MW CTR-IN Contact Info

There are multiple ways to reach out and contact us. Start by checking out the options below. We look forward to hearing from you.

Contact Information

To contact the MW CTR-IN Program – Administrative Core by phone, you may call (702) 895-1079 between 8:30 am to 5:30 pm, Monday – Friday, excluding holidays. Or, you may email us at ctr-in@unlv.edu at any time.

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Find a Local Concierge, Mentor, Collaborator, Community Outreach Support Specialist, or Biostatistician

The MW CTR-IN Program Network is full of experienced professionals who can answer your questions and provide expert guidance. Don’t know where to start? Start by contacting your local concierge. Looking for a mentor? We even have Community Outreach Support Specialists and Biostatisticians on-hand ready to help you get started!

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FIND COMMUNITY OUTREACH SUPPORT

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Screenshot of the MW CTR-IN Directory of Concierges on all partner campuses

MW CTR-IN Concierges Directory

Find the latest contact information for all MW CTR-IN Concierges at each partner campus.

Go to the Concierge Directory »

Screenshot of the MW CTR-IN Directory of Community Support Directors on all partner campuses

MW CTR-IN Community Support Specialists Directory

Find the latest contact information for all MW CTR-IN Community Support Directors at each partner campus.

Community Support Directors Directory »

Screenshot of the MW CTR-IN Directory of Biostatisticians on all partner campuses

MW CTR-IN Biostatisticians Directory

Find the latest contact information for all MW CTR-IN Biostatisticians at each partner campus.

Go to the Biostatistician Directory »

Looking for a MW CTR-IN Administrator?

The MW CTR-IN Program is comprised of investigators and staff who are here to help facilitate all grant activities to make the program responsive to the needs of its diverse stakeholders.

MW CTR-IN Leadership

Francisco Sy, MD, MS, DrPH

Francisco Sy, MD, MS, DrPH

Principal Investigator

francisco.sy@unlv.edu
702.895.4243

Nancy Pandhi MD, MPH, PhD

Nancy Pandhi MD, MPH, PhD

CTSC Liaison

NPandhi@salud.unm.edu
505.272.1734

Beth Tigges, PhD, RN, PPCNP-BC, FAAN

Beth Tigges, PhD, RN, PPCNP-BC, FAAN

Director of the Tracking & Evaluation (T&E) Core

BTigges@salud.unm.edu
505.272.8158

Rachel Boren, PhD

Rachel Boren, PhD

Associate Director of the Tracking & Evaluation (T&E) Core

RBoren@nmsu.edu
575.646.6477

Jeffrey Ebersole, PhD

Jeffrey Ebersole, PhD

Co-Director of the Clinical Pilot Projects Program (CP3) Core

Jeffrey.Ebersole@unlv.edu
702.774.4152

Jay Shen, PhD

Jay Shen, PhD

Co-Director of the Clinical Pilot Projects Program (CP3) Core

Jay.Shen@unlv.edu
702.895.5830

Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, MPH

Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD, MPH

Associate Director of the Clinical Pilot Projects Program (CP3) Core

Jagdish@nmsu.edu
575.646.4300

Lorraine S. Evangelista, PhD, RN, FAAN

Lorraine S. Evangelista, PhD, RN, FAAN

Research Director
Co-Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core

Lorraine.Evangelista@unlv.edu
702.895.5935

Rei Serafica, PhD, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CNE

Rei Serafica, PhD, MSN, APRN, PMHNP-BC, CNE

Co-Director and Site Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core

Reimund.Serafica@unlv.edu
702.895.5746

Judith Owens-Manley, PhD

Judith Owens-Manley, PhD

Associate Director & Site Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core

Jowensmanley@Alaska.edu

907.887.4003

Rebecca Palacios, PhD

Rebecca Palacios, PhD

Associate Director & Site Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core

Rpalacio@NMSU.edu

575.646.4309

Deborah Kuhls, MD, FACS

Deborah Kuhls, MD, FACS

Associate Director of the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core

deborah.kuhls@unlv.edu

702.823.3702

Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD, FAST

Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD, FAST

Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core
Co-Director of the ATRIP Program

LMyaskovsky@salud.unm.edu
505.272.0070

Ruben K. Dagda, PhD

Ruben K. Dagda, PhD

Associate Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core
Director of the Advance To Funding (ATF) Program
Director of the Grant Writing Workshop (GWW)

RDagda@med.unr.edu
775.784.4121

Weiyu Mao, PhD, MSW, MPhil

Weiyu Mao, PhD, MSW, MPhil

Associate Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core, Education Unit
Co-Chair of the Curriculum Advisory Group

Weiyum@unr.edu
775.682.8710

Brach Poston, PhD

Brach Poston, PhD

Associate Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core, Education Unit
Co-Director of the ATRIP Program
Co-Chair of the Curriculum Advisory Group

