2023–28 Health Psychology editorial team

John M. Ruizopens in new window, PhD
Professor, Director DEI, Department of Psychology
University of Arizona

Pronouns: He/him/his/el
Primary areas: Stress, health equity, Latinx health, cardiovascular disease, psychophysiology

Brief bio: Ruiz earned a PhD in clinical health psychology from the University of Utah and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He identifies as a first-generation Latino scholar. His program of research focuses on psychosocial and sociocultural influences on health with an emphasis on Hispanic/Latinx health. He serves in multiple local, national, and international positions including as a founding member and President of the Behavioral Medicine Research Council and federal appointment to the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

Linda C. Galloopens in new window, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
San Diego State University

Pronouns: She, her, hers
Primary areas: Social determinants of health, sociocultural factors, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, Latinx health, healthcare system interventions, behavioral interventions

Brief bio: Gallo earned her PhD in clinical health psychology from the University of Utah and completed postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular behavioral medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. She is co-director of the San Diego State University South Bay Latino Research Center, which is dedicated to understanding social determinants and sociocultural influences in cardiometabolic health, and developing, evaluating, and implementing culturally appropriate interventions to improve health, among Hispanic/Latino/Latinx communities.

Frank J. Penedoopens in new window, PhD
Professor, Department of Psychology
University of Miami

Pronouns: He, him, his
Primary areas: psychosocial, sociocultural influences, cancer, Latinx health, translational research, healthcare and community interventions

Brief bio: Penedo earned his PhD in clinical health psychology from the University of Miami and completed postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. He is a professor in the Department of Psychology and associate director for Cancer Survivorship and Translational Behavioral Sciences in the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami. Penedo’s work evaluates the role of sociocultural, biobehavioral, and psychosocial mechanisms underlying disease activity and health outcomes, and the efficacy of evidence-based psychosocial interventions in promoting optimal chronic disease management and health outcomes in cancer.

Carmela Alcántaraopens in new window, PhD
Associate Professor, School of Social Work
Columbia University

Pronouns: She/her/hers
Primary areas: Social determinants of health, sleep, behavioral medicine, health disparities

Brief bio: Alcántara earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. She completed her clinical internship at Bellevue Hospital Center at New York University Langone Medical Center, and a postdoctoral fellowship as a W.K. Kellogg Health Scholar at the Harvard T.C. Chan School of Public Health. Alcántara has dedicated her career to the study of social determinants of health with a specific focus on cardiovascular-related health outcomes and behaviors such as sleep. She also conducts community-based intervention research to enhance existing evidence-based behavioral interventions for health disparity populations, particularly Latinx adults. Alcántara identifies as an Afro-Latina, first-generation, cis-gender immigrant woman who is passionate about health equity.

Christopher R. Franceopens in new window, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology
Ohio University

Pronouns: He/him/his
Primary areas: Pain, blood donor motivation, health interventions

Brief bio: Chris France obtained his PhD in clinical psychology from McGill University in 1991. He is a distinguished professor of clinical health psychology at Ohio University, and his primary research interests include biopsychosocial influences on experimental and clinical pain and interventions to enhance recruitment and retention of voluntary blood and organ donors.

Lori A Francisopens in new window, PhD
Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health
Penn State University

Pronouns: She, her, hers
Primary areas of expertise: Pediatric obesity, parenting, eating behavior, executive function, stress regulation

Brief bio: Francis earned her PhD in human development and family studies from Penn State University. She is a developmental health scientist with expertise in the influence of individual, family and household factors on the development of obesity in youth. Her research examines biobehavioral underpinnings of childhood obesity risk and resilience, with an emphasis on the ways in which individual differences in self-regulation or executive function moderate risk for obesity. Francis has a particular interest in understanding these relations in children and families experiencing poverty.

