People
Director
Barbara Stetson. Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Dr. Stetson received her B.A. and M.S. in psychology from San Diego State University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Medicine from Vanderbilt University, where she received her funding and conducted her doctoral dissertation at the Diabetes Research and Training Center. Her research focuses on health-related behavior change at the community, medical setting and individual levels. An emphasis is on psychological aspects of living with chronic disease, self-care behaviors, and promotion of functional status and quality of life. Of particular interest is diabetes self-care and education. A related research area is risk reduction and physical activity and functional status and well-being.. An associated area of work is the evaluation of evidence-based approaches to teaching community leaders and health care providers optimal strategies to promote environmental and behavioral change. She is actively involved in the Society of Behavioral Medicine and the American Association of Diabetes Educators.
Graduate Students
Jennifer (JB) Floyd, B.A.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
HBCL Lab Manager
e-mail:jb.floyd@louisville.edu
JB Floyd is a third year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. She received her B.S. with double majors in Psychology and Studio Art from Centre College. She is currently assisting with research projects related to assessment of psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes and theoretical and empirical approaches to understanding diabetes self-management behaviors. She has interests in barriers to the use of insulin by adults living with type 2 diabetes as well as in the area of mindfulness meditation and its impact on health. JB is also participating in a community-based study of diabetes risk perceptions and medical outreach in low income, African American men.
John Cooper, B.A.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
John is a first year doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. He has a B.A. in Psychology from St. Louis University, where he was actively involved with Psi Chi, service projects for underserved youth and was a campus radio station disc jockey . John’s interests include biopsychosocial aspects of eating behavior and physical activity. He is currently involved in a pilot study of a home-based physical activity intervention with older adults with diabetic peripheral neuropathy.
Whitney Rogers, M.A.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
e-mail: whitney.rogers@louisville.edu
Whitney Rogers is a doctoral student in the Clinical Psychology Program in the Department of psychological and Brain Sciences and is currently on leave. She is also concurrently pursuing her Masters of Public Health Degree in the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences. She received her B.A. in Biology from the University of Louisville. Whitney is involved with projects in the Division of Movement Disorders, Department of Neurology in the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Here interests include psychosocial aspects of living with diabetes, including the influence of social isolation on health behaviors and quality of life in older, medically underserved adults living with diabetes.
Joe Carhart, M.Ed.
Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, University of Louisville
e-mail: joseph.carhart@louisville.edu
Joe Carhart is a second year doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health. He received his M.Ed. in Counseling Psychology from the School of Education at the University of Louisville. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from Morehead State University. Prior to joining the Health Behavior Change Lab, Joe was a small business owner. He also worked as a mental health and substance abuse counselor. Joe joined the lab as a Project Coordinator for a prospective dissertation study examining the Health Action Process Model as a predictor of physical activity behavior before and after participation in diabetes self-management education. He is currently assisting with a research study examining the associations between anxiety, fear of hypoglycemia and exercise avoidance in adults with type 1 diabetes. Joe has interests in psychology and epidemiology and rural community health.
Undergraduate Students
Sean Spille
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
Sean is an undergraduate student with double majors in Psychology and Political Science. He has been a Resources for Academic Achievement (REACH) tutor since Fall, 2008 and is a Peer Supervisor for Supplemental Instruction and Learning Assistance (SI/LA) Leaders. Sean is also a member of Psi Chi, the Psychology Honors Society. He has interests in health psychology, gender identify, behavior and well-being, political theory and mindfulness. He is presently conducting his honor thesis on smoking and its relationship to health-related behaviors in adults living with diabetes.
Student Community Media Project:
Students in the Health Behavior Change Lab and Cafe Research Lab have collaborated on a video to promote diabetes awareness in at-risk men. The video was developed through their research as part of a course in Community Outreach and Health in Underserved Populations. See their video on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG36Tvh8F4Y
Former Doctoral Students:
Jason Bonner, Ph.D.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Louisville
Dr. Bonner is a postdoctoral fellow in the Hepatitis C Research & Clinical Training Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in 2010. His dissertation title was: Social-Cognitive Predictors of Physical Activity Initiation in Type 2 Diabetes following Diabetes Self-Management Education: Application of the Health Action Process Approach. He completed his psychology internship with a behavioral medicine emphasis at the Southern Arizona VAHealthcare System in Tucson, Arizona. His research interests include behavioral health and chronic illness management with special emphasis in the Type 2 Diabetes and chronic Hepatitis C infection populations. His current career trajectory is directed towards examining psychological factors that may influence health outcomes among patients with co-occurring Type 2 diabetes and liver disease.
