Verlin Joseph, PhD, Assistant Professor

College of Population Health

- Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Develop Measures of Shame for Substance Use Related Outcomes

Dr. Verlin Joseph is an Assistant Professor in the College of Population Health at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. He received his PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Florida and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center on Alcohol, Substance use, And Addictions (CASAA) at UNM. His research explores the intersection of shame, substance use, and criminal legal outcomes. In this talk, Dr. Joseph will describe quantitative and qualitative approaches to measuring shame in substance use disorder (SUD) settings. He emphasizes the role of measurement invariance and qualitative insights in creating valid, generalizable tools to inform stigma-reducing interventions.

Kimberly Page, PhD, Distinguished Professor

Department of Internal Medicine; Annemarie Madaras, MA, LPCC; Christina Phillips, MA

- The NIDA Southwest Clinical Trial Node: Connecting Research and Practice

The Southwest Clinical Trial Node (SWCTN) at the University of New Mexico, first funded in 2019, is part of a national clinical trials network of 15 other sites funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).  The mission is to conduct research across prevention, treatment, recovery, and public health; to advance science on drug use and addiction; and to apply knowledge to improve health. This year SWCTN successfully applied for ongoing funding through 2032! NIDA’s goals for the network include fostering collaborations between academic centers and community provider, advancing substance use treatment and prevention, conducting large multi-site trials and research, and promoting evidence-based care for all communities. Dr. Kimberly Page is Co-Principal Investigator (PI) of the SWCTN and is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. She trained in epidemiology and biostatistics and has been doing research in infectious diseases and substance use for 30 years. Her Co-PI is Adela Grando, PhD, a health informaticist at Arizona State University. Dr. Page will describe the overall structure of the SWCTN and how protocols get done! The Node is also led and managed by Annemarie Madaras and Christina Phillips.  They will describe how the day-to-day activities work: the teams that are part of a trial and how we manage these large protocols. Learn how to get involved, including submitting proposals, working on trials, accessing CTN data, and more! 

Zoom Link: https://hsc-unm.zoom.us/j/93116182996
Password: Innovation

Babetta (Babs) L. Marrone, PhD

Senior Scientist and Fellow, Bioscience Division, Microbial and Biome Sciences Group (B-IOME), Los Alamos National Laboratory

- Advanced Biomanufacturing: A Pillar of the National Bioeconomy

Babs Marrone is a Scientist, Laboratory Fellow, and AAAS Fellow in the Microbial and Biome Sciences group (Bioscience Division) at Los Alamos National Laboratory. She received a B.A. from Hampshire College, a Ph.D. from Rutgers University, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Wisconsin. Her research career has spanned biotechnology for biomedicine, bioforensics, biosecurity, and bioenergy applications. Her current research is focused on advanced biomanufacturing of biofuels and bioproducts. She is specifically interested in applying AI/ML tools to optimize biomanufacturing processes and to accelerate innovative biological solutions to address health and environmental challenges, climate resilience, and national security needs.

Patrick S. G. Chain, PhD

Senior Scientist and Fellow, Bioscience Division, Genomics and Bioanalytics Group (B-GEN), Los Alamos National Laboratory

- Microbial Genomics at LANL

Dr. Chain has served as the Microbial Genomics group leader at LLNL (2000-2009) and has been responsible for several different teams at the Joint Genome Institute (2000-2013), before coming to LANL (2009-present) to develop a microbiome science portfolio as well as to spearhead the bioinformatics and genomic data analytics teams in the Biosciences Division at LANL. He leads several projects at LANL exploring soil microbial ecology, pathogen genomics and evolution, and the application of bioinformatics and machine learning in biology. His interests span the universe of microbes, from viruses and bacteria to fungi, as well as the interactions amongst themselves and with their hosts.

Rebecca Girardet, MD

Professor, Department of Pediatrics

- Measuring Child Maltreatment and Cultural Protective Factors to Inform Prevention

Rebecca Girardet is a Professor in the UNM Department of Pediatrics Section for Child Safety and Well-Being at the University of New Mexico, where she serves as Program Director for the Child Abuse Pediatrics fellowship training program and as a convener of the Child Health Grand Challenge. She has conducted research and authored peer-reviewed articles on several maltreatment topics, including STI diagnostic methods, HIV prophylaxis, the epidemiology of child maltreatment, and unmet healthcare needs. As convener for the UNM Child Health Grand Challenge Team, she oversees multiple research projects on child maltreatment prevention.

Yujian Lu, PhD Candidate

Department of Geography and Environmental Studies

- Do We Care Enough about Child Maltreatment? Analyzing Public Perceptions of Child Maltreatment in the United States Using Social Media Big Data

Yujian Lu is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of New Mexico. His research focuses on GIScience, social media data analysis, and American housing segregation. Through his work, he seeks to leverage both traditional and social media data to explore human behavior and urban development problems from a geographical lens. His dissertation examines the enduring effects of historical redlining practices on contemporary society in the United States."

