Social and Behavioral Sciences Faculty and Staff

Lindsey King, PhD, MPH, CHES®, CCRP, CTTS (she/her) is a clinical assistant professor of public health in the Department of Health Services Research, Management & Policy and the Dean’s Office at the University of Florida (UF) College of Public Health and Health Professions. She serves as program director of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) program and program director of the PhD in public health (SBS concentration). She also serves as chair and program chair of the American Public Health Association Family Violence Prevention Caucus (APHA FVPC). She previously served as the Master of Public Health (MPH) concentration coordinator for the SBS (campus and online) and public health practice (online) concentrations. Dr. King received her PhD in public health (SBS) from UF, her MPH from the University of South Florida (USF), and her Bachelor of Arts from UF. Dr. King has also served as a tobacco cessation facilitator through the Northeast Florida Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and Gulfcoast North AHEC. Dr. King’s background includes research in behavioral oncology, clinical, epidemiology, and community-based participatory research (CBPR) to address disparities in maternal and child health (MCH), and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma-informed public health community initiatives. Dr. King’s primary interests include community-engaged research to identify strengths of communities and eliminate health disparities in underserved populations including racial and ethnic minority populations and sexual and gender minority populations.

Gaia Zori, PhD, MPH, CHES® is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy and in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) concentration in the College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) at the University of Florida (UF). She serves as Master of Public Health (MPH) concentration coordinator for the SBS (campus and online) and Public Health Practice (online) concentrations. Dr. Zori received her PhD in Public Health with a concentration in SBS from UF, her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the State University of New York at Albany with a dual concentration in Social, Behavioral and Community Health and Epidemiology, and her Bachelor of Health Science (BHS) from UF. Dr. Zori is a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES®) with nearly 10 years of experience in public health and health education, and she has previously held a variety of professional roles in public health practice including as a CDC/CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow in Maternal & Child Health and the Director of Education for Planned Parenthood of North Florida. Dr. Zori’s primary research interests center on understanding the structural factors contributing to disparate outcomes in sexual and reproductive health, as well as effective strategies for the promotion of health equity.

Jennifer W. Applebaum, MS, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental & Global Health at the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. Trained as a Medical Sociologist with a background in animal sheltering, Dr. Applebaum’s research focuses, broadly, on the implications of social inequalities on human and companion animal health and well-being. Drawing from sociological theory and concepts to take a social approach to the One Health framework, her research is interested in the intersection of stress, structural-level social processes, the social determinants of health, and the human-animal bond.

José Félix Colón Burgos is an Assistant Professor of the Department of Environmental and Global Health at the University of Florida’s College of Public Health and Health Professions. José completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Puerto Rico, Cayey campus, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Community Mental Health and a minor in Sociology. He continued his graduate studies at the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Puerto Rico, Health Sciences campus, where he earned a Master’s in Science in Health Systems Research and Evaluation and a doctorate in Public Health specializing in studying the Social Determinants of Health. After his fieldwork in the Dominican Republic studying post-deportation and health, José completed two Postdoctoral fellowships at Florida International University at the Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center (LACC) and the Center for Research on US Latino HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse (CRUSADA).

José Félix has worked as a research evaluator with various community, state, and international organizations aiming to tackle social and public health problems from a social justice perspective. His research interests include the study of the social determinants of health and the social determination of health, the effects of inequality and social structures in health, maternal and child health, substance abuse, and sexual risk behaviors, access to health services, and the study of the political economy of health. José incorporates social theory, critical medical anthropology, and critical public health with ethnographic, qualitative, and quantitative research techniques to explore the pathways of health risk in socially marginalized populations.

Brittney Dixon, PhD, MPH, CPH, TTS is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy and in the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration in the College of Public Health and Health Professions (PHHP) at the University of Florida (UF). Dr. Dixon received her MPH (Health Policy) from Florida State University in 2014 and her PhD in Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration) from the University of Florida in 2020. Dr. Dixon is Certified in Public Health (CPH) and is a trained Tobacco Cessation Facilitator and Treatment Specialist. Dr. Dixon’s research interests center on underserved and historically marginalized populations, with particular emphasis on health disparities, the social determinants of health, health equity, and community-engaged research. She also focuses her research efforts on the built environment, gentrification, and chronic conditions and how these factors and conditions impact underserved and vulnerable populations. Dr. Dixon is also proficient in program development and evaluation.