Brach.Poston@unlv.edu
702.895.5329

Charlotte Gard, PhD

Charlotte Gard, PhD

Associate Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core, Mentoring Unit

Cgard@nmsu.edu
575.646.5500

Jack Chen, PhD, MB(ASCP), HCLD(ABB)

Jack Chen, PhD, MB(ASCP), HCLD(ABB)

Associate Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core, Mentoring Unit

J.Chen@alaska.edu
907.474.6966

Chad Cross, PhD, MFT, PSTAT (R)

Chad Cross, PhD, MFT, PSTAT (R)

Co-Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology
and Research Design (BERD) Core

Chad.Cross@unlv.edu
702.895.4345

Juli Petereit, PhD, MS

Juli Petereit, PhD, MS

Co-Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Core

JPetereit@unr.edu
775.784.4359

Mark Greenwood, PhD

Mark Greenwood, PhD

Associate Core Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Core

Greenwood@montana.edu
406.994.1962

Lauren Lessard, PhD, MPH

Lauren Lessard, PhD, MPH

Associate Core Director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) Core

LnLessard@Alaska.edu
907.786.6585

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Chad Cross, PhD, MFT, PStat(R) is the Co-Associate Director for the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Research and Design (BERD) Core for the MW CTR-IN Program. In this role, Dr. Cross provides expertise in scientific research, biostatistical analysis, and Core leadership. Dr. Cross has been a faculty member at several universities (currently at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas), worked for approximately 10 years in federal service (US Environmental Protection Agency and the Veterans Health Administration), and worked in private industry as a scientific subject matter expert and statistician.

Dr. Cross is trained as a multidisciplinary scientist. He received is PhD in Ecological Sciences (focus in Quantitative Ecology and Statistics) from Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia. He additionally holds several master’s degrees: Computational & Applied Mathematics/Statistics (Old Dominion University), Medical Entomology & Nematology (University of Florida), and Counseling (University of Nevada, Las Vegas). His undergraduate training was at Purdue University, where he earned two bachelor’s degrees, one in biological sciences and the other in wildlife science. Dr. Cross has several active areas of research. These include: (1) Public Health: Investigations in population health related to chronic and infectious diseases, with special emphasis on quantitative methodology and use of large databases; (2) Epidemiology & Biostatistics: Applications of statistics and epidemiological principles to problems in the health sciences – for example clinical trials, multivariate models, and population sampling strategies; (3) Medical Entomology & Parasitology: Applied research and field work in arthropod-borne and parasitic diseases, including population-based estimation of disease burden and the intersection of medical entomology and forensic science; (4) Quantitative Ecology: Applications of statistics to problems in the environmental and ecological sciences – for example Bayesian models for estimating avian fatality around wind turbines and mark-recapture sampling; and (5) Psychometrics: Applications of statistics to problems in the psychological sciences – for example randomized controlled trials for interventions and pattern recognition for finding clusters of patients with shared pathology.

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Brach Poston, PhD, is the Associate Director of the Educational Resources unit of the Professional Development (PD) Core and the Director of the Ambassador Translational Research In Progress Program (ATRIP) for the Mountain West Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Network (MW CTR-IN). He is an Associate Professor in the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences Department. He teaches Neurophysiology of Movement, Scientific Basis of Strength Training, and Advanced Strength Methods within the undergraduate program, and Neurophysiology of Movement and Biomechanics of Strength within the graduate program.

Dr. Poston’s research focuses primarily on the use of non-invasive brain stimulation (transcranial direct current stimulation and transcranial magnetic stimulation) to improve motor skill and learning in Parkinson’s disease, aging, and young adults. He also conducts research on strength training and muscle fatigue as well as concussion in boxing and mixed martial arts.

Before coming to UNLV, Dr. Poston was a project scientist at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas. Prior to this position, he completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in the Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke at the National Institutes of Health. He also received postdoctoral training at Arizona State University in neural and motor control.

Dr. Poston earned his Ph.D. in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado-Boulder, a Master’s in Exercise Physiology from the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and a Bachelor’s in Physical Education from Southwest Missouri State University. He has received research funding from NIH/NINDS, Mountain West CTR-IN, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Poston has also served on several NASA human performance grant review panels and will become Director of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Ph.D. program at UNLV in 2022.

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Larissa Myaskovsky, PhD, is the Director of the Professional Development (PD) Core, Director for the Mountain West CTR-IN’s Ambassador Translational Research in Progress (ATRIP) Program, and Director of Mentoring Unit for the Mountain West CTR-IN Program. She is a tenured Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Director of the Center Healthcare Equity in Kidney Disease at the University of New Mexico, Health Sciences Center.