Paige A. Greenopens in new window, PhD, MPH, FABMR
National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute

Pronouns: She/her/hers/ella
Primary areas: Behavioral, biobehavioral, and psychological science mechanisms and their translational relevance for cancer prevention and control

Brief bio: Green earned a PhD in clinical psychology with an emphasis in behavioral medicine and psychophysiology from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, clinical internship at Brown University, and postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Howard University Cancer Center. She completed an MPH from Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. Green is a past-president of the American Psychosomatic Society and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research and currently serves as Chief of the Basic Biobehavioral and Psychological Sciences Branch in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences at NCI.

Aric A. Pratheropens in new window, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Interim Director, UCSF Center for Health and Community
University of California, San Francisco

Pronouns: He/him/his
Primary areas: Sleep, stress, social determinants of health, psychoneuroimmunology

Brief bio: Prather, earned his PhD in clinical and biological and health psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, clinical internship at Duke University Medical Center, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of California, San Francisco/UC Berkeley. His work focuses broadly on the causes and consequences of insufficient sleep with particular emphasis on how sleep, or lack thereof, affects the immune system. Prather carries out basic and translational research, including the development and testing of interventions to improve sleep and psychological well-being.

Eli Putermanopens in new window, PhD
Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair Tier 2 in Physical Activity and Health
School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education
The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people

Pronouns: He/him/his
Primary areas: Psychological/biological aspects of physical activity, physical activity clinical trials, large cohort studies.

Brief bio: Puterman completed his PhD at the University of British Columbia in the Department of Psychology and postdoctoral training at the University of California San Francisco in the Department of Psychiatry and Center for Health and Community. He self-identifies as a member of the queer community and as a first generation Canadian. Puterman has been the Canada Research Chair in Physical Activity since 2015 and his work seeks to understand the interplay among stress, aging, and exercise.

Bert N. Uchinoopens in new window, PhD
Professor, Health Psychology Program
Department of Psychology
University of Utah

Pronouns: He/him/his
Primary areas: Stress, relationships as related to psychophysiology and psychoneuroimmunology

Brief bio: Uchino earned his PhD in social psychology as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in psychoneuroimmunology at the Ohio State University. Uchino identifies as first generation Asian American scholar from Hawaii. His main research focuses on the autonomic, neuroendocrine, and immune mechanisms linking social relationships and stress to health with an emphasis on aging.

Anna C. Whittakeropens in new window, PhD
Professor of Behavioural Medicine
University of Stirling, UK

Pronouns: She/her/hers
Primary areas: Physical activity, psychoneuroimmunology; cardiovascular psychophysiology of stress; healthy ageing

Brief bio: Whittaker is a professor in behavioural medicine, a health psychologist, and fellow of the British Psychological Society working at the University of Stirling in the areas of physical activity and health, behavioural medicine, psychoneuroimmunology, and cardiovascular psychophysiology. Her physical activity research takes an inter-disciplinary mixed methods approach and she is a strong promoter of collaboration across disciplines. She identifies as White, British female with a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Anna E. Eppersonopens in new window, PhD
University of California, Merced

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Primary areas: Health disparities; sociocultural factors; community interventions; Indigenous health; vaccines; tobacco

Brief bio: Epperson earned her PhD in health psychology from the University of California Merced and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Stanford University. Her research focuses on racial/ethnic disparities in health behavior, exploring how social and cultural factors impact health, particularly in Indigenous communities. Epperson’s work includes the development and implementation of health behavior interventions [e.g., increasing vaccination uptake], projects that are active collaborations with impacted communities. She identifies as an Indigenous female (enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma).

Caroline Cummingsopens in new window, PhD
Texas Tech University

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Primary areas: Physical activity; overweight; obesity; Type 1 diabetes; adolescents; and ecological momentary assessment

Brief bio: Cummings earned her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Nevada, Reno. She completed her clinical internship at Oregon Health & Science University. Cummings has dedicated her career to the study of emotion and self-regulation, and their relations to health and health behaviors in adolescents and young adults with chronic/complex illnesses (e.g., overweight/obesity, type 1 diabetes, pain). She also integrates a bioecological approach to her work, including consideration of how various culture-specific factors may influence health and behavior. Cummings identifies as a Black woman who is passionate about promoting health equity in all aspects of the research process, and has a passion for mentoring and supporting emerging clinical scientists from diverse backgrounds.

