, PhD
Smoking cessation in women and adolescents; predoctoral education.

Macaran Baird, MD, MS
Integrating mental and behavioral health into primary care, family therapy and chronic illness, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, family involvement in health care.

Jerica Berge, PhD
Families with health issues, resiliency of children with chronic illnesses, chronic illness and psychosocial stressors, reducing health disparities through community engagement and participatory action research, reducing childhood obesity in primary care settings, reducing high-risk behaviors in at-risk youth, and clinical effectiveness of couples therapy/family therapy in reducing biopsychosocial problems.

Carole Bland, PhD
Faculty and administrator development and productivity; higher education organization, personnel approaches, and governance; educational design and evaluation.

Walter Bockting, PhD
Gender identity development; transgender health; sexuality and the Internet; HIV prevention.

Joseph Brocato, PhD
Faculty research productivity, faculty development, graduate medical education curriculum and evaluation.

Eli Coleman, PhD
Compulsive sexual behavior disorder; sexual orientation; psychological and pharmacological treatment of a variety of sexual disorders including the paraphilas.

Kathleen Culhane-Pera, MD, MA
Hmong cultural and health care issues; multi-cultural competence and education. Hmong multi-cultural care issues; and health cultural education.

Dwenda Gjerdingen, MD, MS
Postpartum depression, other aspects of postpartum health, and women’s health.

Robert Johnson, MD
Sports medicine.

Patrick Keenan, MD
Rapid HIV testing.

Diane Madlon-Kay, MD, MS
Newborn jaundice, maternal child health, preventive medicine.

Teresa McCarthy, MD, MS
Geriatrics education for primary care providers; geriatric depression; community based initiatives; preventive care in geriatrics.

Tai Mendenhall, PhD
Community engagement; collaborative family health care; diabetes and psychosocial stressors; provider self-care.

Michael Miner, PhD
Sexual abuse; sexual offenders; evaluation of HIV prevention programs; psychological factors in medical care and illness.

Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH
Smoking cessation in ethnic minorities and underserved populations; pharmacokinetics of nicotine metabolism and pharmacotherapy; neuroimaging of nicotine dependence.

Jim Pacala, MD, MS
Medical student education; geriatrics.

Kevin Peterson, MD, MPH
Primary care research-based networks; diabetes management.

William Roberts, MD, MS
Ice hockey injury; marathon injury; exertional heat stroke

Beatrice Robinson, PhD
Evaluation of HIV/STD-related programming for women, especially women of color; Hmong community-based organizations; transgender populations; female sexuality especially among African American women; the therapeutic uses of sexually explicit materials.

Jamie Santilli, MD
Women's health.

David Satin, MD
Bioethics, ethics of pay for performance.

Steven Stovitz, MD
Community based sports medicine; obesity; increasing physical activity in inactive people.

Carolyn Torkelson, MD, MS
Complementary/alternative medicine, women’s health, nutrition, probiotics

Michelle Van Ryn, PhD
Characteristics of formal and informal social relationships as they influence the quality and success of health interventions, health behaviors, and health outcomes; provider behavior; race/ethnicity disparities in treatments received; quality of cancer care.

Mark Yeazel, MD, MPH
Cancer etiology and prevention; community and clinic initiatives; medical education.

Therese Zink, MD, MPH
Family violence; sexual assault; training medical students to be competent in rural primary care.