Core Directors
Carolyn Pickering, PhD, RN
Institute Director
Administrative Core Director
Dr. Pickering is the Isla Carroll Turner Chair of Gerontological Nursing and a professor in the Department of Research at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. With a PhD in nursing science focused on geriatric care, Dr. Pickering is a leading expert in elder abuse prevention, dementia symptom management, and family caregiving.
Since her first NIH-funded project as an undergraduate student, she has successfully secured more than $15 million in grant funding, which has supported her extensive research portfolio that includes more than 50 peer-reviewed articles published in prominent journals. She is experienced working with and leading multidisciplinary teams, including collaborations with criminal justice, psychology, informatics, and molecular biology. Dr. Pickering has a successful track record of mentoring early-career researchers who have gone on to receive R01 funding.
Her work not only contributes to academic knowledge but also impacts real-world practices and policies aimed at improving the quality of life for older adults. She actively participates in national and international conferences, has been invited to speak at prestigious events such as the Royal Queen of Sweden’s dementia care summit, and serves on several advisory boards that shape health and community services for older adults. Dr. Pickering serves regularly on grant review committees including the NIH CSR clinical management in general care settings study section, the Association for Community Living, the Department of Justice, and the Alzheimer’s Association.
View her profile page and learn more about her funded projects.
Brad Cannell, PhD, MPH
Research Informatics Core Director
Dr. Cannell is a tenured associate professor, epidemiologist, gerontologist, and data scientist jointly appointed to the McGovern Medical School, School of Public Health, and Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. Dr. Cannell’s program of research has focused on the preservation of physical and cognitive function, living and aging with disability, and understanding and preventing elder mistreatment. Additionally, he has a strong background and training in epidemiologic methods and predictive analytics.
Dr. Cannell has published more than 40 peer-reviewed journal articles, two textbook chapters, and one textbook. He has secured more than $24 million in grant funding for research and been principal or co-investigator on multiple trials and observational studies in community and health care settings. He has taught eight different courses at three universities and given numerous presentations and trainings. He is fluent in all major statistical programming languages.
A major feature of Dr. Cannell’s research success is his ability to negotiate access to novel sources of data representing social, behavioral, and environmental health of older adults.
See Dr. Cannell’s faculty profile.
Consuelo Walss-Bass, PhD
Biobehavioral Health Research Core Director
Dr. Walss-Bass received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico, Mexico, as well as a Master of Science in chemistry and Doctor of Philosophy in biochemistry from The University of Texas at San Antonio, where she trained as a postdoctoral fellow. She is a professor with tenure, the John S. Dunn Distinguished Chair, and the director of the Psychiatric Genetics Program and the UTHealth Houston Brain Collection in the Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School.
The central focus of the Walss-Bass laboratory is to identify the biological causes of severe mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and substance use disorders. The Walss-Bass lab utilizes multi-omic approaches in human models to investigate how changes in DNA sequence in combination with epigenetic modifications lead to development of mental health disorders. One key area of investigation focuses on understanding the role that the environment plays in development of mental illnesses. We know that stress – either social stress or biological stress due to infections or illness – plays an important role in regulating immune system activation, and this can have serious consequences in individuals who have a genetic predisposition to develop psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Walss-Bass established the UTHealth Brain Collection to help study brain disorders. In addition, she focuses on development of human induced-pluripotent stem cells and subsequent differentiation into brain cells to obtain virtual brain biopsies of individuals with mental illnesses.
See Dr. Walss-Bass’ faculty page.
Daphne C. Hernandez, PhD, MSEd, FAAHB
Vulnerable Populations Research Core Director
Dr. Hernandez is the Lee and Joseph Jamail Distinguished Professor and an associate professor with tenure at Cizik School of Nursing at UTHealth Houston. She has secured multiple federal and foundation grants totaling $11.8 million. She has extensive experience studying health disparities resulting from poverty-related issues, as demonstrated by prior and current NIH funding and an established publication record that includes more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts.
As a first-generation college graduate and a bilingual daughter of Latino immigrant parents, Dr. Hernandez’s background provides her the opportunity to quickly connect with low-resourced families. Her bicultural background and achievement in funding has provided her the opportunity to build expertise in designing, recruiting, retaining, and collecting data from low-income, race/ethnic minority, and socio-economically disadvantaged adults. Through this work, she has gained a greater understanding of data collection methods that reduce participant burden and contribute to rich data and stellar retention rates. Dr. Hernandez also has experience conducting mixed methods research studies, where she has used focus group discussions and photo elicitation interviews to inform survey research. She has over 20 years of experience working with large longitudinal public health data sets (e.g., NHIS, NHANES). This work has been published in top-tier journals and resulted in awards from professional organizations.
Dr. Hernandez has a strong track record of mentoring under-represented undergraduate students and early career scholars. In addition, she is serving as a mentor on K23- and F31-funded projects. Mentees have gone on to graduate/medical school and work in the health profession fields or academia. Many continue to work with under-resourced communities. Her mentoring efforts have been recognized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Academy of Health Behavior, and the National Council on Family Relations.
See Dr. Hernandez’s faculty profile and research page.
Currently recruiting
Clinical Innovation and Translational Nursing Science Core Director
Internal Advisory Committee
Sandra Hanneman, PhD, RN
Jerold B. Katz Distinguished Professorship for Nursing Research
Cizik School of Nursing
Ron Acierno, PhD
Professor and Vice Chair of Veteran Affairs
Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School
Executive Director of the UTHealth Houston Trauma and Resilience Center
Xiaoqian Jiang, PhD
Associate Professor
Center Director of Secure Artificial intelligence For Healthcare
McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics
Bijal Balasubramanian, PhD, MBBS
Professor and Regional Dean
The Rockwell Distinguished Chair in Society and Health UTHealth School of Public Health in Dallas
Kimberly Alleman, MSN, RN
Chief Nursing Officer
UT Physicians
External Advisory Committee
Hudson Santos, PhD, RN, FABMR, FAAN
Dean
School of Nursing and Health Studies at the University of Miami
Allison Vorderstrasse, DNSc, RN, FAAN
Dean
Elaine Marieb College of Nursing at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Maria Yefimova, PhD, RN
Lead nurse scientist
University of California-San Francisco Health System