Jonathan Bricker, PhD
Dr. Jonathan Bricker develops and tests innovative ways to help people change behaviors that affect health, such as smoking. He’s particularly interested in the delivery of interventions via platforms such as the web, smartphone apps and telephone counseling. His team conducts randomized clinical trials that compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy, or ACT, with traditional cognitive behavioral therapy for smoking cessation. (ACT encourages people to notice and accept their urges to smoke with the understanding that those urges will subside.) Dr. Bricker plans to expand this ACT approach to treat obesity and alcohol addiction.
Ji-Hyun Lee, DrPH
Dr. Ji-Hyun Lee is a Professor in the Department of Biostatistics at the University of Florida and Director of the Biostatistics and Quantitative Sciences Shared Resource (BQS-SR) at the University of Florida Health Cancer Center (UFHCC). Her responsibility at the UHFCC is to provide strategic leadership, administrative direction, and biostatistical/quantitative support for the integrated and rigorous research at the Cancer Center.
For this PCORI project, she will be the senior biostatistician who oversees the study design, data management and analysis, and result interpretations.
Christopher R Cogle, MD
Christopher R. Cogle, M.D. is the Chief Medical Officer for Florida Medicaid and a tenured professor at the University of Florida. He is a practicing oncologist, distinguished as a Clinical Research Scholar and a National Academy of Medicine Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine. Dr. Cogle founded and directs the Florida Health Policy Leadership Academy at the Bob Graham Center for Public Service, which train community leaders in health policy. As Chief Medical Officer for Florida Medicaid, Dr. Cogle leads the health and health care of over 5 million mothers, infants, disabled people, and seniors in Florida. He is fully engaged with government agencies, health insurance companies, physicians and other health care providers, health systems, hospitals, and patient advocacy groups to improve population health, including tobacco prevention and cessation. In addition, Dr. Cogle co-leads the state’s Chronic Disease workgroup for Florida’s State Health Improvement Plan. As Chairperson of the Promote UP Stakeholder Advisory Committee, Dr. Cogle leads thought-leaders from multiple disciplines in discussions on how to implement mHealth technology. Dr. Cogle combines his experience in biomedical research, clinical care in a center of excellence, health services research, and health policy leadership to improve the health of all Floridians.
Ryan Theis, PhD
Dr. Theis’s training is in medical anthropology, and he has practical experience in numerous qualitative approaches and methods, including ethnographic research, participant observation, in depth interviewing, and focus groups, as well as quantitative field and analytic techniques used in anthropology such as cultural domain analysis. Dr. Theis has significant experience in program evaluation of health services, including extensive work with state Medicaid health plans. As co-investigator and qualitative research methods expert, Dr. Theis will contribute to the final design of the interview moderator guides, conducting interviews, and to the coordination of stakeholder meetings. He will also participate in regular meetings of the research team and in various dissemination activities.
Maribeth Williams, MD
Dr. Maribeth Williams is a family medicine physician and a co-investigator in this study. She also trains family medicine residents and tries to model the importance of engaging in research that seeks to improve health outcomes that matter to patients. Dr. Williams initially became involved in tobacco cessation in college while working as a tobacco cessation counselor. She now continues her passion as a physician through research and continued cessation efforts. She is hopeful this study will provide new or improved strategies.
Shirley Bloodworth, RN, MN
Shirley has lived in Gainesville, Florida since 1951, eventually receiving a master’s degree in Psychiatric Nursing from UF. She went on to serve in the UF College of Nursing in an adjunct position as Nursing Director of the Shand’s/UF Clinical Research Center until retiring in 1980. She then went on to provide Alzheimer’s Disease education and develop advanced care planning seminars and end-of-life education programs with Haven Hospice for 11 years before retiring a second time. Shirley is very active in the community and became a OneFlorida+ Citizen Scientist in 2015. She loves staying abreast of new and cutting-edge developments in science, medicine, and community engagement efforts. As a former smoker, she is excited to provide advice and support as a member of the Patient and Community User Group.