People

Program Director

K. Ann Horsburgh is a biological anthropologist, and the director of the SMU Molecular Anthropology Laboratories. Biological anthropology is the discipline that seeks to understand and explain biocultural variation in primates generally, and humans in particular, across both time and space. Crucial to the discipline is the rejection of any perception that nature and nurture, that biology and culture, can be considered dichotomous. Within biological anthropology, she specializes in molecular anthropology and use modern laboratory techniques to address classic anthropological questions. The lab embraces anthropology's long tradition of scavenging for insight across other disciplines and thus employs theoretical and methodological approaches from across the social and life sciences. Members of the SMU Molecular Anthropology Laboratories are currently working in two major areas: 1) understanding the prehistoric transition to food production in southern Africa as foragers, pastoralists and farmers came to occupy the same landscape employing analyses of both ancient and modern DNA and 2) formulating biocultural models of health and disease, in particular interrogating the role of stress in well-being, using a range of ethnographic methods and laboratory assays of endocrinological biomarkers and epigenetic marking. Horsburgh earned her BA (Anthropology), BSc (Biological Sciences) and MA (Hons, Anthropology) a the University of Auckland, and her PhD (Anthropology) at Stanford University.

 Department of Anthropology

Carolyn Smith-Morris is a medical anthropologist and professor at Southern Methodist University. Her research documents the experience of chronic disease, particularly diabetes, among Indigenous and Mexican im/migrant communities and contributes to theories of chronicity and decolonization of healthcare. Her books include two monographs (Diabetes Among the Pima by U. Arizona Press, and Indigenous Communalism by Rutgers U. Press), two edited volumes (Chronic Conditions, Fluid States with Lenore Manderson, Rutgers U. Press; and Diagnostic Controversy by Routledge Press). She is also a contributing researcher and author with Cultural Survival in support of Indigenous rights. She has conducted research among the Gila River (Akimel O’odham) Indian Community of Southern Arizona, Mexicans and Mexican immigrants to the U.S., and Veterans with spinal cord injuries. Dr. Smith-Morris received her B.A. in anthropology from Emory University, an M.S. in rehabilitation services from Florida State University, and her M.A. and Ph.D. (2001) in anthropology from the University of Arizona. She is the author of several articles in minority and indigenous health, health and research ethics, the end-of-life, diabetes, and reproduction. And her work reaches a broad, interdisciplinary audience through journals such as: the American Indian Culture and Research Journal, Appetite, the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, the Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science, Human Organization, JAMA Clinical Crossroads Online, Medical Anthropology, Medical Anthropology Quarterly, and Social Science & Medicine. READ MORE

smithmor@mail.smu.edu

Neely Myers is an anthropologist studying mental health who engages in research with underserved people in low-resource settings in the United States and East Africa. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2009 and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Anthropology at SMU and an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at UT-Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Myers is the Director of the Mental Health Equity Lab in the Department of Anthropology at SMU. Her research interests include health equity and health disparities, global mental health, psychiatric services, madness, trauma, and mental health recovery. Prior to arriving at SMU, Dr. Myers conducted three years of ethnographic research related to experiences and treatment of psychotic disorders in the urban U.S. This work is the subject of her first book, Recovery’s Edge: An Ethnography of Mental Health Care and Moral Agency (Vanderbilt University Press, 2015), which received the Norman L. and Roselea J. Goldberg Prize for the best book in the area of medicine. Dr. Myers has published over two dozen academic articles in journals as varied as Culture, Medicine and PsychiatrySchizophrenia Research, and Annals of Anthropological Practice, and has published book chapters related to community health, global mental health, and psychosis. Her current focus is on multiple projects related to mental health challenges for Black and Latinx youth, as well as an NIMH-funded project aimed at creating better supports for young people in early psychosis treatment programs who use substances like alcohol and cannabis. She is also working on her next book, Breaking Points: Minority Youth in Crisis and Refusals of Care. READ MORE

namyers@mail.smu.edu

 Department of Psychology

Austin Baldwin, Associate Professor of Psychology. In my research, my students and I focus on theoretically-guided questions aimed at understanding individuals’ decisions to engage in and maintain health behaviors. This works spans different health domains including smoking cessation, weight loss, physical activity, chronic illness management, and vaccinations. My research bridges basic and applied science with work in laboratory and field settings, addressing factors that are relevant to people’s decisions at different phases of health behavior change. The questions that guide my research sit at the interface of social, clinical, and health psychology and include questions such as “Why are people’s own persuasive arguments effecting in changing health behavior?”, “How can self-persuasion be used effectively to change health behavior?”, and “Why are most people unsuccessful at maintaining health behavior changes?”. My research has important clinical and public health implications as we work to identify important factors on which interventions can more effectively be tailored, as well as making important theoretical contributions as we also work to refine and enrich psychological theory of behavioral decision-making. In my research, my students and I focus on theoretically-guided questions aimed at understanding individuals’ decisions to engage in and maintain health behaviors. This works spans different health domains including smoking cessation, weight loss, physical activity, chronic illness management, and vaccinations. My research bridges basic and applied science with work in laboratory and field settings, addressing factors that are relevant to people’s decisions at different phases of health behavior change. The questions that guide my research sit at the interface of social, clinical, and health psychology and include questions such as “Why are people’s own persuasive arguments effecting in changing health behavior?”, “How can self-persuasion be used effectively to change health behavior?”, and “Why are most people unsuccessful at maintaining health behavior changes?”. My research has important clinical and public health implications as we work to identify important factors on which interventions can more effectively be tailored, as well as making important theoretical contributions as we also work to refine and enrich psychological theory of behavioral decision-making. READ MORE

