KCH - Key Persons
Alana Harris completed her PhD at the University of Illinois in the Renal Research Group in Kinesiology and Community, with dissertation work in lifestyle behavior change, Physical Activity and Nutrition, in chronically ill populations. She has been teaching in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health since 2013. Dr. Harris is the Associate Director of Assessment and Student Wellness for Campus Recreation where she provides leadership to: Fitness Programs, Adventure Recreation, the Campus Bike Center, the Instructional Kitchen, and the Campus' student food pantry. Alana specializes in applied exercise prescription, exercise prescription for persons managing disease, and in high performance strength and conditioning. She teaches courses to prepare students to pursue national certification (ACSM, NSCA) and/ or to work in applied exercise settings. Alana is responsible for the development and reporting of assessment efforts for Campus Recreation facilities, services, and programs and works actively with researchers on campus to conduct projects in these spaces.
Job Titles:
- Instructor and Coordinator of Global Affairs
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- Assistant Director MPH Graduate Program
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Kinesiology
- Academic Advisor for Kinesiology ( Last Names L - Z )
- Academic Advisor, Kinesiology ( M - Z )
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- Clinical Assistant Professor
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- Clinic Business Specialist
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
- Interim Director of I - Health, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor / Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
- Academic Advisor for Interdisciplinary Health Sciences ( Last Names M - Z )
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, External Engagement
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- Teaching Assistant Professor
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- Instructional Media Specialist
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- Member of the Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty Team
- Research Scientist
- Research Scientist at the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute
Brandi Barnes is a research scientist at the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute (IHSI). Her primary role is to work with faculty, administration, and external stakeholders to identify, expand, and support new initiatives aimed at reducing health disparities. She achieves this by facilitating collaborative research proposals and by organizing campus and community events, programs, and workshops. Dr. Barnes also serves as a program coordinator for the Community-Academic Scholars Initiative, where she mentors undergraduates during a ten-week community-based research experience. In addition, she works with the Health Sciences Data Analytics Core at IHSI to collect and analyze data for strategic planning.
Brandi Barnes has a background in health promotion and health education program implementation and evaluation from her prior experience at a behavioral health treatment and research center. She earned her bachelor's, master's, and PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her doctoral degree is in community health with a specialization in health psychology. Her research areas of interest include preventing stigma in accessing mental health care services and barriers to treatment.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor / Director of Graduate Studies
- Director of Graduate Studies
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- Academic Skills Specialist for I - LEAP
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- Professor Emeritus of Recreation, Sport and Tourism
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- Teaching Assistant Professor
Dr. Clarke's primary research agenda focuses on examining the use of physical activity interventions as a solution for depression and anxiety. She is interested in how researchers conceptualize their research participants, the disorders in question, and the relationship between the disorder and PA. She is interested in the production of knowledge in this area and social perceptions of people with mental illness. Dr. Clarke is currently collaborating on a network-oriented analysis of citations of meta-analyses and systematic reviews of PA and depression. She is also conducting a policy analysis of all mental health policies, services, and programs for student athletes compared to the larger student body in the Power 5 Conference schools. This analyzed how each school adapted services and policies to meet the unique needs of college students and student athletes during COVID-19. Her other collaborations are broadly focused on biosocial approaches to health disparities.
Job Titles:
- Interim Associate Dean for Undergraduate and Graduate Affairs
- Professor
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- Assistant Director, Master of Health Administration
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor
- Academic Advisor for Speech and Hearing Science
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- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Instructor
- Member of the Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty Team
Christy N. Bazan is a Licensed Environmental Health Practitioner and Master's Certified Health Educator. She has an MPH from Benedictine University in Health Education and BS in Environmental Health from Illinois State University.
She has taught in higher education for over 25 years with primary interests in Community and Public Health and School Health Education. Her passions in the field include disease prevention, drug abuse prevention education, and contemporary health issues.
When she is not teaching, she is engaged in her Community of Bloomington-Normal, IL, where she serves at the President of the YMCA Board. She loves cooking, golfing, walking, exercising, and spending time with family and friends.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Instructor ( Retired )
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Interdisciplinary Health Sciences ( Last Names a - L )
- Academic Advisor, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science
Dr. Fogerty joined AHS from the University of South Carolina, where he was an associate professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. He completed a dual PhD, in speech and hearing science and cognitive science, at Indiana University and was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Audiology Research Laboratory there.
Dr. Fogerty's research focuses on identifying the factors necessary for precisely targeting limitations that an individual may have in understanding speech. Currently, he is working to define acoustic interactions between speech and noise that predict speech understanding in complex environments. Another emphasis of his current research is detailing the individual auditory and cognitive abilities that predict individual performance under noisy listening conditions.
