Dr. Tucker’s two research teams (i.e., the Behavioral Medicine Research Team and the Health Psychology Research Team) implement her ambitious research agenda while providing invaluable “real world,” hands-on research training experiences to over 60 undergraduate students and up to 8 graduate students each year. All members of Dr. Tucker’s research teams learn how to conduct culturally sensitive, community participatory, qualitative and quantitative research by being involved in all aspects of the research process. The research attitudes, knowledge, and skills acquired by members of Dr. Tucker’s research teams help realize her aspiration of preparing the next generation of first-rate, culturally sensitive researchers. Below are descriptions of Dr. Tucker’s two research teams. Information about current and recent past research projects for both teams can be found on the UF Health Disparities Research and Intervention Program website.
Former Post-Doctoral Associates:
Kelechi Ibe-Lamberts, Ph.D.
Education:
- Ph.D., Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- M.S., Health Education and Policy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- B.S., Community Health, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Ibe-Lamberts was a postdoctoral research fellow for Dr. Carolyn Tucker’s research lab from Fall 2017 to Summer 2018. He is originally from Nigeria but raised in Chicago, Illinois. He self-identifies as a Transnational African Immigrant and fosters a research agenda that is focused on health behaviors and outcomes in culturally diverse Black Immigrant communities, specifically transnational communities!
His research interests are:
- Health disparities
- Minority health
- Cultural and behavioral health
- Immigrant health
- Community-based research
- Health & aging
J. Lauren Butler, RDN, PhD
Education:
- Ph.D., Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a minor in Epidemiology
- B.S., Dietetics and Nutrition, Florida International University
Dr. Butler was a postdoctoral research associate for Dr. Carolyn Tucker at the University of Florida’s Department of Psychology and the UF-Health Disparities Research and Intervention Program. She is a native Floridian originally from the rural town of Okeechobee, Florida. She is passionate about health promotion and eliminating health disparities among underserved and minority communities in Florida, the United States, and across the world.
Dr. Butler has studied:
- the socio-demographic and behavioral determinants of nutrition-related disease outcomes among communities and populations disproportionately impacted by adverse health outcomes (e.g., overweight, obesity, dietary inadequacy, alcoholism and addiction)
- the nutrition transition among multi-ethnic and vulnerable populations including Canadian Inuit and Inuvialuit, Alaskan Native peoples, Japanese Brazilians, and African Americans and preschoolers in the United States, and
- the nutrition and obesity interventions among Black women in North Carolina and veterans and racially and ethnically diverse, low-income women and children in Florida.