baldwin@mail.smu.edu

 Department of Chemistry

David Y. Son, Professor of Chemistry. I am interested in the application of thiol-ene and related click chemistry for the synthesis of dendrimers, networks, and small molecules capable of molecular recognition. The Son group focuses on polymer research. Polyarylenes are of interest due to their potential application in high temperature applications.We also synthesize degradable and non-degradable polymer networks for drug delivery applications.Much of our synthetic chemistry utilizes thiol-ene and related ‘click’ chemistry. READ MORE

dson@mail.smu.edu

 Patty Wisian-Neilson, Professor, Department of Chemistry. The major focus in our labs is the synthesis, characterization, and applications of both cyclic and polymeric phosphazenes. These inorganic materials consist of rings or linear chains of alternating nitrogen and phosphorus atoms. Our work focuses on the family of phosphazenes in which there are two substituents attached to each phosphorus atoms by direct P-C bonds. We prepare both the parent cyclic and polymeric phosphazenes from condensation reactions of N-silyphosphoranimines, Me₃SiNP(OPh)RR¹. READ MORE

pwisian@smu.edu

Department of Biological Sciences

John G. Wise, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences. My research interests include: Multiple Drug Resistance Proteins – structural studies, drug transport mechanism studies, small molecule drug docking, and virtual screening technologies for new inhibitors; Rotary Motors from Biology and ATP Synthase Research – enzymatic mechanism studies, mechanisms of multisite cooperative catalysis, mechanisms of ligand binding in complex multisubunit systems, and membrane protein complex ion-pumping mechanisms in coupled membrane systems; Combinatorial Biology and the Evolution of DNA Binding Proteins – design and construction of combinatorial mutagenesis systems for altering DNA binding protein sequence specificity, design and optimization of in vivo reporter assays for screening combinatorial DNA binding protein variants for altered specificities and affinities, and applications of combinatorial approaches to determining specific protein-DNA recognition and binding mechanisms; Toxins and Toxic Genes for Selection Systems and Therapies – use of antigen-ribosomal toxin fusions for therapy development in autoimmune disease (A Myasthenia gravis model), toxic-gene expression systems and suppressor-based toxin expression for in vivo selection applications, and chemical synthesis of novel, metabolic “pre-toxins” activated by beta-galactosidase; and In Silico Simulation and Modeling of Protein and Small Molecule Structures – modern computational methods give novel insight into the structure and function of proteins and enzymes. READ MORE

jwise@mail.smu.edu

Steven Vik is a Professor of Biological Sciences conducting research in protein structure and function and the biochemistry of membrane-bound enzymes. He is is interested in the structure, function, and assembly of the membrane-bound enzymes that are involved in oxidative phosphorylation. His research group is currently investigating Complex I from E. coli. The group is interested in metabolic enzymes involved in making ATP.  In particular they are learning about the assembly of these enzymes, and how mutations found in humans disrupt them. Dr. Vik has worked in his lab with many undergraduates that have later received PhD or MD degrees. READ MORE

svik@mail.smu.edu

 Department of Sociology

Leslie DeArman, Lecturer and Undergraduate Advisor to Department of Sociology and Markets & Culture. READ MORE

dearman@smu.edu

Debra Branch, Senior Lecturer, Department of Sociology. My primary research interests lie in racial, ethnic and gender inequality in the workplace. I am specifically interested in the determinants and consequences of structured racial, ethnic and gender inequality in occupational and organizational rewards such as earnings, promotion and mobility opportunities. I am also interested in the determinants of the race and sex composition of organizations and how these racial and sex compositions affect inequality in worker rewards and opportunities. READ MORE

debranch@smu.edu

Sheri Kunovich, Associate Provost for Student Academic Engagement and Success and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology. My research focuses on understanding and identifying the structural mechanisms that produce social inequality. In my research on women’s political participation I’m particularly interested in the role of political parties and national ideologies as explanations for women’s limited access to national political office. In my research on wealth I focus on the economic consequences of financial transfers to children and employer savings programs. In my research on distributive justice, I focus on cross-national differences in meritocratic beliefs and the division of household labor. READ MORE

kunovich@smu.edu

 Department of Applied Physiology and Wellness

Megan Murphy, Director of Health Promotion Management & Clinical Associate Professor, joined the faculty at SMU in the fall of 2011 as a Clinical Assistant Professor. Dr. Murphy completed her Ph.D. in Integrative Physiology at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) in 2008. While at UNTHSC, Dr. Murphy served as a SCORE and MKITS fellow volunteering in the ninth grade science classes of local Fort Worth ISD high schools with the goal of increasing the students' interest in and awareness of science as a career. Dr. Murphy completed a postdoctoral fellowship from 2008-2011 at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas in the Weinberger Laboratory. During her fellowship she received a Recognition award and the Beginning Investigator Military Physiology award from the Exercise and Environmental Physiology section of the American Physiological Society. Dr. Murphy's research has focused on the physiological adaptations to exercise observed in very high fit athletes as well as the potentially deleterious effects of acute exercise in populations with cardiovascular disease. Dr. Murphy enjoys running outdoors, reading and cooking. She resides in Haslet with her fiance, Graig and daughter, Emma. READ MORE

mnmurphy@smu.edu