Karla Flores, B.S.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

2020-2021

Karla Flores is a recent graduate from the University of Houston, with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a minor in Health. Karla joined LABHRT because she has a strong interest in research in order to address how certain behaviors, such as smoking, alcohol and other substance related abuse, affect the many lives of Hispanic/Latinx communities in the greater Houston area. She plans to attend graduate school and obtain a Master’s of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. In the future, she wants to be able to provide affordable therapy to those who struggle with harmful behaviors in the Hispanic/Latinx community.

Karla loves dogs and enjoys taking walks at the park with her little chihuahua. She was born in El Salvador and loves to travel to her birth country and spend time with family.

Domenica Cartagenova graduated from Texas A&M University with a Sociology B.S and a Spanish B.A.  She joined the LABHRT in the summer of 2019 as a Research Assistant because of her interest in preventative health care and her previous research experience in Race and Ethnicity effects on society. As a research assistant she wants to be able to participate in community outreach, and learn more about the mental health aspects of Latinx health disparities. Domenica will be starting a post-baccalaureate in Nutrition. She hopes to attend medical school in future to pursue a career in primary care and preventative medicine. In her spare time Domenica enjoys being outdoors, running, and spending time with her family.

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Domenica Cartagenova, B.S. B.A.

Research Assistant

2019-2021

Daniela Arenas,  B.S.

 Research Coordinator

Daniela Arenas is an alumni from the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Houston with a B.S. in Kinesiology – health profession. She is a native Mexican, first-generation college graduate with 10 years of experience in the clinical field & health research. She joined the LABHRT in August of 2019 as a research coordinator because she cares about educating the Latinx community about mental and behavioral health issues. As a research coordinator, she wants to be able to participate in community outreach events and help in engaging Latinx adults with limited resources into effective tobacco-cessation treatments. In her spare time Daniela enjoys meditating, journaling and spending time with her family and her four dogs.

2019-2020

Crystal Hernandez

Undergraduate Research Assistant

2020

Crystal Hernandez is an undergraduate student in the College of Education at the University of Houston. She is majoring in Public Health and minoring in Biology. After graduation (expected December 2020), she wants to work a year in her field and later pursue a career as a Physician’s Assistant. Her dream is to be able to start a nonprofit organization to help underserved communities, especially Latinx children and adolescents. Crystal joined the LABHRT because of her interest in community engagement and health promotion in the Latinx community. She hopes that this position will help her be more involved in health research. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching shows, or exploring Houston.

Katherine Balderrama  Najera  

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Katherine is a senior undergraduate student in the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. She is majoring in Mathematical Biology and minoring in Psychology. She joined the LABHRT in the Summer 2019 as part of the Urban Experience Program CITE Internship. Katherine aims to attend medical school and one day open low cost clinics to help the under-served Latinx community. Currently, as an intern, she hopes to be able to gain experience about health promotion and research initiatives within the Latinx community. Katherine is still exploring her research interests. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, solving Sudoku and spending time with her family.

Summer 2019

Amanda Broyles, M.Ed.

Graduate Research Assistant

Amanda is a third year student in the Counseling Psychology PhD program in the College of Education. Her personal research interests include how gender role socialization affects violent behavior, particularly gender violence. In LABHRT she worked on a project that examined the relationship of mindfulness and negative affect on various health risk behaviors (including tobacco and heavy alcohol use). She also assisted with a project that involves the development of a culturally adapted ACT intervention  for Latino/a smokers who are experiencing depression and/or anxiety. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, exploring the many restaurants of Houston, and relaxing at home with her cat. 

Summer 2016-2019

Morgan McNeel was a graduate student research assistant for LABHRT. She received her bachelors degree in Psychology from Rice University with a minor in Neuroscience in May of 2015. Following graduation, she worked as a research assistant and clinic coordinator at UT Health Science Center’s Developmental Neuropsychology Clinic, with children with neurodevelopmental disorders and their families. Morgan continues to pursuing her Ph.D. in school psychology at the University of Houston.
 

In her spare time, Morgan enjoys traveling, printmaking and photography, and exploring all that Houston has to offer!

Morgan McNeel, B.A.