George Hack, PhD, MEd, is the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions’ Associate Dean for Educational Affairs and a Clinical Associate Professor in the department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Hack received his PhD in Educational Technology from the University of Florida and has designed online and face-to-face instruction in a variety of environments, including secondary, undergraduate, graduate, professional, adult vocational training, and military schools.

At the University of Florida, Dr. Hack has served in various roles, working in the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences as a coordinator of extension nutrition education programs, teaching graduate and undergraduate technology courses in the College of Education, and as assistant director for instruction and information systems in the Health Science Center Libraries. He has also collaborated on the Compendium for Children’s Health with a team of international physicians, setting up an online environment for pediatricians to receive instruction in Community Pediatrics.

Dr. Hack’s research interests include human-computer interactions in learning as well as pedagogy influenced by situated and grounded learning theories. In addition, he has served ten years in the military, with four years of active duty in the Marine Corps.

Sarah L. McKune, MPH, Ph.D. is a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Global Health and the Center for African Studies. She holds a B.A. in French and Sociology from Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., and earned a Master’s in Public Health from Emory University in 2002. She completed a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Ecology at the University of Florida’s School for Natural Resources and the Environment in 2012 and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow for a collaborative effort between UF and the CGIAR’s collaborative research program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS).

Dr. McKune joined PHHP in 2013 as the Director of Public Health Programs, a position from which she ran the campus and online MPH and Public Health Certificate programs for the College. In 2016, she joined the Department of Environmental and Global Health in a joint appointment with the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida. She is affiliate faculty in the School for Natural Resources and the Environment and advises students from a variety of units across campus, including Sustainable Development, Anthropology, Food and Resource Economics, Medical Geography, and Sociology, as well as those operated by EGH, including Public Health and One Health.

Mike Moorhouse, PhD is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Moorhouse received his PhD in Rehabilitation Science from the University of Florida in 2008 and his MHS in Rehabilitation Counseling in 2001. As the BHS program director from 2013 to 2023, he was directly responsible for the educational and advising needs of more than 400 pre-health junior and seniors, and is heavily involved student life as he is faculty advisor to four different student organizations. Dr. Moorhouse’s research interests include undergraduate pedagogy, hazardous substance use among young adults, and measurement theory.

Positionality Statement:

As a white, heterosexual, cisgender, able-bodied male, I recognize that my privilege insulates me from experiencing social and systemic discrimination, racism, oppression, rejection, or micro aggressions that many people have and continue to experience in their daily lives. This privilege is an inescapable part of my “identity” – something that has allowed me to never have to prove myself because of my sex, or be uneasy walking into a room where no one looks like me, or deny my authentic self for fear that family and friends will reject me. Moreover, my privilege has allowed me to navigate life largely unaffected by discriminatory practices, prejudicial policies, and implicit/explicit bias.

My lens, my values, my motivations have all been heavily influenced by my upbringing and my own lived experiences related to self-worth and inferiority. It is these experiences that drive me to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion inside and outside the classroom. I believe that we are all an intersection of vertical and horizontal identities that should be celebrated and affirmed, rather than hidden or oppressed. To that end, I strive to make safe and affirming spaces for all students regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability status; and hope to grow by becoming more educated and better understanding of the impact of social injustices.

Dr. Rebecca L. Pearl is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry and Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Pearl received her A.B. from Duke University and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Yale University. She completed her pre-doctoral clinical internship at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School and her post-doctoral fellowship at the Penn Center for Weight and Eating Disorders.