Dr. Fogerty sees his research as relating to and intersecting with the interests of many SHS faculty, and he is looking forward to making a contribution. "The Department of Speech and Hearing Science is a vibrant, collegial environment with a growing research presence and excellent instructional programs," he said. "I am excited to be a part of this scholarly environment."
David M. Buchner MD MPH joined the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health in 2008 as a Shahid and Ann Carlson Kahn Professor of Applied Health Sciences. He retired in 2017. Dr. Buchner earned a B.A. degree from Harvard in 1974, an M.D. degree from the University of Kansas in 1977, and a M.P.H. degree from the University of Washington in 1984. From 1984 to 1999, Dr. Buchner was on the faculty of the School of Public Health and the School of Medicine at the University of Washington, and provided medical care as a geriatrician. Between 1999 and 2008, Dr. Buchner was Chief of the Physical Activity and Health Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His research focused on falls and physical activity in older adults. He participated in many public health initiatives focused on physical activity promotion, including work on DHHS physical activity guidelines.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Instructor ( Retired )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Dr. Diego Hernández-Saavedra received his BS Degree in Pharmaceutical Biological Chemistry from the Autonomous University of Queretaro, Mexico in 2012. Thereafter, he completed his PhD degree in Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois in 2018. After completing his PhD, he went to The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center to complete his postdoctoral training in 2021. Dr. Hernández-Saavedra's research program focuses on the beneficial effects of exercise to understand the adaptations in key metabolites and lipids in health and disease, the epigenetic mechanisms associated exercise that improve metabolism and bioenergetics, and the transgenerational effect of sedentarism and exercise on metabolism and cardiac function.
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Robyn L. Gobin, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with expertise in interpersonal trauma and evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related conditions. She directs the Transforming Trauma and Mental Health Research Laboratory in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health, where she is an Associate Professor. Dr. Gobin's research investigates how individual, cultural, and societal factors lead to unique outcomes in the aftermath of interpersonal trauma. The ultimate goal of her research is to promote healing in culturally diverse communities, reduce mental health stigma,and increase treatment engagement among individuals with PTSD. She is also interested in the use of mindfulness, acceptance, and compassion-based interventions to enhance well-being. Dr. Gobin has served as principal or co-investigator on past and ongoing studies funded by the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, the American Psychological Association Minority Fellowship Program, and the Chez Center for Veterans. She has authored several articles in the field of traumatic stress studies and presented her work nationally and internationally. Dr. Gobin is consistently involved in public education and community service. She regularly speaks at community events and hosts workshops about mental health, self-care,and mindfulness. She holds leadership positions on national boards and non-profit committees and is active in clinical practice. Her work has been recognized by the top professional associations in her field: she was the recipient of a Citizen Psychologist Presidential Citation from the American Psychological Association(APA), the Carolyn Payton Early Career Award from the Society for the Psychology of Black Women (APA Division 35 Section 1), and she received Early Career Awards from her alma mater, Wesleyan College, and the National Register of Health Service Psychologists.
Job Titles:
- Director of Career Services and Honors Programs
- Interim Undergraduate Recruiter
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Recruitment, Advising and Enrichment
- Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Recruitment, Advising, and Enrichment
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean of Budget and Strategic Business Operations
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- Communications Specialist
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Professor
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- Instructional Media Specialist
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Research for the Living in Interactive Future Environments ( LIFE ) Home Research Center
- Research Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Community Health ( Last Names a - K )
- Academic Advisor, Community Health ( a - K )
Job Titles:
- Teaching Associate Professor / Director of Diversity Equity Inclusion / Special Projects
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
- Teaching Assistant Professor / Department of Recreation, Sport and Tourism
Jacob Fredericks earned a PhD in kinesiology from Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in educational leadership from St. Lawrence University.
His research concentrates on histories of race, sport, and culture. For example, he has analyzed the influence of Black American marathoners on expanding access to the sport during the 1950s and 1960s and the impact of transnational track and field competitions between the United States and South Africa during the second half of the twentieth century.
Dr. Fredericks teaches courses that examine the dynamics of recreation, sport, and tourism experiences through active engagement in and beyond the classroom. He has also served as a track and field coach at the collegiate level.