Dr. Myaskovsky received her BA in Psychology with Specialization in Women’s Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, her MA in General-Experimental Psychology from California State University, Northridge, and a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, and a fellowship in Health Services Research at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. With more than 20 years of research experience and funding, her NIH and VA-funded research focuses on the social determinants of health and using a multi-method and multi-disciplinary approach to identify and understand disparities in healthcare processes and outcomes, and to develop interventions to reduce health disparities in vulnerable populations. Before joining the UNM faculty in 2017, Dr. Myaskovsky was a tenured Associate Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, and Clinical and Translational Science at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, and completed a year-long NIH-funded Professional Mentoring Skills Enhancing Diversity leadership training program through the National Research Mentoring Network, and was the 2017 recipient of the Philip Troen, MD Excellence in Medical Student Research Mentoring Award. She has taught medical writing and presentation, research grant design and development, measurement design and development, and healthcare disparities research methods to early career faculty, fellows, graduate and medical students. Dr. Myaskovsky is passionate about research education, and supporting scholars and trainees as they assemble an independent research program. Her mentorship and leadership experience provides a strong basis for leading the MW CTR-IN Professional Development Core.

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Weiyu Mao, PhD, MSW, MPhil is an Associate Director of the Educational Resources in the Professional Development (PD) Core of the Mountain West Clinical and Translational Research Infrastructure Network (MW CTR-IN) Program. Dr. Mao is a tenured Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Nevada, Reno. Dr. Mao received her Master of Social Work, PhD, and post-doctoral training from the University of Southern California (USC) as well as her Master of Philosophy in Social Welfare from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Bachelor of Law from Nankai University, China.

Dr. Mao’s research program aims to improve health and quality of life for vulnerable older adults and their families. Dr. Mao’s current research has focused on the investigations of social determinants of health (including oral health) in both heritage- and receiving- cultures. Dr. Mao strives to further the understanding of health disparities (including oral health disparities) among older ethnic and racial minority populations (e.g., older Asians and older Asian Americans) and explicate how social determinants, especially understudied psychosocial determinants, are associated with varying exposures and vulnerabilities to health inequities.

Dr. Mao has been gravitating towards interdisciplinary research and leading interdisciplinary teams, including collaborators from sociology, nursing, public health, and medicine. Dr. Mao’s work has been featured in high impact peer reviewed journals, including The Gerontologist, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Journal of Dental Research, Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology, and The International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. Dr. Mao is currently working on two pilot projects funded by the Asian Research Center for Minority Aging Research (Asian RCMAR), National Institute on Aging and by Division of Aging and Disability Services, Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Mao has a passion for advocating, promoting, and supporting research and related activities.

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Francisco S. Sy, MD, DrPH is the Principal Investigator (PI) of the MW CTR-IN Program. He is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) School of Public Health. Dr. Sy earned his Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) in Immunology & Infectious Diseases in 1984 from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and his Master of Science (SM) in Tropical Public Health in 1981 from Harvard T.F. Chan School of Public Health. He obtained his MD degree in 1975 and BS Pre-Med in 1970 from the University of the Philippines.

Dr. Sy worked at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 12 years. In 2004, he was appointed as a Health Scientist Administrator in the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) where he developed and managed the NIMHD Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) Program. He also managed the NIMHD Loan Repayment Program and the Research Endowment Program. In 2007, Dr. Sy was promoted to the position of Director of Extramural Activities and Scientific Programs at NIMHD. As the DEA Director, Dr. Sy was responsible for the scientific and administrative management of the division, and served as the principal advisor to the NIMHD Director on programmatic resource decisions and research administration policies. He provided leadership and oversight of the Grants Management Office, Scientific Review Office, and the Scientific Programs Office at NIMHD. Dr. Sy advocated and wrote the justifications for adding sexual and gender minorities (SGM) in the list of health disparities populations which was approved by the NIH Director and Secretary of HHS in 2016. When he retired from NIH in May 2016, his colleagues at NIH, CDC and the Federal Asian Pacific American Council (FAPAC) created the Francisco Sy Excellence in Mentorship Award. It is an annual award given to an outstanding scientist who has excelled in mentoring junior scientists at HHS.

Dr. Sy worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for 4 years. He was a Senior Health Scientist in the Program Evaluation Branch, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. He was a member of the CDC SARS Outbreak Investigation Team in 2003. He led the CDC SARS Community Outreach Team in Asian communities in the U.S. to mitigate the fear and stigma associated with SARS. Dr. Sy was an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at University of South Carolina School of Public Health and taught infectious disease epidemiology for 15 years. Dr. Sy developed and continues to serve since 1988 as the Editor of AIDS Education and Prevention- An Interdisciplinary Journal, a bimonthly peer reviewed international journal published by Guilford Publications in New York.

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