Graduate Research Assistant

2018-2019

Lena joined the LABHRT in Fall 2016. She is interested in environmental health specifically. After her studies, she desires to return to her home country, where she would like to work on improvements of the environmental surroundings of disadvantaged populations, focusing on health outcomes of issues such as air or water pollution. She volunteered with the Latino and Behavioral Health Research team. From this experience, she gained more knowledge on the impact of unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking. Her hobbies include playing musical instruments, cooking, and playing board games. 

Lena Musoka 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

2016-2019

Josée she joined the LABHRT in Fall 2016. She is majoring in Health and minoring in Biology. Although she continues to explored her research interests, she is interested in health promotion. In particular, she is intrigued by the reasons behind people's behavioral choices and what can be done to assist them in engaging in behaviors that will positively impact their health. In the future, she aspires to earn a master's degree in public health and study medicine. 

Josee was an intern for the LABHRT during summer 2018. This experience has helped her better understand the procedures for implementing a study and strengthen her analytical skills. Through her experience as an intern, she was studied on the relationship between sleep, mindfulness and distress tolerance. She presented her findings during The Undergraduate Research Day at UH.  

During her free time, she likes spending time with her friends, reading, and listening to music. 

Josée Kahambwe 

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Undergraduate Research Assistant

2016-2019

Roseann is a recent graduate in Public Health from the College of Education. She joined the lab and completed her internship in Fall 2018.Throughout her internship, she learned a lot about recruitment, transcription, and qualitative analysis. Her internship experience has increased her interest in smoking cessation and Latino health. In LABHRT, her roles include screening participants for the various ongoing projects and assisting with the implementation of the qualitative study.  

Her research interests include stress, smoking cessation, anxiety, and depression.  

In the future, she plans to get a degree in Healthcare Management in hopes of improving patient outcomes and making a positive difference in the healthcare field. 

In her spare time, she likes to travel, cook, and spend time with family & friends. 

Roseann John, B.A.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

2018-2019

Hector Jay Perez, B.S. 

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Hector Jay Perez is a senior at the University of Houston. He joined LABHRT in Summer 2018. He is currently majoring in Health Promotion and minoring in Psychology.  

His research interests are smoking, childhood obesity, and HIV/AIDS.  Hector plans to go to nursing school when he graduates in December 2018, and he wants to become a Doctor of Nursing Practice eventually.   

During his free time, Hector enjoys photography, working out, and swimming. 

 2018

Erin is a third-year school psychology doctoral student in the Department of Psychological, Health, and Learning Sciences at the University of Houston. She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Virginia and worked as a special education teacher with Teach for America before returning to graduate school. 

With LABHRT, Erin studied behavioral health among under-served populations, with a focus on research methodology. She now applies these research experiences in her work on early intervention practices to prevent educational injustices and promote student success. When she isn't working on research projects, Erin enjoys going to the theater and practicing yoga. 

Erin Reid, B.A.

Graduate Research Assistant 

2016-2017

Kimberly Smoots, B.A.

Graduate Research Assistant

Kimberly is a first-generation college graduate in the Ph.D. School Psychology program at the University of Houston. She is in her third-year of the program. Her research interests include mindfulness, interventions for emotional, behavioral and mental disorders/problems, parent-training, and multicultural issues in the field of psychology.She is interested in working children with behavioral, emotional and mental disorders and culturally and linguistically diverse youth, especially Latino youth. In LABHRT, she was  assisting with the cultural adaptation of the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Latino/ smokers who were experiencing depression and/or anxiety. In her free time, she enjoys singing, dancing, reading, spending time with her family and friends and working out (when she can).

Summer 2019

Haidar is currently a senior at the University of Houston majoring in Public Health and minoring in Biology. In exposure to health and natural science classes, a particular spark of interest he developed was studying the role that these subjects play in the community.

Throughout community events, helping others an objective to him, but finding ways to prevent health disparities and issues is an objective as well. Making deductions about problems is his method of approach. Reasons behind answers are far more precious than answers themselves.

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His hobbies include exercising, playing the guitar, and good video-gaming.

Haidar Iman, B.S.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

 2017

Dr. Jocelyn Abrams is Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology for UH, and currently works as a psychologist at Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical center. During her curriculum, she did many internships and worked as a Graduate Research Assistant for  Dr. Correa-Fernandez from 2015-2016. 
Her research interests are in trauma and substance use disorders.

In her free time, she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cook and listen to music.

Jocelyn Abrams, Ph.D.

Graduate Research Assistant

2015-2016