Job Titles:
- Teaching Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Recreation, Sport and Tourism
- Undergraduate Academic Advisor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Advancement
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Research
- Associate Dean for Research / Director of CHAD / Mottier Family Professor
- Director / Associate Dean for Research / Professor, Kinesiology and Community Health
- Research
Job Titles:
- Clinical Assistant Professor
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- Assistant Director of Human Resources
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor, Interdisciplinary Health Sciences
Job Titles:
- Academic Skills Specialist for I - LEAP
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Specialist
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Leisure Studies
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Graduate Studies
- Professor Emeritus of Leisure Studies
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- Coordinator of Internship Programs
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Kinesiology
- Academic Advisor for Kinesiology ( Last Names a - K )
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director, Health Technology Education Program
Job Titles:
- Clinical Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor and Department Head
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritas / Interim Director of Undergraduate Studies
- Professor Emeritas of Recreation, Sport and Tourism
Job Titles:
- Assistant Teaching Professor
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Kristen DiFilippo is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health for the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Program. She earned her PhD and BS at the University of Illinois and her MS at Eastern Illinois University. Her research explores the optimization of health through nutrition education for behavior change. Her work focuses on the evaluation and use of mobile app based strategies to support the management and prevention of chronic diseases. For this research, she received the Nutrition Education for the Public Dietetics Practice Groups Award of Excellence. Her recent work also centers on reducing food insecurity in rural communities.
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor / Assistant Head
A three-time graduate of the University of Illinois, Kristi Carlson has been teaching in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health since 2012. Dr. Carlson specializes in physical education teacher education, teaching in the areas of physical education methods and motor development, but also teaches a number of core classes related to motor learning, movement analysis, and professional preparation. Dr. Carlson also serves as the Pedagogy Coordinator for the department, through which she assists with program admittance, teacher licensure, and state and program requirements. Her research interests focus on teacher licensure requirements and integrating both fitness and academic concepts throughout the physical education curriculum.
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Kyle's practice areas include simple to complex estate planning, farm and business succession planning: including wills, trusts and Special Needs Planning and the establishment of Special Needs Trusts and administration. Representation of buyers and sellers of in real estate transactions including as well as sports law, agricultural law, and drainage law. He also handles Business Law, including LLC, S-Corp incorporations and partnerships. Probate, and small estate administration. Consumer Finance Law including Bankruptcy Representation of Debtors in Chapter 7 and 13 and Bankruptcy Adversarial Litigation, collection defense, and collection prosecution.
Kyle earned a B.S. from the University of Illinois where he fulfilled his lifelong goal of competing for the Orange & Blue in both Cross County and Track & Field. After three years as an intern for Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Kyle spent two years at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and returned to the University of Illinois for his third year when he was offered the opportunity to return to the University of Illinois athletic department where he worked in the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics compliance office, while also serving as an extern with the University of Illinois Office of University Counsel.
These unique experiences coupled with his dedication, work ethic and his competitive spirit are values his clients benefit from when working with Kyle. He joined the Illinois bar in 2010. He is active in several organizations, including the serving on the Champaign Chamber of Commerce Board, Thrivent Community Action Team Board, Sports Lawyers Association, Champaign County Bar Association, and Illinois Bar Association. Kyle remains thrilled to be an visiting instructor at his alma mater, the University of Illinois teaching Legal Aspects of Sport and has expanded his role also serving as an adjunct instructor at the University of Illinois Springfield lecturing on the subject of Sports Law.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Graduate Studies
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor, Director of Undergraduate Studies
Job Titles:
- Associate Director / Associate Professor, Kinesiology and Community Health
- Associate Professor / Associate Head for Graduate Studies
- Ex - Officio
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Marketing and Communications
Job Titles:
- Office Support Specialist
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritas of Recreation, Sport and Tourism
Job Titles:
- Program Director, Master of Healthcare Administration
Job Titles:
- Marketing and Communications Graduate Hourly
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Advancement
Job Titles:
- Director of Strategic Initiatives for Kinesiology and Community Health
- Professor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Finance and Administration
Job Titles:
- Senior Director of Advancement
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Leisure Studies
Job Titles:
- Clinical Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Manager of Help Desk Services
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor / Associate Head for Research
Job Titles:
- Office Support Specialist
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Otávio Leão holds a BS in Kinesiology, Master's in Public Health and a PhD in Epidemiology. His primary field of research is Physical Activity and Public Health, focusing on longitudinal studies to evaluate the effect of physical activity on child development and health throughout the life- course. He has extensive experience with Epidemiology and Statistics and has applied these methods in his research. He has also taught Statistics and Epidemiology to undergraduate and graduate students. He has been working with the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort as a database manager since 2018, where he also conducted his postdoctoral training.
