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IRB Committee

Bios

Dawn Weatherford, Ph.D.:

IRB Chair

Dr. Weatherford is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Texas A&M University-San Antonio.  In her role as director of the Memory, Attention, and Perception (MAP) Research Laboratory, she guides graduate and undergraduate students in investigations within the realm of cognitive psychology. Her specific research area involves the role of expertise in information processing, most prominently on facial processing and problem-solving.  Her interests also extend to more applied areas at the intersection between cognitive psychology and other fields such as health and legal settings.

Jesus Jimenez-Andrade, Ph.D.:

IRB Vice Chair

Jesus R. Jimenez-Andrade, Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of Accounting and Finance at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, shows young promise in researching about the impact of accounting reputation in modern society. An empirically and qualitatively oriented researcher, Dr. Jimenez-Andrade focuses on understanding the consequences of corporate accounting scandals, why these events occur, and how they can be prevented. His research has been presented in specialized academic fora in the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy, France, Spain, and Cyprus. Recipient of the Michael J. Barrett Doctoral Dissertation Award from The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foundation and the Mexican Science and Technology Council Fellowship. 

Srinivas Mummidi, Ph.D.:

IRB Vice Chair

Dr. Mummidi is a Professor in the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Veterinary Medicine from P.V. Narasimha Rao Telangana Veterinary University, Hyderabad, India, Master’s degree in Immunology from Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, India and Ph.D. in Immunobiology from Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. He completed his post-doctoral training in molecular genetics at the University of Texas Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas. He has a long-term interest in understanding the functional mechanisms by which genetic variants modulate gene expression in the context of disease pathogenesis. He is also a Principal Investigator of a study that examines the metabolic complications in Persons with HIV-1 infection. He has published more than 75 peer reviewed papers, many in journals of high repute. His work has been supported through funding from the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the American Heart Association. He also serves on several national level grant review panels, editorial boards of multiple journals.

John Smith, Ph.D.:

Dr. Smith's primary research interest includes the accuracy and use of activity monitors in assessing physical activity levels and assessment of physical fitness, especially in the limb-loss population. Other interests include the use of technology to track activity across various populations, and the use of field tests to determine health and fitness performance.

Eunhye Kwon, Ph.D.:

Dr. Eunhye Kwon’s research interests are focused on effectiveness of infusion approached curriculum in Physical Education Teacher Education, fitness program for individuals with disabilities, and assessment in physical activity level of K-12 students with intellectual disability. Dr. Kwon also engages in various research activities implementing diverse research methods such as meta analysis, survey research, and animal study.

Brian Brantley, Ph.D.:

Dr. Brian Brantley is an Associate Professor of Communication at Texas A&M-San Antonio in the department of Department of Sociology & Communications. His research interests include media representation, political communication, and sports. 

Michael Proctor, Psy.D:

Prisoner Advocate

Dr. Michael Proctor is a Lecturer in criminology at Texas A&M University–San Antonio and received his Psy.D. in psychology with a specialization in justice studies from the University of Arizona – Global Campus.  He has been teaching for Texas A&M University–San Antonio since 2005. His research interests are corrections, gangs, crime causation, and victimology.

Kimberly McCoy, MBA:

IRB Community Member/Community Representation

Ms. McCoy serves as the current President of StewartMadison. Until recently, she was an executive in the Medical Device industry, working in regulatory/ quality positions. She has more than 20+ years of experience in regulatory positions. A certified Regulatory Affairs professional, she served as the Chair of ASQ Medical Device Division. Ms. McCoy has also worked with many startup and multinational companies.  

Gabriel Catano, M.D., M.Sc:

IRB Community Member/Community Representation

Dr. Gabriel Catano is a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio / Department of Medicine. He received his medical degree from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Bogota, a Master of Science in Clinical Investigation and Translational Medicine, and a Certificate in Biomedical Data Science from the UTHSCSA. His research background includes basic and clinical studies in immunogenetics and therapeutics of several infectious diseases.

María V. Acevedo-Aquino, Ph.D.:

Dr. María V. Acevedo-Aquino is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood in the department of Educator and Leadership Preparation at Texas A&M-San Antonio. Her research interests are global and multicultural children’s literature, especially stories portraying the lives of Hispanic individuals and communities, intercultural understanding of young children, and story, inquiry and play as transformative experiences in early childhood education. 

Mohammad Abdel-Rahman (Al-Ramahi), D.Sc.:

Dr. Mohammad Abdel-Rahman (Al-Ramahi) is an Assistant Professor of CIS at Texas A&M-San Antonio/Department of of Accounting and Finance. Before joining Texas A&M, he was working as an Assistant Professor of Informatics and CIS at Indiana University East/School of business and economics. Dr. Al-Ramahi has received his doctoral degree in Information Systems from Dakota State University/College of Business and Information Systems (BIS) in 2017. His specialization is Knowledge Management and Decision Support Systems. His research interests are in data analytics and its applications in various areas, and Information Systems design. He has published in refereed journals such as ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems (TMIS), ACM Transactions on Social Computing (TSC) and Journal of Information Science and has presented his research at a number of highly reputed peer-reviewed Information Systems conferences such as ACM SIGMIS, ICIS, WITS, HICSS and AMCIS. He is a member of the Association for Information Systems (AIS).

Temo Luna-Nevarez, Ph.D.:

Dr. Temo Luna-Nevarez is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Department of Management and Marketing. With a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University and prior experience at Sacred Heart University, Dr. Luna-Nevarez’s work has appeared in leading marketing journals. His research branches out into three distinct areas: (1) understanding consumer behavior in social media and digital environments, (2) exploring the effectiveness of technology-based marketing communications for consumer health promotion, and (3) evaluating the impact of new digital technologies in marketing and marketing education. Dr. Luna-Nevarez’s research has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Internet Commerce, the Journal of Destination Marketing and Management, and Health Marketing Quarterly.

Rector Arya, Ph.D.: 

Dr. Rector Arya is a genetic epidemiologist and statistical geneticist with more than 20 years of experience in conducting family and population-based genetic and epidemiological observational studies in human populations including Mexican Americans (MAs). Dr. Arya's research is focused on the detection, localization, and identification of variants/genes influencing complex diseases, disorders such as obesity, type 2 diabetes (T2D), metabolic syndrome (MS), rheumatoid arthritis, NAFLD, gallbladder disease, and other cardiovascular disease risk factors using the state-of-the-art analytical techniques including genome-wide linkage, association (GWAS), whole genome sequence (WGS) analyses, and candidate gene studies. Dr. Arya's areas of expertise include the study of genetic-environmental factors and their interactions influencing complex diseases in MA children and adults, and identification of disease susceptibility variants/genes. Dr. Arya has been a co-investigator on several NIH-funded collaborative studies such as SAFGS, SAFBWS, SAFARI, and T2D-GENES/AMP T2D-GENES and INDIGENIUS Consortia, which were designed to identify genetic determinants of complex disease phenotypes in MAs - adults and children, respectively.