Profiles

Faculty Appointments

Pediatrics

Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences

Fellowship

Drug Dependence Epidemiology (2010 - 2013) - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Behavioral Oncology (2013 - 2015) - Moffitt Cancer Center

Graduate Education

Ph.D., 2010 - American University, Psychology (Behavior, Cognition & Neuroscience Track)

M.A., 2008 - American University, Psychology

Current Projects

Ongoing grant funding:

A Risk-Tailored Approach to Connecting Youth with Vaping Prevention and Cessation Resources 2021-2024
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
Role: Principal Investigator
Total funds: $450,000; Direct costs: $411,873; Indirect costs: $38,127
This grant addresses adolescent vaping concerns by developing, disseminating, and evaluating a risk-tiered decision tree and resource connection system to improve outcomes for vaping prevention and cessation for adolescents in the community.

Completed grant funding:

Smoking Cessation Self-Help for Dual Users of Tobacco Cigarettes and E-cigarettes 2015-2022
National Institute on Drug Abuse - R01DA037961
Role: Co-Investigator since April 2015, changed to Consultant Role in July 2015 due to new institutional affiliation
PI: Thomas Brandon, Ph.D.
Total funds: $3,581,119; Direct costs: $2,165,103; Indirect costs: $1,498,510
This project develops and tested a self-help intervention to assist dual users to quit tobacco smoking and e-cigarette use. My role in this project was in questionnaire development and analyses of mechanisms of change.

Effects of Nicotine Salt Aerosol on Cigarette Smokers 2019-2021
Center for the Study of Tobacco Products (CSTP, U54DA036105)
Pilot Grants Program Subaward No. FP00006477_SA007
Role: Principal Investigator
Total funds: $45,000; Direct costs: $30,000 Indirect costs: $15,000
This grant compared the effects of cigarette smoking, protonated nicotine (“salt”) aerosol, and unprotonated nicotine aerosol on nicotine delivery, nicotine craving, and other outcomes in cigarette smokers. Due to COVID-19, project was switched to online format assessing tobacco user attitudes regarding nicotine salts.

A Social Ecological Approach to Alternative Tobacco Education 2018-2021
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
PI: Kelli England, Ph.D.
Total funds: $450,000; Direct costs: $412,671; Indirect costs: $37,329
This grant uses a community-engaged research process to understand what information is currently being used in local community settings related to Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) education for teens, to what degree that information is evidence-based, and if the information being used for education is engaging and effective with teens.

Assessing the Impact of Smoke-free Public Housing on Smoking Behavior, Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Third-hand Smoke, Other Tobacco Use, and Smoking Related Disparities 2016-2019
Housing and Urban Development Healthy Homes Research Program
Role: Co-Principal Investigator
PI: Andrew Plunk, Ph.D.
Total funds: $502,592; Direct costs: $338,533; Indirect costs: $166,059
This grant examines smoking behaviors and environmental outcomes among public housing communities before and after mandated smoke-free public housing.

Marijuana Use and Marijuana Possession Arrests: Have Changes in Marijuana Policy affected Disparities between Blacks and Whites? 2018-2019
National Institute on Drug Abuse - NIDA R03DA046757
Role: Co-Investigator
PI: Andrew Plunk, Ph.D.
Total funds: $162,922; Direct costs: $110,318; Indirect costs: $52,604
This grant compares states that have implemented a marijuana policy to a “synthetic control” state constructed from outcomes and covariates from states without a policy to determine if legalization and decriminalization policies have led to reductions in adolescent arrests, if there are differences based on race or sex, and whether differences in marijuana use at the state level account for arrest disparities.

Adolescent Beliefs about E-cigarettes: Measure Development to Understand and Reduce Youth Initiation 2016-2018
Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth
Role: Principal Investigator
Total funds: $29,963 Direct costs
This grant expands on the NIH R03 (see below) to adapt and test a measure of beliefs about the effects of using e-cigarettes (“e-cigarette expectancies”) for adolescents.

Measure Development for Prediction of E-cigarette Initiation 2015-2018
National Cancer Institute - NCI R03CA195124
Role: Principal Investigator
Total funds: $166,378; Direct costs: $126,999; Indirect costs: $56,661
This grant received a perfect score (10) on its second submission and received a (delayed) funding offer from FDA/NCI from its first submission. This project used qualitative and quantitative methods to develop an expectancy measure for e-cigarettes. This involved focus groups among young adults, qualitative analysis using a constant comparative framework, input from an expert panel using the Delphi method, survey administration, and data analysis using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Item Response Theory.

Presentations and Scholarships

Full National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) bibliography