Leadership
William T. Riley, Ph.D.
Director, Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR)
Associate Director for Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, NIH
Areas of expertise: behavioral assessment, research methodology, tech-based interventions, tobacco control.
Deputy Director
Areas of expertise: behavior change interventions, mechanisms/processes of behavior change, implementation science, and obesity and diabetes research.
Associate Director
Areas of expertise: clinical pain research, complementary and alternative medicine, research methodologies, patient reported outcomes, public private partnership development.
Staff
Farheen Akbar, M.P.H.
Health Science Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: portfolio analysis, policy and evaluation, public health, population health, behavioral and social science research in aging.
Deshirée Belis, M.P.H.
Health Science Policy Analyst
Areas of Expertise: global health, implementation research, non-communicable diseases, portfolio analysis, evaluation, public health, health inequities.
Dara R. Blachman-Demner, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: dissemination and implementation research, community based-participatory research, multi-level prevention and intervention research, developmental psychopathology.
Kristin Brethel-Haurwitz, Ph.D.
Social & Behavioral Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: empathy, social decision making, cognitive neuroscience.
Alyssa Dolge, M.P.H.
Public Health Analyst
Areas of expertise: budget, contracts, cancer control research, health care delivery research
William Elwood, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: basic social and behavioral mechanisms and processes, community-engaged research, cultural and communication processes, health literacy and numeracy, management of chronic conditions, minority health issues.
Elizabeth Ginexi, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: tobacco, alcohol, drug use, mental health prevention and treatment, policy interventions, statistical and computational modeling.
Dana Greene, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: behavioral neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, circadian biology, radiation biology, animal models.
Beth Jaworski, Ph.D.
Social & Behavioral Sciences Administrator
Areas of expertise: digital health interventions, health experience design and equity, public mental health, media framing, dissemination and implementation science.
Erica Moore
Communications Director
Areas of expertise: health communications, strategic planning, traditional and digital media, stakeholder engagement, branding, media relations, crisis communications.
Kathryn (Katie) Morris, M.P.H.
Health Science Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: global health, portfolio analysis, policy and evaluation, public health, maternal and child health intervention research, reproductive health research.
Sarika Parasuraman, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Health Science Policy Analyst
Areas of expertise: health services research, child and adolescent health, policy and evaluation, social determinants of health, health systems, portfolio analysis.
Paula Roberts
Program Specialist
Areas of expertise: budget, Co-Funding, Personal Property, procurement.
Michael Spittel, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: innovative methodology and statistics, survey and data systems, and population health.
Erica Spotts, Ph.D.
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: behavior genetics, developmental psychology, interpersonal relationships, family systems, depression.
Deborah Young-Hyman, Ph.D., CDE
Health Scientist Administrator
Areas of expertise: bio-psychosocial interventions, psychosocial treatment of diabetes, adherence to prevention/treatment behaviors, clinical trial design in BSSR.
