Li-Shiun Chen, MD, MD, MPH, ScD
I am a physician scientist with research interest in improving clinical care of smoking cessation. My research areas include smoking cessation treatments, pharmacogenetics/personalized medicine, cross-populational studies of smoking, gene-environmental interactions, and longitudinal studies. Our goal is to allow physicians and patients to use most effective treatments with least side effects, and better predict health risks. I have received NIH funding to conduct different research projects on smoking cessation and treatments. Since 2015, I have been a member in the NIDA Genetics Consortium, a group of leading scientists spearheading this nation’s efforts to understand genetic causes of substance dependence. In addition, I am a board-certified psychiatrist and see patients at BJC Behavioral Health Clinics. I am a co-director for the course of cross-cultural psychiatry for Washington University Psychiatry Residency Program, teaching faculty for the MPHS program, and I serve as a reviewer for a number of journals and an ad-hoc reviewer for NIH study sections.
I am an organizational psychologist and clinical scientist with training in implementation science, particularly as applied to the treatment of tobacco and other substance use disorders. With this organizational change perspective, my overarching goal is to address the underutilization of effective treatments by designing, optimizing, and implementing organization- and system-level interventions to improve the access and quality of behavioral health care. My research also aims to equip individuals and health care professionals with well-designed clinical tools that promote the implementation and use of effective substance use disorder treatments and cancer prevention interventions. I have extended this research agenda into the field of genomics, using implementation science to translate genomic discoveries into multilevel interventions for patients and health care professionals.
As a physician scientist, I lead several studies funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study environmental and genetic contributions to smoking behaviors, addiction and other psychiatric and medical illnesses. Recently my work has moved into the translation of scientific discoveries into clinical care. I am an active member in the National Institute on Drug Abuse Genetics Consortium, a national group of scientists who are leading efforts to understand the underlying genetic causes of substance use disorder. I was appointed to the National Advisory Council for the National Institute on Drug Abuse by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Xavier Becerra. I was also recently appointed to the National Advisory Council for the National Human Genome Research Institute to advise the NIH on genomics research. I am a member of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee, which advises the FDA on the scientific basis of regulating tobacco products, and I am Co-Chair of the Smoking Cessation Panel for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. In recognition of my research accomplishments, I was awarded the 2014 Alton Ochsner Award Relating Smoking and Disease and the 2018 Langley Award for Basic Research on Nicotine and Tobacco.
Nina Smock, BA
Ms. Smock has been at Washington University since 2007 contributing to various projects focused on occupational health, precision medicine, and improving clinical care of smoking cessation. Ms. Smock has a proven track record of leading teams to success by leveraging extensive experience to guide individuals towards achieving shared goals and objectives. She has expertise in study design, subject recruitment, and health informatics integrations for smoking cessation. She is also experienced in focus groups, data management, qualitative data coding, grant writing, and manuscript writing. Her dedication is to enhance worker and community health by comprehensively understanding and improving health communication strategies.
Tricia Salyer, MEd
Ms. Salyer has over 15 years of experience working in biomedical research at Washington University School of Medicine. During her career, she has managed studies investigating the genetics of alcohol use disorder and smoking behaviors, and she has been involved with several research studies focused on returning genetic results to research participants. Ms. Salyer’s expertise includes project management, study design, clinical phenotyping, and research compliance.
Mr. Rammaha holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Health Behavior Research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Sciences from Saint Louis University. He has vast knowledge and experience working in various healthcare, community, and research settings. As an aspiring physician, he is passionate about collaborating with healthcare workers and clinical scientists to advance medical research and knowledge to improve health outcomes, particularly in underserved communities. Currently, he is focused on coordinating research studies that involve returning personalized clinical and genetic results to research participants, with the aim of promoting health-preventative behaviors.
Audrey Aton, BA
Audrey is a Certified Clinical Research Professional with over five years of experience overseeing phase I-III clinical trials, including both industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated studies. She has expertise in patient recruitment and enrollment, data quality management, and both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Audrey graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Missouri with a bachelor’s degree in public health, complemented by a minor in philosophy, as well as women’s and gender studies.
Lizzie Sekarski, BA
Lizzie received her B.S. in Psychology, along with minors in Biology, Criminology and Sociology from the University of Missouri-Columbia. During undergrad she established her passion for research and treating substance use disorders. She has worked with multiple psychologists as a Research Assistant at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Her research interests include substance abuse, co-morbidities in substance use and mental health disorders, and pharmacological and behavioral substance use treatments. She would like to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology in the future.
Aaron Villamayor, BS
Aaron received his B.S. in Psychology and minors in Biology and Cognitive Science from Truman State University. While in undergrad, he found a calling to pursue scientific research and his passion to further understand human behaviors, emotions, and decision making, particularly from the lens of cognitive and personality psychology. His previous research experience includes an investigation on how college students with anxiety or depression succeed on academic tasks, cross-cultural differences in romantic attitudes, and differences in personality and attachment between individuals in and out of romantic relationships. He wants to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology.
Karyn Lisker, BA
Karyn Lisker graduated from Emory University with a B.A. in Psychology and Music (Vocal Performance) with Highest Honors. During her time at Emory, she collaborated with university administration to advocate for the mental health needs of the student body, focusing on optimizing wellness services. Karyn also served as a research assistant at the Marcus Autism Center, where she worked on implementation science projects aimed at enhancing culturally informed services and research for Spanish-speaking Latinx children and families. Her research interests center on understanding diverse coping mechanisms and mental resilience. In the future, Karyn plans to pursue a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology or a Psy.D.
Reeya Joseph
Reeya Joseph is a Senior at Washington University in St. Louis, where she is pursuing a B.S. in Genomics & Computational Biology with a Minor in Computer Science. Her academic interests are centered around precision medicine and exploring how advancements in genomics can enhance medicinal applications. Throughout her studies, she has gained experience in computational biology and computer science in hopes to blend her passions into transferrable changes to contribute to personalized healthcare practices. Post-graduation, Reeya plans to pursue an M.D. with the goal of becoming a physician, dedicated to integrating genomics into clinical practice for improved patient care.
Jingling Chen, BA
Ms. Chen is an experienced programmer and statistical data analyst who has been with Washington University for over 20 years. She has extensive experience in programming computerized interviews and managing data for large, complex studies.
Louis Fox, BA
Mr. Fox is a biostatistician with expertise in constructing/analyzing research databases using a wide variety of statistical methods. He is responsible for maintenance of clinical and research databases, software development, and implementation of sophisticated computational techniques related to the comprehensive analysis of research data.