Dr. Corbett’s research activities focus on strategies to improve health outcomes for adults with chronic conditions. Her research involves both self-management and health system interventions. She is currently collecting preliminary data about the feasibility of using virtual home assistants to promote older adults’ abilities to manage chronic conditions and to age in place.

Dr. Dawson’s research focuses on communication processes in vulnerable and underserved populations, and how those processes may contribute to health disparities. Her research interests include rural health, childhood asthma, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, and healthcare for individuals with limited English proficiency.

Dr. Deupree’s research is primarily dedicated to the community-based-participatory research model with a focus on individual and organizational health literacy. Because of her collaboration in interprofessional/interdisciplinary research activities nationally and internationally, she is a sought-after nurse team member for research funded by NIH, CDC, private foundations, universities and government agencies at the state, national and international levels.

Dr. Lorie Donelle is the Emily Myrtle Smith Endowed Professor of Nursing within the College of Nursing at the University of South Carolina.  She is also Professor Emerita at Western University in the in Ontario, Canada and is an inaugural member of Fellows of the Canadian Academy of Nursing (FCAN). Dr. Donelle’s research addresses health promotion specific to issues of health & digital health literacy(s), social justice, and digital health.  Her research investigates technology enabled models of homecare and the relationships between health information technologies and client / clinician health practices. Dr. Donelle contributes to International and national advisory committees for health literacy and digital health. 

Dr. Donevant’s research includes mobile health apps for patients with chronic health conditions. She is currently an investigator on two funded research projects: Development and Usability Testing of STORY + App to Improve Treatment Adherence to Endocrine Therapy, and Healthcare Professionals’ Perception of mHealth Features that Promote Positive Patient Outcomes.

Dr. Jenerette’s program of research is aimed at enhancing self-care and family management in vulnerable populations such as individuals with sickle cell disease. Specifically, she uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to identify vulnerability factors in order to intervene by enhancing self-care and family management resources with the goal of improved health outcomes. Dr. Jenerette is currently developing SIPP©, a simulation in PhD Programs to enhance knowledge on social determinants of health and interprofessional education as a Macy Faculty Scholar.

Dr. Kazemi’s research program focuses on the development and use of innovative digital mheath interventions for the assessment, treatment and prevention of addictive behaviors among vulnerable populations such as adolescents, young adults, college students, military personnel, and underserved ethnic minority populations. She has led multiple funded interdisciplinary research projects to develop and test digital intervention modalities to address and prevent substance use disorders (SUD) among underserved populations.

Dr. Gayenell Magwood’s research focus includes community based participatory research and community engagement, cardiometabolic risk and prevention, cancer control and prevention, as well as health equity, health disparities, and biobehavioral research.

Dr. Mulkey’s research program focuses on strategies to improve cognitive outcomes for older adults who experience critical illness. Her research involves developing objective measures for early detection using EEG and strategies that prevent and minimize ICU associated cognitive impairment illness in older adults. Dr. Mulkey has presented her foundation and industry supported work nationally and internationally.

Dr. Raynor is an early career public health nurse scientist focusing on research, prevention, public advocacy, and health promotion initiatives for families affected by substance use disorders (SUD). Ultimately, improvements in the health of families affected by substance use come from being in long-term recovery. Her dissertation research was focused on the development of self-care interventions for parents recovering from SUD with a goal of improving their long-term recovery outcomes and the health outcomes of their children. She desires to continue this work in providing quality mental health services, as well as local, state and national advocacy through SAMHSA MFP initiatives, education and research on behalf of this vulnerable population at large. Dr. Raynor is currently working on using smart phone technology to improve parenting skills as well as substance use treatment outcomes in parents with opioid and alcohol addiction who have young children.

Dr. Sue-Ling’s research addresses cardiac risk predictors influencing early rehospitalization for management of acute heart failure among older adults with an emphasis on older women after an index heart failure hospitalization. Her ongoing research will focus on a derived model that identified relationships between patients’ hemodynamic, clinical, and social factors and early heart failure rehospitalization. Her research goals are to improve health outcomes and decrease early rehospitalization by addressing health disparities and co-morbid conditions, while empowering healthcare providers to optimize intervention and provide up-to-date standards of care.

