Brenna Renn

Dr. Renn is a clinical geropsychologist and mental health services researcher. She is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at UNLV and the Director/Principal Invesigator of the TREATment Lab (Translational Research on Effectiveness and Accessibility of Treatment in Mental and Behavioral Health). Our team is passionate about overcoming obstacles that prevent effective behavioral health treatments from reaching underserved communities. We specialize in the behavioral health of older adults and work across adult populations broadly. Areas of clinical research tend to focus on common mental health conditions (depression and anxiety) as well as cooccurring disorder. Our work engages patients, providers, and community stakeholders to focus on:

• Translational research, which moves scientific discoveries more quickly into practice to produce meaningful, applicable results to directly benefit mental and behavioral health.

• Effectiveness research, which identifies which clinical and public health interventions work best for improving behavioral health. We focus on evidence-based interventions for depression and health promotion.

• Accessibility of treatment, in order to overcome barriers to care and improve the receipt and utilization of evidence-based interventions. We focus on improving access through primary care behavioral health integration and leveraging digital tools, like apps.

Our lab develops future scientist-practitioners through mentored training of doctoral students in clinical psychology, as well as select opportunities for undergraduate or post-baccalaureate research assistants.

Dr. Renn has over 45 peer-reviewed publications and has written 10 book chapters spanning topics in depression, geriatric mental health, mental health services, and other topics related to behavioral aspects of health. She collaborates with colleagues across UNLV as well as at the University of Washington and the Southern Nevada VA Medical Center.

Robert Renden

We study the mechanisms that permit rapid and sustained synaptic transmission in the mouse brain, predominantly using the calyx of Held as a model synapse. This giant glutamatergic synapse in the auditory brainstem has a number of experimental advantages that permit us to trace the fundamental mechanisms that underlie chemical neurotransmission. We apply a variety of genetic and viral transduction techniques to disrupt presynaptic function at the calyx through transgenic mouse models, and expression in neuronal populations using adeno-associated virus (AAV). We use whole cell electrophysiology to record activity from the presynaptic or postsynaptic compartments (and sometimes both!) We complement these recordings with the use of use organic and genetically-encoded probes for functional imaging of essential messengers (Ca2+ ATP, and others).

Jason Flatt

I have experience conducting research with diverse Sexual and Gender Minorities (SGM) or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual and another identity (LGBTQIA+) persons living with Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) and their caregivers. My research involving SGM older adults and caregivers has helped to enhance understanding of ADRD risk and disparities, long-term care and related healthcare needs, workforce challenges, and potential solutions. I am currently Co-PI (Anderson, Flatt, Wharton; NIA R24AG066599 ) on The RISE (Research Inclusion Supports Equity) Registry. This registry is the first effort to recruit, engage, and retain SGM older adults with ADRD and SGM ADRD caregivers. I am also lead PI of a new 5-year grant to develop more inclusive measures of caregiving for SGM older adults living with ADRD. I am also in the final year of my Career Award (NIA K01AG056669), “The Epidemiology of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias in Sexual and Gender Minority Older Adults: Identifying Risk and Protective Factors.” I also received the 2020 Early-Stage Investigator Award from the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Research Office for this research. My research research has also been funded by American Federation for Aging Research, the Alzheimer’s Association, and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Steve Frese

Dr. Frese’s research is centered on the human gut microbiome and its inhabitants. Our work at the University of Nevada, Reno examines how diet, food science, and biotechnology can be leveraged to meaningfully improve human health and nutrition.

Gabriela Buccini

Gabriela Buccini, Ph.D., MSc, IBCLC, is an Assistant Professor of Social and Behavioral Health. Trained in Epidemiology, Public Health Maternal Child Nutrition, and Implementation Science. She applies mixed-methods research guided through the lens of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS), Socioecological Model, and the Nurturing Care framework to investigate maternal and child health and nutrition, including breastfeeding & infant feeding, food insecurity, and early childhood development inequities. Dr. Buccini’s academic training is focused on epidemiology, mixed methods, and implementation science methods. Her research experience spans the fields of maternal-child health and nutrition focusing on vulnerable populations in low-income settings. She has an ongoing NIH/NICHD grant to understand the pathways for scaling up evidence-based early childhood and nutrition programs.

