Assistant Professor of Diversity Science and Well-Being in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Director of the Social Neuroscience of Pain Disparities Laboratory

My research program is focused on the problem of, and is ultimately dedicated to combatting and eliminating, disparities in pain. Pain disparities are profound and a source of avoidable suffering and disability. Eliminating disparities in pain is a matter of justice as well as public health. I incorporate various methodologies and take a multi-level approach to understand how and why the pain of socially minoritized groups is undermined and undertreated, as well as how these experiences and other forms of injustice influence the experience and physiological processes related to pain. In my teaching, I also enjoy taking inter- and trans-disciplinary perspectives on topics related to health and well-being, as well as teaching early career and new researchers in my laboratory and in my research methods course.

Contact: vmathur@tamu.edu https://mathurlab.sites.tamu.edu/

Visiting Assistant Professor and ACES Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Social & Personality)

My research investigates the origins and social processes that support individuals in developing an understanding of justice and learning how to care for others in an inequitable and unjust world. My work addresses two key questions: How do we come to care about each other and about justice within the family? How do we become just in the face of inequality? To investigate these questions, I employ a mixed methodology that places the experiential reality of children and their families at the forefront. The long-term goal of my work is to characterize how cultural, societal, and family practices influence individual moral development, with the ultimate aim of supporting the creation of interventions that contribute to individuals’ development into more caring and just individuals.

Contact: amidgette@tamu.edu

Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Industrial/Organizational) and Associate Head for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Texas A&M

I am an Assistant Professor of Industrial/Organizational Psychology and Diversity Sciences, and Associate Head for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Texas A&M. My program of research broadly focuses on understanding and improving the working lives of stigmatized employees. I am particularly interested in examining strategies in which these employees can engage, such as disclosing or acknowledging their identities, to effectively remediate the workplace obstacles that they face. I have conducted various interrelated projects that examine how the effectiveness of expressing one’s identity is impacted by the extent to which stigmas are previously known, visible, or discovered by others over time. This is a novel area, given that disclosures have previously been conceptualized as a dichotomous, all-or-nothing phenomenon. This work has been published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Vocational Behavior, and Harvard Business Review.

Contact: isaacsabat5@tamu.edu https://pridelab.weebly.com/

Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Clinical) and

Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences

My research aims to understand why particular groups of people experience a greater health and disease burden and to promote health equity among youth and families. I direct the CHANGE* lab, where scholars engage with communities to understand individual, familial, community, and cultural risk and protective factors that impact people of the global majority, as well as marginalized and underserved populations. We develop strengths-based, culturally-responsive programs and interventions that center intersectional identities of race, ethnicity, gender, class, size, and sexuality to enhance well-being, reduce stigma, and promote self-empowerment.

*Challenging Health disparities in Adolescents and Nurturing Global Empowerment

Contact: idiathurston@tamu.edu https://www.changelabtexas.com/

Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Culture at Texas A&M University. My research focuses on the contextual factors and interpersonal relationships that support student’s motivation to achieve their personal and professional goals – particularly for students from groups historically underrepresented pursuing careers in STEM fields.

Contact: prhernandez@tamu.edu

Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Affiliated Professor in the Department of Sociology and Africana Studies Program, and PPRI Professor and Fellow in the Public Policy Research Institute

My expertise and experience in the area of health policy and social science research, my proven ability to conceptualize, build, and lead a nationally-recognized education and training program and an exceptional research institute, my established record of research accomplishments and scholarly publications, and my resolve to make a difference have prepared me to provide exemplary leadership, teaching, research, and mentorship.

My Bachelor’s Degree in Economics is from the University of Michigan College of Literature, Sciences, and Arts in 1987 and a Ph.D. in Policy Development and Program Evaluation at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of Education and Human Development in 1992. I completed two-year postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and School of Social Work as a Paul Cornely Postdoctoral Scholar and Ford Foundation / Rockefeller Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in 1994. I also completed two-year postdoctoral training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research as a Health Services Research Postdoctoral Fellow funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality National Research Service Award in 1998. I have been appointed (2002-2025) as a Senior Research Fellow at the UNC-CH Sheps Center.

My research interests include examination of epidemiologic patterns of health outcomes that disproportionately affect African Americans; minority health and health disparities; health policy and health services as evidenced by numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts in prominent journals. I have served as PI and co-PI on grant research totaling over $39 million dollars funded by the NIH, AHRQ, CMS, the U.S. DoD, and RWJF, which pertain to health services, minority health, racial health disparities research, and health policy.

Principal Investigator: "From Workforce Diversity to Key Cultural Competency Strategies to End Racial Disparities in Opioid Treatment Outcomes Across the Nation" (5 R01 MD014639-01A1). National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. 12/1/2020 - 11/30/2025. $3,163,939.00.

Contact: dannhoward@tamu.edu

Professor in the Department of Entomology

I am a Professor in the Department of Entomology at Texas A&M University (TAMU). My laboratory conducts research aimed at understanding the modulation of species interactions among parasites and their hosts as a result of population genetics and evolutionary factors. I am also interested in understanding how public perceptions of novel biotechnology products are formed. I was appointed by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to co-author the 2017 report on Preparing for Future Products of Biotechnology. Currently, I am serving as an ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) advisor to the US Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as a content advisor to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health Gene Convene Virtual Institute and as a Research Fellow of the Institute for Science, Technology and Public Policy at The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. I have worked for several years to increase awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion issues in academia. I am a recipient of the Entomological Society of America Distinguished Achievement Award for the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion and a recipient of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean’s Outstanding Achievement Award for Excellence in Diversity.

Contact: raul.medina@ag.tamu.edu