Community-engaged Research

Dr. Austin is a methodologist whose research focuses on the health of marginalized populations, including Veterans experiencing homelessness and LGBT-identified individuals living in the South. She has spent the last ten years focused on implementing best practices in public health education by creating innovative curricula and mentoring faculty. She is focused on strengthening the public health workforce in Southwest Virginia.

Dr. Calder’s work develops models of environmental systems to support decision-making under uncertainty. He is particularly interested in models that characterize health, ecological, and economic trade-offs of energy transitions and land use management. His work is heavily informed by engagement with public and expert stakeholders and the principles of scientific co-production. 

A transformative public health researcher and evaluator, Dr. Natalie E. Cook uses mixed methods and databraiding to connect diverse perspectives in addressing complex health and social challenges. Dr. Cook developed and directs a community-engaged perinatal equity and diasporic knowledge exchange project, Birth Equity Action & Research to Transform Health (BEARTH) Village. As Faculty Principal of a residential college, Dr. Cook leads a living-learning community that emphasizes whole health, whole student development, and residential well-being.

Dr. Deagle has a 30-year background in public health, community-engaged research, and teaching. She is a former Title V Maternal and Child Health Director for VDH. Her research areas are in improving teaching pedagogy for large classes and the intersection of public health research/academia with public health practice.

Dr. Eberth is an epidemiologist and health services researcher. She currently serves as Principal Investigator of the NIH-funded Community-Led Research Coordinating Center, which advances community-led intervention research and capacity building across the United States. She has also been a key contributor and leader in cancer coalitions and roundtables at both state and national levels, including as Vice Chair of the Provider Engagement and Outreach Task Group of the National Lung Cancer Roundtable.

Dr. Yuba Gautam's research interests focus on evidence-based health behavior change for disease prevention and leveraging technology in global health promotion. Currently, Dr. Gautam is developing water sampling drones to improve accessibility, safety, and efficiency in water sampling and monitoring for early disease detection and prevention, especially in low-resource settings.

Dr. Gohlke's work often relies on community-engaged approaches to discern environmental health priorities and design potential interventions.  Her work in Alabama engaged urban and rural residents and health departments to define strategies to reduce heat-related illness and her current work around flood-related health outcomes engages healthcare facility and school staff in flood-affected areas.  

Dr. Kathy Hosig has extensive experience in community-based participatory research and has developed and maintained collaborative partnerships at the local, state, and national levels for past and current federally funded community-based projects. These projects address issues including obesity, diabetes, mental health, and substance misuse prevention. Dr. Hosig leads a team of Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE) Area Specialized Agents for Community-engaged Health. This team provides technical assistance and support to local VCE Agents to advance VCE’s approach to meet community-identified health priorities.

Dr. Kristina Jiles has extensive experience in qualitative and community-based participatory research focused on evaluating community health initiatives related to diabetes, healthy eating, active living, substance use and vaccine education. She serves as the Extension leader for the Virginia Cooperative Extension (VCE)’s Balanced Living with Diabetes Program, where she provides statewide technical assistance and training for local VCE Agents and Extension professionals in other states addressing diabetes management as a priority public health need.

Dr. Lee conducts community-engaged research with a focus on ethical dimensions of public health practice. Her work spans local, state, and national engagement. She leads the ethics work in the NSF COMPASS Center at Virginia Tech, developing novel ways of eliciting and incorporating affected community voices and expertise into ethics of pandemic prediction research.

Dr. Lewis is collaborating with two colleagues to develop the Student Strength Questionnaire (SSQ), an instrument that measures mental strength in college students. Research began in 2021 with an initial qualitative study to identify how undergraduates navigate challenging life events. From the qualitative study, items were developed, and psychometric testing was conducted over a three-year period. The goal is that the SSQ will be used to measure the impact of health and well-being interventions in the college population.

Dr. Audrey Ruple’s research is grounded in partnerships with the public through large, participant-driven studies such as the Dog Aging Project. By engaging dog caregivers as collaborators in data collection and long-term follow-up, her work generates real-world evidence on health, aging, and disease. This approach strengthens scientific relevance, expands community participation in research, and accelerates translation to clinical and public health practice.

Dr. Wenzel conducts community-engaged research with a focus on rural and health-disparate populations.  She specializes in qualitative and applied participatory methods. Her practice-based research addresses a wide range of public health topics, including intimate partner violence, sexual and reproductive health, and substance use. She founded the New River Academic Health Department and serves as its director.