Address: UNM Health
Sciences Center
Department of Internal Medicine
MSC 10 5550, 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: 272-9598
Background & Expertise:
Melissa Gonzales
joined the Division in 2002. She was recruited from the EPA where she had
been a postdoctoral research fellow in the Epidemiology and Biomarkers
Division of the National Health and Environmental Effects Research
Laboratory, EPA Office of Research and Development. While at EPA she was
the co-PI of the El Paso Children’s Health Study, and senior staff to the
US-chair of the US-Mexico Border 21 Environmental Health Workgroup.
She received her Ph.D. in environmental health at the University of
California, Berkeley School of Public Health, and prior to that she earned a
Masters degree in toxicology/industrial hygiene at the University of
Arizona, College of Pharmacy.
Carla Herman, MD
Associate Professor
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HERE for Publications
Address: UNM Health
Sciences Center
Department of Internal Medicine
MSC 10 5550, 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: 272-6082
Background & Expertise: Carla Herman serves a Chief of the Division of Geriatrics as well as a member of the Division of Epidemiology. She earned her MD at the University of Minnesota and then completed her internal medicine and geriatric fellowship at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. After completing post-doctoral training at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a career development award (KO7) focusing on increasing mammography screening in rural African American women in eastern North Carolina, she joined the University of New Mexico in 1994.
Research Interests & Activity: Dr. Herman has focused her interests on cancer control and chronic disease prevention in women. She has been funded for projects on breast and cervical cancer screening, complementary medicine use in patients with arthritis, minority women's attitudes toward menopause and hysterectomy, cardiovascular disease and diabetes prevention in urban American Indian women. She also serves on the Community-Level Health Promotion Study section at NIH.
Sue Y.S. Kimm, MD, MPH, SM
Research Professor
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HERE for Publications
Address: UNM Health Sciences Center
Department of Internal Medicine
MSC 10 5550, 1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Phone: 272-0412
Janice L. Thompson, PhD
Professor of Public Health Nutrition
Research Assistant Professor (UNM Adjunct)
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HERE for Publications
Address:
Department of Exercise, Nutrition and Health
Sciences, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol,
BS8 1TP, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 117 331 1119
Background & Expertise: Janice Thompson previously served as Research Assistant Professor and Director of the Office of Native American Diabetes Programs in the Division of Epidemiology. She earned her PhD in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition at Arizona State University and then completed her post-doctoral fellowship in the Division of Endocrinology, Gerontology, and Metabolism at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. After working as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, she joined the University of New Mexico in 1998.
Research Interests & Activity: Dr. Thompson's current major research interest is working with high-risk populations in community-based settings to develop culturally-tailored interventions to reduce obesity, physical inactivity, and the subsequent risks for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She has authored numerous peer-reviewed research publications, and is the author of four textbooks focusing on nutrition or sports nutrition. She also has served as a reviewer for the NIH and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).Debra Waters, PhD
Background & Expertise: Debra Waters completed her PhD in Exercise Physiology at the University of New Mexico in 1993. She worked in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico in the divisions of Endocrinology and Metabolism, and then, Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. She was the Co-director of the Aging and Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit from 2000-2005 and was awarded the Glenn Peake General Clinical Research Center award for outstanding clinical research in 2001-2002. In June 2005, she relocated to the University of Otago Division of Sciences in Dunedin, New Zealand.
Research Interests & Activity: Dr. Waters is the Co-director of the Life in New Zealand (LINZ) Applied Research Unit, and lecturers in Clinical Exercise Prescription at the University of Otago. She has a broad interest in public health research, with a particular focus on the loss of skeletal muscle mass and function during aging. Currently she is involved with three projects at the University of Otago: 1) A randomized controlled trials of Tai Chi as a falls prevention intervention in the elderly. This is a multicentered trial in collaboration with Auckland University of Technology, Christchurch School of Medicine and the University of Otago School of Physiotherapy. In a separately funded study, she is obtaining DXA body composition data on the Tai Chi participants to investigate the influence of body composition on falls and gait disturbances. She recently completed a pilot study investigating the impact of Aqua Aerobics on gait, balance and strength in a healthy elderly cohort and has several student projects centered on gait, balance and function in aging. She is a member of the Australia/New Zealand Falls Prevention Society and New Zealand Association of Gerontology. She continues her collaborations with faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine and the MIND Institute at the University of New Mexico.