Jamie L. Pomeranz, Ph.D., CRC, CLCP is a Clinical Professor within the Department of Occupational Therapy. Dr. Pomeranz has obtained three degrees from the University of Florida which include: Masters of Exercise and Sports Science, Masters of Health Science in Rehabilitation Counseling and Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Science. He is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and Life Care Planner and has worked with people with disabilities in multiple capacities for over 20 years. His clinical background includes working with individuals with spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and intellectual disabilities. Dr. Pomeranz has been on faculty at the University of Florida since 2004 and his topics of research include: health promotion for people with disabilities and life care planning and modern measurement theory. Since receiving his Ph.D. in 2005, Dr. Pomeranz developed 30 peer reviewed publications and two book chapters. Dr. Pomeranz currently serves on the PHHP Blended Learning Taskforce and is a past member of the collaboration task force and committee for promoting collaboration between public health and health professions. He has and continues to mentor multiple Ph.D and MPH graduate students from the public health program. He currently teaches within the Bachelors of Health Science undergraduate program and serves as the Advisor for the Pre-Public Health Concentration and the Honor’s Program Director within the Bachelors of Health Science Program. His courses include: Critical Issues in Public Health, Ethical and Legal Issues in Public Health and Health Professions, and Research Methods. Dr. Pomeranz has received funding from the Area Health Education Centers the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Veteran’s Health Administration. His NIH project involves developing one of the first empirically-based tobacco cessation programs for people with disabilities. Finally, Dr. Pomeranz has received numerous awards including: Excellence in Research, Outstanding Young Alumni Award, and the Public Health Award for Faculty Excellence.

Dr. Kathryn Ross is an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical and Health Psychology and in the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration in the College of Public Health and Health Professions. Dr. Ross currently teaches within the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration in the MPH and PhD in Public Health programs, and advises masters and doctoral students both in the Department of Clinical Psychology and in Public Health.

Heather Stark, MD, MPH. is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the Program Director of the Master of Science in Epidemiology. She holds a Bachelor of Science from Johns Hopkins University, a Medical Degree from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Public Health for the University of Florida. Her research projects include improving maternal and child health, nutrition, and health disparities in the African countries of Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Dr. Stark teaches courses at the undergraduate and graduate level in the College of Public Health and Health Professions, including Principles of Epidemiology (PHC 6001), Global Public Health (PHC 3440), Global Health Disparities and Disabilities (PHC 3678), Public Health Nutrition (PHC6521), Assessment and Surveillance in Public Health (PHC 6251), and Applied Practical Experience (PHC 6411).

Julia R. Varnes, PhD, MPH, MCHES is the director of the Master of Public Health Program for the College of Public Health and Health Professions, and a Clinical Associate Professor with the Department of Health Services Research, Management, and Policy as well as faculty within the Social and Behavioral Sciences concentration. She is also an affiliate professor with the Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research. Dr. Varnes received her PhD in health behavior, with a minor in research and evaluation methodology, from the University of Florida. Dr. Varnes holds two masters degrees, one in health education (UF), and one in public health (University of Maryland, College Park).

Dr. Varnes has worked in college health at UF for over 15 years, first as a public health practitioner with UF’s Area Health Education Program (AHEC) and later with GatorWell Health Promotion Services. She joined UF as faculty in 2014, and joined the College of PHHP in 2021. Dr. Varnes is a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), and also a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT).

Focusing on psychosocial health, Dr. Varnes’s research and academic interests are specific to interpersonal violence, objectification, and gender role expectations; inclusivity and accessibility for persons with disabilities; and professional preparation. In her teaching, advising, and mentoring, she aims to instill concepts of empowerment, compassion, acceptance, and cultural competency/humility in future professionals.

Dr. Ashby Walker received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Emory University and serves as the Director for Health Equity Initiatives at the University of Florida Diabetes Institute. Dr. Walker is the elected Chair of the American Diabetes Association National Health Disparities Committee and a member of the the Chronic Diseases & Conditions Priority Area Workgroup (PAW) of the Florida State Health Improvement Plan (SHIP). Dr Walker has also served on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s scientific review committee. Dr. Walker’s research as a medical sociologist focuses on reducing health disparities in diabetes with a particular focus on communities receiving care at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC). Dr. Walker is the recipient of seven teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development awards and received the Diversity Champion award from the UF Graduate School in 2021 and was featured as “People to Know” by Diabetes Forecast Magazine in 2019.