Research Interests
Community-engaged research; Youth physical activity, fitness, obesity, mental health and wellbeing; Public and active transportation; Promoting access to health; Park-based programs; School-based programs; Epidemiology education; Multilevel modeling techniques; Analysis of complex longitudinal datasets; Fitness surveillance.
Selected Grants
Supporting Safe and Effective GLP-1 Prescribing in Pediatric Primary Care
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2025 - 2028Parks & Pediatrics Fit Together: Translating knowledge into action for child obesity treatment in partnership with Parks and Recreation
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development · 2020 - 2026Addressing disparities to improve childhood obesity treatment
ResearchCo-Mentor · Awarded by American Heart Association · 2022 - 2026You and Me Healthy: Testing Protocol
ResearchCo-Principal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2022 - 2025RADx-UP CDCC
ResearchCo Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2020 - 2025Fellowships, Gifts, and Supported Research
i-Cubed Innovation Center: Prematch360 ·
2025
- 2026
MPI ·
Awarded by: Duke Clinical Research Institute
A pre-screening incubator solution that overcomes clinical trial recruitment challenges through community engagement to minimize screen failure, reduce loss to follow up, and accelerate trial timelines.
Platform Accelerating Rural Access to Distributed & InteGrated Medical care (PARADIGM) ·
November 2024
- October 2029
MPI ·
Awarded by: THE ADVANCED RESEARCH PROJECTS AGENCY FOR HEALTH (ARPA-H)
· $26,000,000.00
To deliver hospital-level care via a multi-purpose Care Delivery Platform that is as convenient as telehealth, will pioneer new developments in point-of-care diagnostics, ensure seamless data exchange between medical devices and Electronic Health Records, offer real-time guidance for medical tasks, and deploy large-scale healthcare systems, particularly in rural and resource-limited settings.
North Carolina Community Schools Coalition (NCCSC) ·
2024
- 2029
Co-I ·
Awarded by: US Department of Education
· $50,000,000.00
This initiative aims to improve the academic, mental, and physical health of North Carolina students by supporting schools to serve as hubs of community resources, with students and families as leaders positioned to influence the systems around them.
You & Me Healthy: Youth Empowerment Self Care Study ·
2023
- 2024
PI ·
Awarded by: Duke Clinical Research Institute
· $121,000.00
Youth Empowerment Self Care aims to identify approaches to enable youth access to community-based anxiety and mental wellness resources in underserved populations.
Going Places: A Park-Based Active Transportation Tool to Increase Youth Recreation Access and health equity ·
2020
- 2026
PI ·
Awarded by: Duke Clinical Research Institute; Duke Global Health Institute
· $23,000.00
A multilevel transportation self-efficacy intervention that aims to increase underserved youth physical activity and cardiometabolic health in partnership with Durham Parks and Recreation (Durham, NC).
Youth Engagement in Sports ·
2019
- 2021
PI ·
Awarded by: CPIMP191183-01-00, US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health
· $198,902.00
This school-based intervention aims to promote youth engagement in sports among under-resourced minority girls. The study will use case-crossover design to examine the effects of school-based physical activity programming over one semester compared with the standard physical education curriculum
Youth Development Award ·
2018
- 2023
PI ·
Awarded by: RFP 2018-02 Youth Development, The Children’s Trust, Miami-Dade County, FL
· $1,822,170.00
This program provides at-risk adolescents, ages 15-17 years, with a park-based violence prevention and resilience promotion paid internship program, mentorship, and emotion regulation/problem solving/communication/life skills workshops daily afterschool. The study is examining the longitudinal effects of the program on individual youth mental health and resilience, and community impacts on perceptions of neighborhood safety and juvenile crime.
Fit2Lead Youth Enrichment and Sports Program ·
2016
PI ·
Awarded by: Miami-Dade County, FL
· $3,000,000.00
This ongoing program provides at-risk adolescents, ages 12-15 years, with a violence prevention and resilience promotion free afterschool program at local community parks. Youth are provided with daily academic support, sports and recreation, mentorship, and emotion regulation/problem solving/ communication/life skills workshops daily afterschool. The study is examining the longitudinal effects of the program on individual youth mental health and resilience, and community impacts on perceptions of neighborhood safety and juvenile crime.
External Relationships
- Mary Ann Liebert Publishing
- Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department
- Syra Health
This faculty member (or a member of their immediate family) has reported outside activities with the companies, institutions, or organizations listed above. This information is available to institutional leadership and, when appropriate, management plans are in place to address potential conflicts of interest.