Diana A. Chirinosopens in new window, PhD
Northwestern University

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Primary areas: cardiovascular disease; depression; sleep disturbances; minority health

Bio: Chirinos earned her PhD in clinical health psychology from the University of Miami. She completed her clinical internship at Rush University Medical Center, and her postdoctoral work in psychoneuroimmunology and sleep medicine at Rice University and Northwestern University, respectively. Her work focuses on understanding the role of demographic and psychosocial factors as determinants of the cardiovascular health. Specifically, she is interested in (1) characterizing the cardiovascular risk profile of vulnerable populations, such as ethnic minority adults or bereaved individuals; and (2) elucidating the biobehavioral pathways underlying the relationship between chronic stressors and cardiovascular disease outcomes. Her long-term goal is to design well-informed targeted interventions to reduce the burden of chronic stress and cardiovascular disease among vulnerable populations.

Giselle K. Perezopens in new window, PhD
Harvard University

Pronouns: She/her/hers/ella

Primary areas: cancer survivorship; adolescent and young adult (AYA) survivorship; stress; intervention development

Brief bio: Perez completed her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Connecticut and her pre- and postdoctoral fellowship at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School (HMS). She is an assistant professor at HMS as well as a staff psychologist and associate director of the AYA program at MGH. Perez’s research focuses on developing and implementing behavioral and mind-body interventions to improve coping, adjustment, resilience and overall outcomes in patients throughout the cancer spectrum. Her work examines the physical, psychosocial, and biobehavioral effects of stress and stress interventions. Perez identifies as a first-generation Latina who is committed to cancer survivorship, AYA health and health equity research.

Marcia Tanopens in new window, PhD, MPH
The University of Chicago

Pronouns: She/her/hers

Primary areas: tobacco cessation; obesity; health disparities; cancer prevention and control; community-engaged research

Brief bio: Tan earned a PhD in clinical health psychology from the University of Miami and an MPH in epidemiology from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. She completed postdoctoral fellowship as an NCI T32 fellow in Cancer Prevention and Control at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her work focuses on health disparities in modifiable cancer risk factors, including tobacco use and obesity, and cancer prevention among underserved populations. Specifically, she examines biopsychosocial and behavioral factors that contribute to disparities in cancer, and conducts community-based health behavior interventions to reduce risk factors among disparity populations. Tan identifies as a Black woman.

Melissa Floresopens in new window, PhD
University of Arizona

Pronouns: she/her

Primary Areas: Latina/o/x health; social capital; social network analysis; advanced latent methods; advanced longitudinal methods; developmental theory

Brief bio: Melissa Flores, PhD, is a postdoctoral scholar in The Department of Psychology at The University of Arizona. Flores has been awarded an NIH K99 Maximizing Opportunities for Scientific and Academic Independent Careers (MOSAIC) training grant to improve cardiovascular disease prediction in U.S. Latinx/Hispanic populations. Broadly, she aims to understand both social and structural factors associated with the persistence of health disparities using a resilience-focused lens. Flores is interested in novel and advanced quantitative methods to capture and model complex social environments. She identifies as Chicana and/or Latina and is enthusiastic and committed to strengthening the academic pipeline for diverse scholars.

Michael V. Stantonopens in new window, PhD
California State University, East Bay

Pronouns: he/him/his

Primary areas: obesity; stress; health disparities; mental illness; mindfulness

Brief bio: Stanton earned his PhD in clinical psychology with a focus in Behavioral Medicine from Duke University.

He completed a clinical internship at the VA Palo Alto, and a postdoctoral fellowship in Behavioral Medicine at the VA Palo Alto & Stanford University School of Medicine. He identifies as Afro-Latino, and he is passionate about health equity. His research examines biobehavioral correlates of stress, obesity risk, and resilience, with a focus on mindfulness as an intervention.