VITAL SIGNS
VITAL SIGNS
SONHS Research Update
Associate Dean Hired New post to amplify diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging
News from Dr. Hudson Santos, Associate Dean for Research
Images: Courtesy of Dr. Santos
Prevention scientist Tatiana Perrino, Psy.D., was hired effective March 1 as the inaugural Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (AD-DEIB) and professor of clinical at the School of Nursing and Health Studies. Dr. Perrino joins SONHS from the Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences, where she was a professor on the educator track. As AD-DEIB, Dr. Perrino will collaborate with the SONHS community to envision, conceptualize, and promote an environment that embraces a broad and inclusive de nition of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging, as well as one that highly values the many racial, ethnic, gender, and cultural differences found within the SONHS community. Additionally, she will provide guidance and direction for understanding historical and current nondiscrimination laws, focusing on access and equity for program planning in higher education institutions. She will oversee efforts to address broad and speci c DEIB issues of SONHS faculty, staff, and students as well. “I am delighted to be joining SONHS,” says Dr. Perrino. “I very much look forward to partnering with everyone to continue advancing the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This is so valuable and important. Diverse perspectives and inclusive excellence enrich and strengthen everything we do: education, research, innovation, and service.” Dean Cindy L. Munro founded a DEIB Advisory Committee in July 2020. “I am very grateful to our DEIB committee members for their work in facilitating this important new position for our
Dr. Santos (center)
Dr. Harkness
Dr. Williams
Kathryn Gerber
JUNTOS Referral Network for LMSM Dr. Harkness worked on previously. JUNTOS was among the community- engaged projects Dr. Harkness discussed during UM’s annual HIV Symposium , where she an invited speaker on a panel of rising-star Miami HIV investigators. Dr. Renessa Williams , assistant professor, also presented her poster “Employing the Use of a Participatory Photography Method to Explore Intersectional Stigma in Black Sexual Minority Men Living with HIV” at the HIV Symposium. Themed “Science Driving Strategy: Ending the HIV Epidemic,” the day-long event drew big names in HIV research, like Robert Gallo, best-known as co- discoverer of the virus. 3MT Competition Outstanding Ph.D. candidate Kathryn Gerber was one of just nine UM students selected to vie in the Graduate School’s 2023 Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. Her 180-second talk on “Traumatic brain injury during the rehabilitation stage,” was based on her dissertation, “Neuroin ammatory biomarkers, symptoms and functional outcomes in individuals who have sustained traumatic brain injury.” “Kathryn was a great representative of the school,” reports Dr. Victoria Behar-Zusman , director of the SONHS Ph.D. in Nursing Science program.
program for use with individual Latino sexual minority men (SMM). The adaptation, known as Hombre a Hombre (Man to Man), will be pilot-tested among Latino SMM, who are at greater risk for HIV and sexually transmitted infections relative to heterosexual men and, in some cases, to white SMM. Sexual minority stress and intersectional oppression as sexual minority men of color could be among the factors driving these disparities. “There have been no adapted programs for Latino SMM designed to be delivered to individuals and no culturally adapted relationship education programs that address the Latino SMM community’s unique cultural needs,” states Dr. Harkness. Hombre a Hombre could potentially address demonstrated disparities and enhance Latino SMM’s romantic and sexual relationships. Dr. Harkness is also co-investigator on a federal Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) supplement for a proposal to develop a strategic alliance, SOMOS Alianza (San Juan Orlando Miami Organizational Strategic Alliance), aimed at addressing the sharp rise in HIV incidence among Latino Men Who Have Sex with Men (LMSM) in Florida and Puerto Rico. Both places are among seven jurisdictions accounting for 84 percent of the nation’s increase in HIV incidence from 2010 to 2014. To scale up HIV-prevention and treatment services for LMSM to two new jurisdictions, SOMOS Alianza will build on the
I am happy to introduce this new space in Heartbeat magazine for highlighting notable achievements from faculty and student scholars and scientists. My own updates include representing SONHS at the 2022 International Society of Nurses in Genetics (ISONG) World Congress. I gave the closing keynote, “Multi‐Omics and Mixed‐Approaches Are Needed for Precision Health,” and received ISONG’s Founders Award for Excellence in Genomic Nursing Research, one of the highest forms of recognition one can receive from the international nursing genomics community. Our school was recognized at the 2023 Southern Nursing Research Society (SNRS) Conference, as well, when a paper I am senior author on—“Which roads lead to depression in Latinas? A network analysis of prenatal depressive symptoms, discrimination, acculturative stress, and low birth weight” (doi.org/10.1002/ nur.22210)—was awarded the 2022 Paper of the Year by the SNRS of cial journal Research in Nursing and Health. Addressing HIV Disparities Dr. Audrey Harkness , who joined SONHS as an assistant professor last June, continues making her mark in HIV prevention research. Most recently, she received a Mental Research Institute grant to culturally adapt an evidence- based relationship and dating skills
Dr. Perrino
school,” says Dean Munro. “Moreover, we have found in Tatiana Perrino an incredible person to lead us forward. She brings to this role what I can only describe as the perfect combination of community-based, clinical, scholarly, and leadership experience, not to mention a wealth of institutional knowledge from her two-plus decades at the U.” Dr. Perrino, a licensed psychologist and member of the National Hispanic Science Network, was identi ed as the lead candidate following a nationwide search. Since joining the Miller School of Medicine in 2000, she has collaborated on several National Institutes of Health studies aimed at reducing health disparities and preventing public health problems such as drug use, HIV, obesity, and depression. Her current research and community work focus on preventing depression and related mental, emotional, and behavioral health risks among adolescents, especially Hispanic immigrant and socioeconomically at-risk youth.
At the University level, Dr. Perrino serves as Associate Provost for Faculty Development and as faculty liaison for the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network. From 2016 to 2021, she was associate dean for the Graduate School. An experienced educator, she co-developed and directed the Graduate School’s Teaching Academy. Her courses have covered applied public health, health education and behavior, determinants of health and disparities across the lifespan, and other subject matter. In 2023, Dr. Perrino received the Faculty Senate’s Outstanding Teaching Award for her graduate-level teaching record, and in 2022 was honored by the Public Health Student Association with its Department of Public Health Sciences Faculty of the Year Award. She completed a National Institute of Drug Abuse-funded postdoctoral research fellowship on adolescent drug abuse prevention in 2000. Dr. Perrino is a three-time graduate of Rutgers University in New Jersey, having earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, and master’s and doctoral degrees in clinical psychology there.
6 heart beat | SPRING 2023
SPRING 2023 | heart beat 7
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