Steven Bradfute, PhD

Associate Professor, Internal Medicine

- Biology, therapeutics, and vaccines for emerging RNA viral pathogens

Steven Bradfute, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in the Department of Internal Medicine. Dr. Bradfute received his Ph.D. in Immunology from Baylor College of Medicine and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), where he studied immune responses to hemorrhagic fever viruses. Dr. Bradfute started his lab in 2013 and his research focuses on immunity, therapeutics, host-pathogen interactions, and vaccine development for emerging and re-emerging RNA viral pathogens that cause human disease, including hantaviruses, arenaviruses, filoviruses, and alphaviruses.

José Cerrato, PhD

Professor and Regents' Lecturer, Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering

- Extraction of Critical Minerals and Communities: What is the Balance?

José Cerrato, PhD, is a Professor and Regents’ Lecturer in the UNM School of Engineering. He is also the director of the UNM METALS Superfund Research Center and UNM Climate and Health allied Network for Geospatial and Environmental Science (CHANGES) Center. His presentation will focus the extraction of critical minerals and impacts on communities. Critical minerals are essential to sustain the growing needs of our society. Extraction of critical minerals is necessary for various technologies ranging from energy to electronics. However, extraction may also result in the release of elevated concentrations of toxic metals into water and soil. This represents a concern for the health of communities. Uranium mining legacy in tribal lands in the Southwestern US has resulted in numerous sites with elevated concentrations of uranium, arsenic, and other metal mixtures. The challenges for extraction of critical minerals in ways that benefit communities and minimize negative impacts will be discussed.

Cory Windorff, PhD 

Assistant Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry, New Mexico State University

– Building Radiochemical Capabilities and Understanding Unusual Elements

Cory Windorff is an Assistant Professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at NMSU. Prof. Windorff completed his PhD at the University of California-Irvine, which included a one year internship at Los Alamos National Lab. Cory undertook postdoctoral studies at Florida State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology before joining the faculty at NMSU in August 2020. Cory's research focuses on the synthesis and reactivity of f-element compounds with a focus on bonding and electronic structure. The f-elements (the actinides and the rare earths) play a critical role in clean energy generation, defense applications, medicine, and more.

Christopher A. Baker, PhD

Associate Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry, New Mexico State University

– Measuring Molecular Size from Attomole Samples

Chris Baker is an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at New Mexico State University. Dr. Baker earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry in 2012 from Florida State University, and was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona (2012 – 2014) and Sandia National Labs, Livermore (2015). He was an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee (2015 – 2020) before moving to NMSU in 2020. The Baker Bioanalysis Lab applies expertise in separation science and microfluidics to develop technologies that enable challenging measurements in biochemistry and chemical neuroscience. Recent efforts have focused on the integration of capillary electrophoresis with Taylor dispersion analysis to achieve biomolecular size determinations from nL samples at nM concentrations. The lab also develops technologies for ex vivo brain tissue culture, working towards a brain-on-chip model applicable to neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Alison Kell, PhD,

Assistant Professor, Molecular Genetics & Microbiology

– Investigating innate immune signaling in hantavirus infections

Alison Kell is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the School of Medicine at UNM. Dr. Kell completed her PhD and postdoctoral training at the University of Washington before joining UNM in January 2020. Her research focuses on understanding the virus-host molecular interactions that drive severe disease and asymptomatic persistence of hantaviruses in human or rodent reservoir hosts, respectively. Applying a comparative immunology, genomics, and proteomics approach, her lab aims to identify critical interactions during hantavirus infections that lead to fatal immune activation in human hantavirus patients.

Rob Miller, PhD

Distinguished Professor, Biology

– The human immune system is remarkably generic and boring

Rob Miller is a Distinguished Professor of Biology who has been at the University of New Mexico since 1994.  He is a founding member and current Director of the Center for Evolutionary & Theoretical Immunology at UNM.  In addition, Rob has served as a Program Director and, more recently, the Deputy Division Director of the Division of Integrative Organismal Biology in the Directorate for Biological Science at the U.S. National Science Foundation.  Rob is an immunologist interested in evolution of the vertebrate adaptive immune system.  He has worked with a wide variety of species including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals, with particular focus on the marsupials, monotremes and squamate reptiles.  Most recently his research has focused on unconventional T cell receptors and novel T cell subsets found in species other than humans and mice, and the evolution of antibody genetics and structure.

Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD

Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Director, Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D), Director, Faculty Research Development, UNM Health Sciences – Center for Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease (CHEK-D): Enhancing Equity Across the Kidney Care Continuum

– Enhancing Equity Across the Kidney Care Continuum

Gabriel Pacyniak, JD

Professor, UNM School of Law

– Supporting Communities in a just Transition to a Low Carbon Economy