Job Titles:
- Professor, Department Head
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Department of Speech and Hearing Science
Pasquale Bottalico earned his bachelor's degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Univeristà Mediterranea di Reggio Calabria (Italy), while simultaneously pursuing a degree in Opera Singing at the F. Cilea Music Academy of Reggio Calabria (Italy). In 2005, he moved to Turin where he earned his master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Politecnico di Torino (Italy). For his master's thesis, Dr. Bottalico combined his studies of engineering and music to explore musician perceptions of acoustics and the correlation with objective index from ISO 3382.
Dr. Bottalico earned his PhD in Metrology, studying acoustics with particular attention to the uncertainty of measurements and statistical analysis of data. For his dissertation, he investigated classroom acoustics of primary schools and its relationship with safety, examining the students and the teachers separately. Specifically, he: 1) described the speech intelligibility in the classroom, which affects students' learning; and 2) examined how the acoustical features of a classroom can influence vocal performances. Dr. Bottalico is particularly interested in the professional voice user and singer techniques, as well as the definition and the quantification of vocal load. Other fields he is interested in are Speech Intelligibility, Room Acoustics and Musical Acoustics. Bottalico is also a professional chorister, performing under such prestigious directors as Rafael Frühbeck De Burgos, Yuri Ahronovitch, Jeffrey Tate, Juanio Mena, Gianandrea Noseda, Ottavio Dantone, Wayne Marshall, Helmuth Rilling, Christopher Hogwood, Robert King and Ivor Bolton.
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor for Community Health ( Last Names L - Z )
Job Titles:
- Alvin M. and Ruth L. Sandall Professor
- Director of MPH Program
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Clinical and Business Intelligence
Phillip currently serves as the vice president of clinical and business intelligence. Based in Urbana, IL, Carle Health is a vertically integrated system with more than 11,500 employees in its five hospitals, multi-specialty physician groups, health plans and associated healthcare businesses including the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world's first engineering-based medical school.
As a senior health administration executive, he is responsible for the procurement and analysis of data to support the health system. His team enables advanced data analytics, facilitate clinical quality initiatives, support financial analysis, advance clinical research studies, and provide data for key business and market decisions.
Prior to joining the leadership team at Carle, he worked as a director in PriceWaterhouseCoopers' global healthcare practice, where he worked with and advised health plans, providers, and government associations. Phil has also held leadership roles at Cerner Corporation and brings a depth of business analytics, solution architecture, and IT project management experience. Phil has led and supported over 40 projects, across 11 countries, on four continents to support clinical transformation and patient care.
A Champaign native and graduate of University Laboratory High School, Rowell received his Master of Jurisprudence in Health Law and Bachelor of Business Administration from Loyola University. Mr. Rowell is also an adjunct professor of legal issues in healthcare information technology, and healthcare policy and ethics in the graduate school of Health Professions at Sacred Heart University. He also holds a teaching appointment in the Master of Healthcare Administration program at Loyola University Chicago.
Job Titles:
- Practice Manager, Audiology and Speech - Language Pathology Clinic
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Leisure Studies
Job Titles:
- Academic Skills Specialist for I - LEAP
Job Titles:
- Clinical Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Director of Online Learning
Job Titles:
- Teaching Associate Professor
Job Titles:
- Member of the Adjunct and Affiliated Faculty Team
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Embedded Clinical Counselor
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
Dr. Aguiñaga is committed to advancing the scientific knowledge that addresses health disparities in cognition and dementia-related diseases through community-based physical activity research. She received an Alzheimer's Association Research Fellowship to Promote Diversity grant for a study of sitting time, activity, and dementia in underserved populations in central Illinois and Chicago. She also has investigated relationships among cognitive function, lifestyle, and exercise after cancer treatment. Through her research, she hopes to increase diversity in dementia-related research and reverse growing disparities in physical activity and dementia-related diseases, with the ultimate goal of creating culturally appropriate physical activity interventions for racially and ethnically diverse older adults with cognitive impairment and dementia-related diseases.
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Administration
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Graduate Student Services Advisor
Job Titles:
- Academic Affairs Records Officer
- Affairs Records Officer
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor / Director of Undergraduate Studies
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Communications
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director for Strategic Initiatives and Research Relations
- Assistant Director Strategic Initiatives and Research Relations
- Ex - Officio
Job Titles:
- Director of Health Technology Education Program
- Shahid and Ann Carlson Khan Professor
Job Titles:
- Teaching Assistant Professor
Job Titles:
- Interim Department Head
- Professor
Job Titles:
- Professor Emeritus of Recreation, Sport and Tourism