Faculty and staff
Ronald Cohen, Ph.D., a professor in the department of clinical and health psychology, has been named a University of Florida Research Foundation Professor for 2019-2022. He is one of 32 UF scientists recognized for a distinguished record of research.
Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H., a professor in the UF department of epidemiology and associate dean for research, is the recipient of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence’s 2019 Mentorship Award for exemplary mentoring of fellow researchers in drug dependence.
Hui Hu, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UF department of epidemiology, received the 2019 Sandra A. Daugherty Award for Excellence in Cardiovascular Disease or Hypertension Epidemiology. The award recognizes excellence in research by a junior faculty member.
Melissa Naidu, an academic specialist in the department of clinical and health psychology, and Candice Vogtle, an administrative specialist for Stephanie Hanson, Ph.D., the college’s executive associate dean, were named the college’s Employees of the Year for 2018. They are also recipients of UF’s Superior Accomplishment Awards.
Susan Nittrouer, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the department of speech, language, and hearing sciences, along with colleagues at The Ohio State University, has been selected for the 2018 Editor’s Award, presented by the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. The award is given annually to the most impactful works that meet the highest quality standards in research design and presentation.
Thomas A. Pearson, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., a professor in the UF department of epidemiology and director of the M.D.-Ph.D. program, was awarded the 2019 Epidemiology and Prevention Mentoring Award from the American Heart Association’s Council on Epidemiology and Prevention.
Cindy Prins, Ph.D., M.P.H., assistant dean for educational affairs, director of the Master of Public Health program and a clinical associate professor of epidemiology, has been elected to serve on the national executive committee of the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health.
A paper authored by Peihua Qiu, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the UF department of biostatistics, was among 35 selected by the journal Technometrics for inclusion in a special 60th anniversary edition of the journal. The anniversary issue included classic articles that represent the most influential papers published over the journal’s six decades.
Kathryn Ross, Ph.D., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the department of clinical and health psychology, has received UF’s Excellence Award for Assistant Professors for 2019. The award is one of the university’s top honors for a junior faculty member.
Ronald Rozensky, Ph.D., a professor emeritus in the department of clinical and health psychology, has been named the 2019 recipient of the Raymond D. Fowler Award for Outstanding Contributions to the American Psychological Association.
The American Physical Therapy Association has selected four department of physical therapy faculty members for national awards. Meryl Alappattu, Ph.D., D.P.T., P.T., is the recipient of the Margaret L. Moore Award for Outstanding New Faculty Member. Jason Beneciuk, Ph.D., D.P.T., P.T., M.P.H., has been selected for the Chattanooga Research Award. Kim Dunleavy, Ph.D., P.T., OCS, FNAP, will receive the Societal Impact Award. Emily Fox, Ph.D., D.P.T., P.T., is the recipient of the Eugene Michels New Investigator Award.
Students
Mirna Amaya, a doctoral student in One Health, has received the Delores Auzenne Dissertation Award.
Kanika Bansal, a doctoral student in rehabilitation science, received the 2019 Academy of Neurologic Physical Therapy PT Post Professional Student Research Award.
Andrea Brockmann, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, won the Top Student Abstract Award from the Obesity and Eating Disorder Special Interest Group at the Society of Behavioral Medicine annual meeting.
Leslie Gaynor, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, received the Institute for Living in Retirement’s Robert Levitt Award for Student Research on Aging.
Andres Manrique, a master’s in public health student, was awarded the James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases RISE Fellowship. He will work at the CDC for three months to determine specific environmental risk factors that make individuals more susceptible to the rabies virus.
Elaheh Sajjadi, a doctoral student in rehabilitation science, received the best basic science award for the poster she presented at the 17th Annual Northeast Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Consortium meeting.
Rachel Zahigian, a doctoral student in biostatistics, was awarded the Biopharm-Deming Student Scholar Award from the American Statistical Association’s Biopharmaceutical Section and the Deming Conference on Applied Statistics.
