Faculty Areas of Research Interest

• Translational research aimed at elucidating the molecular, cellular and genetic mechanisms underlying chronic pain to identify new therapeutic targets

• Physical activity and function of older adults with dementia
• Mood and behavioral outcomes in long-term care
• Psychotropic medication use among older adults

• Sleep, sleepiness, fatigue and neurobehavioral performance related to work schedules in safety-sensitive industries
• Sleep and chronic disease outcomes

• Health disparities and cancer treatment/screening
• Measurement of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy
• Weight loss after breast cancer

• Organizational factors that influence quality of care and system performance
• Comparative effectiveness related to nursing care
• Health services research methods in using large administrative databases

• Workplace violence prevention intervention research
• Community-based participatory research
• Health and safety hazards associated with providing direct care in the home

• Assessment and management of pain in non-communicative palliative care patients across settings e.g., tertiary care hospital, hospice, long-term care
• Oral complications of cancer treatment, specifically acute oral pain and mucositis

• Use of technology-based health interventions for older adults and their caregivers

• Evidence-based interventions and related patient outcomes

• Neuropsychopharmacology of stress and substance use disorders
• Interrelationship between biobehavioral. e.g., impulsive personality traits, and environmental (e.g., chronic stress, childhood trauma) as vulnerability factors for substance abuse
• Use of PET/fMRI neuroimaging methods in psychiatric research

• Biopsychosocial and spiritual responses among informal caregivers and dependent older adults
• Integration of cultural competency into the research process
• Sampling rare population elements

• Influence of different ways of using health care technologies and health outcomes
• Use of childbirth technologies. e.g., electronic fetal monitoring, epidural anesthesia, oxytocin. Used in different combinations and times during labor and caesarian section birth

• Physiological mechanisms of therapeutic drug-induced neuropathic pain development and persistence. e.g., antiretroviral and chemotherapy drugs
• Physiological mechanisms of post spinal cord injury neuropathic pain

• Optimizing function and physical activity across all settings
• Facilitating resilience and helping older adults age successfully
• Motivating older adults to engage in healthy behaviors

• Breast cancer
• Quality of life of patients and family caregivers with serious illness
• Palliative care

• Use of aerobic and resistive exercise interventions to improve physical function and body composition in adults and children with chronic diseases

Storr, Carla

• Factors that might discriminate between differing levels or degrees of involvement with addictive behaviors or psychiatric disorders
• Psychiatric co-morbidity

• The effects of anxiety and depression on cardiovascular health
• Interventions to decrease psychological distress in patients with cardiac disease

• Work schedules and long work hours
• Nursing working conditions in relation to health. e.g., injury, sleep difficulties and patient care outcomes
• CNA training, supervision and turnover and resident outcomes
• Health promotion for healthcare workers

• Determinants of neuromuscular and cardiovascular performance.
• The molecular basis for heart and skeletal muscle dysfunction in chronic disease.

• Families of the critically ill
• Withdrawal of life-sustaining therapy
• Palliative and end-of-life care in the critical care setting