Institute for Collaboration on Health, Intervention, and Policy (InCHIP)

M3EWB Talk @ InCHIP Lecture Series

Laura Kubzansky, MPH, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Topic: Social and Psychological Influences on Physical Health and Aging

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Dr. Laura Kubzansky is Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Director of the Society and Health Laboratory at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She also serves as co-Director of the JPB Environmental Health Fellowship Program and is a sitting faculty member at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Dr. Kubzansky received her Ph.D. (social psychology) from the University of Michigan, and completed a two year postdoctoral fellowship in social epidemiology as well as obtained her M.P.H. at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Kubzansky has published extensively on the role of psychological and social factors in health, with a particular focus on the effects of stress and emotion on heart disease. She also conducts research on whether stress, emotion and other psychological factors help to explain the relationship between social status and health. Other research projects and interests include a) studying the biological mechanisms linking emotions, social relationships, and health; b) relationships between early childhood environments, resilience, and healthy aging, and; c) how interactions between psychosocial stress and environmental exposures (e.g., lead, air pollution) may influence health.

In Recognition of Heart Health Month

Kenneth E. Freedland, Ph.D., Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Topic: Cardiovascular Disease and Depression
February 27, 2025 | 12:30 PM | WebEx

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Dr. Freedland is a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Most of his research has focused on depression in patients with heart failure or coronary heart disease. He has also conducted studies of other psychiatric comorbidities, behavioral problems such as poor self-care, and social determinants of health in patients with heart failure. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on both single-site and multicenter trials of interventions for depression in cardiac patients and has served on clinical trial review committees for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). He also has expertise in behavioral trial methodology. Dr. Freedland is the founder of the Society of Behavioral Medicine’s Cardiovascular Disease Special Interest Group and of the Behavioral Medicine Research Council, and a fellow of multiple organizations including the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. He was the Program Director of the annual NIH Summer Institute on Randomized Behavioral Clinical Trials from 2020 to 2024. He has been a member of the Summer Institute faculty since 2007 and the faculty of the NIH-funded ORBIT Institute on Developing Behavioral Treatments to Improve Health since 2022. He has also served as an Associate Editor of Psychosomatic Medicine and Editor-in-Chief of Health Psychology.

Overview:

The InCHIP NIH Grant Writing Boot Camp provides UConn faculty and students interested in writing an NIH grant (R-, K-, or F-series) with an introduction to the NIH grant writing process through a one-day, in person workshop followed by an optional intensive mentored training program.

• One-day in person workshop provides an introduction to the NIH and core strategies for building a successful NIH grant application. The workshop will be delivered by highly accomplished NIH-funded PIs.
  
  
• Post-workshop optional mentored training program will be delivered virtually, in small groups over several months and led by NIH-funded PIs. The post-workshop training is intended for individuals actively writing an NIH grant. The training will provide participants with ongoing structure, accountability, and iterative feedback on their proposals throughout the grant writing process.

Details and Registration

Christina H. Fuller, Sc.D., University of Georgia
Topic: Air quality, Environmental Health, and Justice
March 13, 2025 | 12:30 PM | WebEx

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Christina H. Fuller is an Associate Professor in the University of Georgia College of Engineering. She earned master’s and doctoral degrees in environmental health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from Northwestern University. Dr. Fuller conducts research on environmental health and justice. She has expertise in exposure science and epidemiology, which she uses to investigate air pollution exposure, pollution reduction strategies, health disparities and social-environmental interactions.

In Recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Kristin M. Anders, Ph.D., Kansas State University
Topic: Violence in Sexual and Romantic Relationships
April 3, 2025 | 12:30 PM | WebEx

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Dr. Ander’s research program focuses on sexual and relationship development in adolescence and emerging adulthood. Specifically, much of her work focuses on emerging adult sexual identity development, the use of violence in sexual and romantic relationships, and understanding how cultural or social norms affect identity development during adolescence. She uses this research to better inform and strengthen sexual and relationship education in high schools and colleges, along with promoting public scholarship in non-academic communities. Kristin currently serves as the Society for the Study of Emerging Adulthood (SSEA) Communications Chair and Sexuality Topic Network Emerging Scholar co-chair. Further, Kristin also serves as the Co-Director of Communications and Marketing for Relevate, a multidisciplinary project dedicated to increasing public scholarship of academic research to communities. Kristin currently co-leads the RUSH-21 Team with Dr. Yelland, along with co-leading the SHARE Team and being involved in the HAARRT Lab with Dr. Toews.