The College of Public Health and Health Professions is pleased to announce the PHHP Outstanding Alumni for 2019. They will be honored at a ceremony during the college’s alumni reunion on October 5.
Benjamin Anderson, Ph.D., M.P.H., C.P.H., master’s in public health ’12 and doctorate in One Health ’15, is an assistant professor of global health at Duke Kunshan University in China where he teaches and conducts global health research in emerging infectious diseases, zoonotic diseases and viral respiratory pathogens. His research projects focus on using novel surveillance and diagnostic techniques to better track and understand diseases in settings where new viruses are likely to emerge. A trained laboratorian, he is working with international partners to build research and laboratory capacity, including a partnership between Duke Kunshan University, the Global Health Initiative Indonesia, and the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia.
Taj Azarian, Ph.D., M.P.H., master’s in public health ’07 and doctorate in epidemiology ’15, is an assistant professor in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine. His research focuses on applying pathogen genomics to investigate the emergence and spread of bacterial infectious diseases, with specific interest in antibiotic-resistant pathogens that cause healthcare-associated infections. His goal is to understand the factors that contribute to pathogen success and to develop new genomic epidemiological methods to detect, monitor and combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.
Erin DeFries Bouldin, Ph.D., M.P.H., master’s in public health with a concentration in epidemiology ’06, is an assistant professor in the public health program at Appalachian State University and an analyst for the Alzheimer’s Disease and Healthy Aging Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She teaches epidemiology and biostatistics in the bachelor’s degree program in public health at Appalachian State, a Council on Education for Public Health-accredited program. Her research explores disability and healthy aging, including projects addressing physical disability, cognitive decline and the role of caregivers. Her research frequently focuses on people living in rural areas and veterans.
CariAnn German, P.T., D.P.T., doctorate in physical therapy ’13, spent the first five years of her practice at Advent Health (previously Florida Hospital) Orlando where she gained expertise in the treatment of patients in neurological intensive care, neurosurgical and neuromedical units. She is a Florida Physical Therapy Association certified clinical instructor. She served as the FPTA Early Professional Special Interest Group (EPSIG) chair from 2016 to 2018, and was awarded the APTA’s Florida Chapter Emerging Leader Award for the work she did to grow EPSIG membership and engagement. She recently relocated and now works for Tampa General Hospital where she treats neurological patients throughout the spectrum of care.
Consuelo Kreider, Ph.D., O.T.R./L., bachelor’s in occupational therapy ’89, is a research assistant professor in the UF department of occupational therapy. She completed her Ph.D. in rehabilitation science from UF in 2013. She has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health in her investigations of the development of skills, strategies and supports for fostering the social functioning of young people with learning, attention and autism disorders who are transitioning to adult roles and contexts. Supports developed through her research have been adopted by the University of Florida and have been recognized as an Institute of Education Sciences’ What Works Clearinghouse intervention for post-secondary educational settings.
Jing Liu, Ph.D., doctorate in biostatistics ’17, is a data scientist at Google. He works with big data sets and builds and prototypes analysis pipelines iteratively to provide insights at scale, advocating for changes where needed for product development. He also researches and develops analysis, forecasting and optimization methods to improve the quality of Google’s user-facing products.
Mark Lumley, Ph.D., doctorate in clinical psychology ’90, is a distinguished professor in the department of psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit, where he also directs the PhD program in clinical psychology. His 28-year research program is internationally recognized for understanding how emotional processes, such as the lack of emotional awareness, or alexithymia, are related to somatic symptoms. Along with students and colleagues, he has developed and tested various emotion-focused psychological interventions, such as written or spoken emotional disclosure and emotional awareness and expression therapy. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for many years and has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles.
Lonn McDowell, M.H.A., master’s in health administration ’02, is the vice chair and director of administration for the UF department of surgery. Prior to his current role, his experience included working as a director for a national health care consulting firm, serving as the chief operating officer of a large multispecialty practice, and as the chief executive officer of a cardiology practice. He is a fellow in both the American College of Healthcare Executives and the American College of Medical Practice Executives. He will be inducted as the 36th president of the Association of Academic Surgical Administrators this fall. He has been an adjunct instructor for the college’s M.H.A. program for over 14 years.
Donald Neumann, Ph.D., P.T., F.A.P.T.A., bachelor’s in physical therapy ’76, is a professor in the department of physical therapy at Marquette University. He has received multiple awards from the American Physical Therapy Association recognizing his teaching, writing, research and international service. He was named Teacher of the Year at Marquette University and, in 2006, was named Wisconsin’s College Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation. He is the author of Kinesiology: Foundations for Rehabilitation, published by Elsevier in 2017 and available in eight languages. He recently authored a chapter on the hip, published in the 41st edition of the British edition of Gray’s Anatomy.
Becky Piazza, O.T.D., M.S., O.T.R./L., B.C.P.R., bachelor’s in occupational therapy ’01, is the academic fieldwork coordinator at the University of St. Augustine and the occupational therapist for the UF Health Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases’ multidisciplinary concussion clinic. She previously served as the clinical coordinator for occupational therapy and recreational therapy at UF Health Shands Rehab Hospital from 2002 to 2019. She received the 2013 Florida Occupational Therapy Educational Consortium’s Outstanding Fieldwork Educator of the Year award, the 2014 Florida Occupational Therapy Association’s Award of Recognition, and was granted board certification in physical rehab through AOTA in 2016.
Jagadish Swamy, Au.D., doctorate in audiology ’02, is the president and a board certified audiologist at Clear Sound Audiology in Gainesville who has practiced audiology for more than 20 years. His area of expertise has been in the diagnosis of hearing loss, providing state-of-art hearing instrument technology to his patients, assistive listening devices, helping patients with their tinnitus and tinnitus management, hearing conservation and protection, and providing solutions to patients who are exposed to loud noise.