Chelsea Rothschild, Ph.D.,
Dallas Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Dallas Texas
Dr. Rothschild completed a postdoctoral fellowship in geriatric psychology at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Dallas Texas. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville in 2010. Her dissertation title was: Emotional Distress as a key construct in The Personal Model of Diabetes Management: Associations of Fatigue, Diabetes-specific Distress, and Depressive Symptomatology with Self-Management and Quality of Life in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. She completed her clinical psychology internship with a specialization in behavioral medicine at the Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Dallas Texas. Her research interests include fatigue in chronic illness, depression and health-specific distress in diabetes and barriers to self-management in diabetes. Her clinical and research interests include cognitive and behavioral approaches to managing chronic disease in older adults and chronic mental illness and physical health risks.
Jeffrey Meyer, Ph.D.,
Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Columbia, South Carolina
Dr. Meyer is a Pain Psychologist at the Dorn Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center in Columbia, South Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville in 2008. His dissertation title was: Dissertation title: Integration of the Avoidance Cycle with the Schema Enmeshment Model of Pain to Explore Relationships between Chronic Pain, Disability, and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain Patients. He completed his clinical psychology internship at the Togus Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Togus Maine. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology with an emphasis in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. at the Togus VAMC. His research and interests include chronic pain, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and substance abuse and dependency.
Christi Ulmer, Ph.D.,
Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
Dr.
Ulmer is a Clinical Research Psychologist
in Health Services Research and Development at the Durham
Veteran Affairs
Medical Center
and Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke
University. She received
her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Louisville in 2006.
Her dissertation topic was - Mindfulness As A Moderator of Coping Response And
The Abstinence Violation Effect: A Test
Of The Role Of Mindfulness In The Relapse Prevention Model For Exercise. She completed her clinical psychology
internship at the VA Palo Alto Healthcare System in Palo Alto, California, and her postdoctoral
training in behavioral sleep medicine at the Durham Veteran’s Affairs
Medical Center
in Durham, North Carolina. Her current research focuses on the relationships between sleep and cardiovascular disease in Veterans with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. She also has interests in health behavior and chronic disease risk reduction, and mindfulness and its role in health.
Recent Undergraduate Students
Brennan Edgmon
HBCL Research Assistant 2009-2010, Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) Scholar, Summer, 2010.
SROP Project Title: Depressive symptomology stability rates for one year follow up in adults
with diabetes. Research interests: Health Psychology and coping with chronic disease,
computational psychology.
Kelty Richardson, B.A.
HBCL Research Assistant 2007-2010, Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP) Scholar, Summer, 2008, Honors Thesis Mentee¸2009-2010.
Thesis Title: Community and Network Social Support in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes
Interdisciplinary Collaborators
Sri Prakash Mokshagundam, M.D.,
Dvision of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine,University of Lousville
Joslin Center for Diabetes, Floyd Memorial Hospital
Dr. Mokshagundam is a Board Certified Endocrinologist with special clinical and research interests in diabetes. He is Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville, and Endocrinologist at the Joslin Center for Diabetes and Weight Manaagement Center at Floyd Memorial Hospital, in New Albany, Indiana. He conducts research related to complications of diabetes , obesity and abnormalities of insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity. He also provides clinical services at University of Louisville affiliated community-based clinics and at the Louisville Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
Sathya Krishnasamy, M.D.,
Dvision of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine,University of Lousville
Dr. Krishnasamy is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Louisville. She is board-certified in Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism and in Internal Medicine. She conducts patient research in diabetes, complications after bariatric surgery, and Vitamin D in the Metabolic Syndrome. She also provides clinical services at the University of Louisville Ambulatory Care Clinics and the Louisville Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
Department of Health & Sport Sciences, University of Louisville
Dr. Swank is an exercise physiologist and Professor of Health and Sports Sciences at the University of Louisville. She has interests in exercise training for individuals with chronic health conditions, including congestive heart failure, artritis and in pre-habilitation for total knee replacement surgery. She is recognized as a Fellow of the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation and of the American College of Sports Medicine.