Chad Cross

Dr. Cross is trained as a multidisciplinary scientist. He received is PhD in Ecological Sciences (focus in Quantitative Ecology and Statistics) from Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia. He additionally holds several master’s degrees: Computational & Applied Mathematics/Statistics (Old Dominion University), Medical Entomology & Nematology (University of Florida), and Counseling (University of Nevada, Las Vegas). His undergraduate training was at Purdue University, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in biological sciences and the other in wildlife science. Dr. Cross has several active areas of research. These include: (1) Public Health: Investigations in population health related to chronic and infectious diseases, with special emphasis on quantitative methodology and use of large databases; (2) Epidemiology & Biostatistics: Applications of statistics and epidemiological principles to problems in the health sciences – for example clinical trials, multivariate models, and population sampling strategies; (3) Medical Entomology & Parasitology: Applied research and field work in arthropod-borne and parasitic diseases, including population-based estimation of disease burden and the intersection of medical entomology and forensic science; (4) Quantitative Ecology: Applications of statistics to problems in the environmental and ecological sciences – for example Bayesian models for estimating avian fatality around wind turbines and mark-recapture sampling; and (5) Psychometrics: Applications of statistics to problems in the psychological sciences – for example randomized controlled trials for interventions and pattern recognition for finding clusters of patients with shared pathology.

Manoj Sharma

Manoj Sharma, MBBS, Ph.D., MCHES® is a public health physician and educator with a medical degree from the University of Delhi and a doctorate in Preventive Medicine (Public Health) from The Ohio State University. He is also a Master Certified Health Education Specialist certified by the National Commission on Health Education Credentialing. He is currently a tenured Full Professor & Chair of the Social & Behavioral Health Department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in the School of Public Health. He is a prolific researcher and as of June 2023 had published 15 books, over 375 peer-reviewed research articles, and over 500 other publications (h-index 51, i-10 index over 200, and over 13,000 citations) and secured funding for over $10 million. He is ranked in the top one percentile of global scientists from 176 subfields by Elsevier.His research interests are in developing and evaluating theory-based health behavior change interventions, obesity prevention, stress-coping, community-based participatory research/evaluation, and integrative mind-body-spirit interventions.

Lazaro Perez

My work seeks to identify and understand the coupling between physical heterogeneity and biochemical processes that control environmental biogeochemical reactions, energy, and mass transfer processes in the environment. We design and implement multiscale laboratory experiments visualization and numerical modeling.
My research is highly collaborative and multidisciplinary that provides domain expertise in scale biogeochemistry, reactive transport processes, multiphase flow systems, lab-to-field-scale hydrogeology, and computational geochemistry.

Mohamed Trabia

Introduction
Dr. Mohamed Trabia is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering since 2000 at UNLV. His research interests include design and optimization of mechanical systems, characterization of material properties under dynamic loading, system identification and control of smart actuators. Dr. Trabia has been the author of more than 200 technical journal and conference papers. He was involved in multiple funded research projects. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Jingchun Chen

I am currently an associate professor at the Nevada Institute of Personalized Medicine (NIPM), UNLV, specializing in genetic studies of complex disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and psychiatric disorders. With a strong background in genetics, genomics, and molecular biology, I have accumulated extensive knowledge and experience in genetics and bioinformatics over the past 16 years. My research has focused on AD in recent years, resulting in AD-related grants (n=4), publications (n=3) (two as a corresponding author) (e.g., Citation #1), and presentations (n=8) at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC). I am a member of various AD-related groups and have built connections with a variety of NIA data resources.