Associate Dean for Health Studies
Arsham Alamian, PhD, MSc, FACE, a noted epidemiologist with expertise in chronic diseases research and public health systems, came onboard at the University of Miami School of Nursing and Health Studies (SONHS) on August 1 as an associate professor and associate dean for Health Studies, overseeing the school’s public health and health science programs.
Most recently Dr. Alamian was a tenured associate professor of epidemiology and director of the Master of Public Health program at East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health, where had been on faculty since 2011.
“I feel fortunate to have Dr. Alamian join our leadership team at this critical juncture for global public health,” said Dean Cindy L. Munro. “His impressive leadership skills and international epidemiological expertise make him a powerful asset as we navigate a safe, successful return to campus and as our faculty and students continue to tackle ongoing public health challenges at the local, national, and hemispheric level.”
As a researcher, Dr. Alamian has successfully obtained nearly $2.95 million in extramural funds. He is currently co-investigator (Co-I) on two NIH grants, including a study on the role of a novel adipokine on liver-adipose tissue and a study on the role of family dynamics in childhood obesity.
“UM SONHS offers a great opportunity to work as an administrator and as a faculty member with a talented group of faculty, staff, and students,” says Dr. Alamian. “Further, I am pleased that my research interests align with those of several wonderful researchers at the school.”
An elected fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and elected leader of the American Public Health Association, he has published 35 peer-reviewed manuscripts and authored 70 research presentations.
Fluent in English and French, Dr. Alamian completed a fellowship in public health with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He holds a doctoral degree in public health, with a specialization in epidemiology, from the University of Montreal; a master of science degree in pharmacy, with a pharmacoepidemiology specialization, from Laval University in Quebec City; and a BSc in physiology from McGill University in Montreal.
“I look forward to leading the public health and health science programs by continuing the school's tradition of delivering an excellent educational experience to a diverse body of students,” he says.
“We are grateful to Ashley Falcon, PhD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical, who served as interim director of undergraduate health studies,” says Dean Munro. “Dr. Falcon did an outstanding job this year of leading the health studies programs while we recruited Dr. Alamian as the new associate dean.”
Continuing Focus on Public Health
This past June, Guillermo “Willy” Prado, PhD, dean of the University of Miami Graduate School and UM’s vice provost for faculty affairs, added a primary appointment as professor at SONHS to his résumé. Recognized internationally as a top scholar in preventing drug abuse, sexual risk behaviors, and obesity among Hispanic adolescents, he has been principal investigator (PI), Co-I, or mentor on over $100 million of NIH funding. He co-developed the Familias Unidas family-based intervention to reduce health risk behaviors among Hispanic youth and is currently evaluating an online adaption of Familias Unidas for Hispanic youth in primary care. Dr. Prado serves as president of the Society for Prevention Research and director of the Investigator Development Core of the NIMHD/NIH-funded Center for Latino Research Opportunities (CLaRO). He is joined at SONHS by his research team: assistant scientist Yannine Estrada; senior research associate Maria Tapia; research assistants Maria Alfaro, Samantha Baudin, Melissa Rodriguez, and Rosalba Settalta; research support senior manager Maria Velazquez; and postdoctoral associate Alejandra Fernandez. A proud 'Cane, Prado earned an MS in statistics and a PhD in epidemiology and public health from UM.
Cynthia Lebron, PhD, MPH, joins SONHS August 15 as an assistant professor. A researcher focused on uncovering risk factors associated with early childhood obesity that lead to health disparities across race and ethnicity, Dr. Lebron recently concluded a study supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases that used machine learning to predict early childhood obesity among ethnically diverse families. She was previously a senior clinical research coordinator at the Jay Weiss Institute for Health Equity at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and held research and outreach positions at Miami Healthy Heart Initiative and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute at UM’s Miller School of Medicine. Lebron is an American Public Health Association 2019-2020 Maternal and Child Health Fellow. She earned her MPH degree and her PhD in prevention science and community health from the Miller School. She obtained a BS in health sciences from FIU.
New Faces in Nursing
Public health and nurse scientist Nicholas Metheny, PhD, MPH, BSN, RN, begins his assistant professorship at SONHS on August 15. A postdoctoral fellow from the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Dr. Metheny investigates community and structural drivers of intimate partner violence in marginalized populations, as well as sexual and LGBT health. He is currently an investigator on a project aimed at keeping women and children safe during COVID-19-related home confinement and is the PI on two grants funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. He was twice named a Rising Star of Research and Scholarship by Sigma and received the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Postdoctoral Training Award. He completed a PhD in Nursing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, an MPH in Global Health Policy at The George Washington University, an Accelerated BSN at the University of Pennsylvania, and a BA in public health and Hispanic studies at The College of William and Mary in Virginia.
Christopher Weidlich, BSN ’94, PhD ’13, PMHNP-BC, RN, returned to his alma mater July 13 as an assistant professor of clinical. He has spent the past two years as an assistant professor and a psychiatric nurse practitioner coordinator for the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner program at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Dr. Weidlich’s military career also started at the U, through the ROTC. He subsequently became a U.S. Army officer, serving 23 years as a psychiatric nurse at both inpatient and outpatient facilities in garrison and deployed, including two tours in Iraq. He is currently the PI on a grant-supported study of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in service members in a residential facility. In addition to earning BSN and PhD degrees from SONHS, Dr. Weidlich completed his MSN (APRN-PMH) at the University of Maryland.