Dr Abbas Tavakoli currently work as Professor with college of Nursing at the University of South Carolina. He has worked with office of research College of Nursing since 1992. He worked with Health Statistics at Raleigh (NC) from 1990 to 1992. His job entails teaching, involves with research, and using many statistical procedures. He has taught Statistics courses for undergraduate and graduate programs since 2004. He has served as a data manager, biostatistician, and research team member for seven previous NIH-funded R01 grants and many smaller grants that have required data management, display and analysis plans. He has assisted principal investigators to collect, manage, analyze, and present high quality data.  He has involved many research project and manuscript.

Dr. Vick is a Clinical Assistant Professor. Her research interests are related to improving self-management and health outcomes for patients with chronic conditions. She participated in the Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE) Georgia Cancer Center - Augusta University, and received a PRIDE-NHLBI Certificate in July 2018. Dr. Vick is specifically interested in promoting medication adherence among people with Sickle Cell Disease.

Dr. Kristen Weaver-Toedtman is an Assistant Professor. Her research investigates biopsychosocial influences on the brain-gut connection in individuals with chronic abdominal pain and other chronic conditions. She is interested in how the intersection of these factors influence health outcomes, and incorporates omics and other discovery methodologies in these research endeavors.  

Dr. Wright’s program of research involves therapeutic management of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the most common endocrinopathy among women. Her foci are behavioral health change, specifically for physical activity, and the biochemical effects of exercise among women with PCOS. Dr. Wright advocates for incorporating fitness assessment, physical activity as a vital sign, and physical activity prescriptions in clinical practice.

Dr. Jones is an Associate Professor. Her scholarship interests include care of older adults in the community setting, caring as a leadership competency, and caring in academia. She has contributed to research on information management during transitions of care, the future of home healthcare, and the use of virtual home assistants (VHA’s) to support the health and well-being of community dwelling older adults.

Owens’ research interests are health and cancer communications with diverse populations, technology for health promotion and informed decision making in aging adults, and smart and connected health. Owens serves as Co-PI on a Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation project which is testing the efficacy of a computer-based decision aid to promote shared lung cancer screening decisions. In addition, Owens is co-investigator on a Department of Defense funded study to explore the effects of prostate cancer treatment on long-term work ability.

Dr. Kimberly Taylor is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina’s College of Nursing. She served almost 30 years as a Registered Nurse advancing from staff nurse to Chief Nursing Officer in the United States Navy prior to joining the faculty at USC. Her research interests include patient and provider communication, patient experience and safety, emotional intelligence, and strategic communication.

Dr. Dezhi Wu is an associate professor at the Department of Integrated Information Technology, University of South Carolina. Her primary research interest focuses on human-computer interaction that applies to artificial intelligence, health IT/health informatics, cybersecurity, and cyberlearning domains. Her research explores the design, implementation, and evaluation of novel user interfaces and applications for transformative user experiences to bridge the gaps between users and today’s evolving smart technologies. She was the recipient of the global technology award “AIS Technology Challenge Award,” and she is the former Chair for AIS Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGHCI).

Dr. Sudha Xirasagar is a professor at the department of Health Services Policy and Management in the Arnold School of Public Health. Her research and teaching interests include: colorectal cancer screening and cancer prevention outcomes, colorectal cancer screening and treatment; stroke care and outcomes, racial disparities in care and outcomes, global health services research on health systems strengthening, costs, provider behavior, and clinical outcomes. Dr. Xirasagar has published nearly 100 research papers in leading peer-reviewed journals and received grants from federal, state and other institutions to support her research.

Professor O'Kane's research is in planning algorithms for robotics and autonomous systems. As robot technology becomes more practical, it becomes increasingly important to design robots that are suitable for domains that are unpredictable and inhospitable, while ensuring that the resulting systems are robust and inexpensive. Because sensing and uncertainty are central issues in robotics, it is essential to understand how to solve robotics problems when sensing is limited and uncertainty is great. Professor O'Kane's interests span sensor-based algorithmic robotics and related areas, including planning under uncertainty, artificial intelligence, computational geometry, sensor networks, and motion planning. Dr. O’Kane is currently developing a skill for the Amazon Alexa, Medbuddy, with the goal of improving medication adherence.