The College of Public Health and Health Professions recognized 11 graduates at the Outstanding Alumni Awards ceremony held during 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 focuses on using novel surveillance and diagnostic techniques to better track and understand diseases in settings where new viruses are likely to emerge. His current research and laboratory capacity building work includes 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 health care-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. 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, works for Tampa General Hospital where she treats neurological patients throughout the spectrum of care. She is also a lab assistant in Nova Southeastern University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program. She served as the Florida Physical Therapy Association Early Professional Special Interest Group (EPSIG) chair from 2016 to 2018, and attended the American Physical Therapy Association’s LAMP Institute for Leadership in Physical Therapy training program in 2017 and 2018. She was awarded the APTA’s Florida Chapter Emerging Leader Award for the work she did to grow EPSIG membership and engagement.
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 to develop 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 UF 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, where he also directs the Ph.D. 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. He has been funded by the National Institutes of Health for many years and has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles. He has mentored 39 doctoral students and received both local and national awards for excellence in mentoring.
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, he worked as a director for a national health care consulting firm, the chief operating officer of a large multispecialty practice, and 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 has participated in many committees of the Association of Academic Surgical Administrators, has held various appointments on the board of directors and will be inducted as the 36th president of the organization this fall.
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 for teaching, writing, research and international service. He was named Marquette University’s Teacher of the Year and 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. In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from the Lithuanian Sports University Academy, based on his impact on the growth of physiotherapy education in Lithuania.
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 specializes in adult inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and has been a practicing occupational therapist within adult physical dysfunction since graduating from UF. She received the 2013 Florida Occupational Therapy Educational Consortium’s Outstanding Fieldwork Educator of the Year award and the 2014 Florida Occupational Therapy Association’s Award of Recognition.
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. In addition to his UF Au.D. degree, he also studied audiology in India, earning a master’s degree in speech and hearing and a master’s degree in linguistics. His area of expertise is in the diagnosis of hearing loss, providing state-of-the-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.