Scholars

Our Medical Ethics Scholars and Health Policy scholars are individuals from Baylor College of Medicine or affiliated institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Scholars conduct collaborative research, attend or speak at center-sponsored events and meetings, and participate in teaching, outreach activities, and student mentoring. This new level of membership implies a greater level of involvement in the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy's core missions and participation in center activities. 

Scholars are appointed for one-year and the appointment can be renewed on an annual basis.  

Sharmila Anandasabapathy, M.D.
Professor of Medicine in Gastroenterology and Director of Baylor Global Initiatives and the Baylor Global Innovation Center at Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Global disease burden; technology development; mobile-applications for clinical care; remote medical learning and training; point-of-care diagnostic technologies; low-cost devices; non-communicable disease; gastrointestinal cancer; global clinical trials

Cedric Dark, M.D., M.P.H, FACEP
Assistant Professor, Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Health policy; health reform; health policy education; freestanding emergency rooms

Kevin Furman Erickson, M.D., M.S.
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Nephrology, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Advanced chronic kidney disease; end-stage renal disease; acute kidney injury; health economics and policy research in nephrology; economics; medical economics; value-based care

Leah Fowler, J.D.
Research Assistant Professor; Health Law & Policy Institute
Research Interests: Public Health Law, Ethics, and Health legislation and Policy

N. Thao N. Galván, M.D., MPH
​​​​​​​Assistant professor of surgery in the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Solid organ transplantation outcomes, ethics and surgical technique, especially focused on the pediatric transplant population. 
 

Toi Blakley Harris, M.D.
Associate Provost of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion and Student Services, Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Professor, Department of Pediatrics
Research Interests: Preparing a diverse physician workforce

Peter Hotez, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor; Dean for National School of Tropical Medicine; Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics; US Science Envoy; Baker Institute Fellow in Disease and Poverty; Co-Editor in Chief PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology
Research Interests: Vaccine development for tropical diseases; global health policy for neglected tropical diseases; drug and vaccine delivery; tropical medicine

Jared Howell, M.S.
Assistant Professor; Director, Orthotics and Prosthetics, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Technology enablement; 3D printed medical devices; brain machine interfaces; prosthetics; clinical outcomes research; health related product development

Isabelle Kusters, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical, Health, and Applied Sciences, University of Houston, Clear Lake
Research Interests: Health disparities; social determinants of health; education; medical education; health services research

SreyRam Kuy, M.D., M.H.S., F.A.C.S.
Surgeon, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Baylor College of Medicine, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Research Interests: Healthcare quality, patient safety and health policy

Kimberly Kay Lopez, Dr.P.H., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor - Public Health Pediatrics; Director, Public Health; Director, Center for the Study of Adversity, Resilience, and Equality; Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital; Adjunct faculty at UT School of Public Health - Division of Health Promotion and Prevention; Faculty affiliate with the Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University
Research Interests: The traumatic effects of adversities on children, families, and communities

Michelle Ann Lopez, M.D., M.P.H.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics - Hospital Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital
Research Interests: Inpatient resource utilization; patient communication; cultural competency; health disparities; social determinants of health

Quianta Moore, M.D., J.D.
Fellow in child health policy, Baker Institute for Public Policy
Research Interests: Developing empirically informed policies to advance the health of children

Laura Petersen, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor; Associate Chief of Staff for Research; Director, Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Research Interests: How health care policy, organization, and financing affects the quality and safety of health care; developing novel methods of measuring health care quality

Jessica Roberts, J.D.
George Butler Research Professor; Director, Health Law & Policy Institute, University of Houston
Research Interests: Health law; disability law; genetics and the law; anti-discrimination law; bioethics

Joshua M. Shulman, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor in Neurology, Neuroscience, and Molecular and Human Genetics; Investigator, Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute and Texas Children's Hospital; Principal Investigator, Laboratory for Integrative Functional Genomics; Director of the Center for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases
Research Interests: To understand genetic mechanisms of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, and to translate these insights to enhance risk prediction, diagnosis and treatment of these disorders

Dcn. David Garvis, M.A., B.C.C., Ph.D.
Clinical Ethicist, Ethics Committee Co-Chair, Center for Medical Ethics & Health Policy
Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
Research Interests: End-of-life issues

Stephanie DeSandro, M.S., PA-C
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine

Elizabeth Elliott, M.S., PA-C
Associate Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Holistic Admissions, Breastfeeding and Breastmilk, Child Passenger Safety

Alison Haddock, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Department Emergency Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Social Determinants of Health for ED patients; representation of women in depictions of physicians; member of Harris Health Ethics Committee       

Elissa Love, M.S., PA-C
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine

Sarah Keyes, M.S., PA-C
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: Lifestyle medicine, weight stigma, student well-being

Vicki Waters, M.S., PA-C
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine

Eric Storch, Ph.D.
Professor; Vice Chair of Psychology, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interests: The assessment and treatment of children, adolescents and adults with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (i.e., OCD, Tourette's, Hair-pulling disorder, skin-picking, misophonia) and anxiety disorders

Kathleen Thompson, M.S., PA-C
Assistant Professor, Physician Assistant Program, Baylor College of Medicine
Research Interest: Pediatric ethics, pediatric transplantation, best interest standard, health professions education