Health and Wellness Research Champions

weiwei chen

Dr. Weiwei Chen

Assistant Professor of Economics

Dr. Weiwei Chen is an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Coles College of Business. She specializes in empirical analyses in health economics and health services research. Her work has covered the effect of health insurance, changes in health care utilization and expenditures, child health, and issues of vaccine uptake. Her recent research focuses on substance use, hospital care outcomes, and health care in correctional facilities.​

Dr. Chen has served as principal investigator, co-investigator, and consultant on research projects funded by local and federal government, international organizations, and private entities. 

Dr. Brian Kliszczewicz

Professor of Exercise Science

Dr. Brian Kliszczewicz is a Professor of Exercise Science in the Wellstar College of Health and Human Services, where his research line is cardiovascular and metabolic stress with a sub-emphasis on body composition variables as they relate to acute and long-term exercise.

The evaluation of cardiovascular stress (via Heart Rate Variability) and metabolic stress (via Glucose, Insulin, Catecholamines...) following acute bouts of exercise provides important insight to exercise appropriateness and effectiveness. The evaluation of these markers over long-term exercise interventions allows for the assessment of exercise effectiveness and adaptation. The evaluation of body composition beyond simple measure of body fat provides much-needed insight into variables that lead to metabolic and cardiovascular responses to acute and chronic exercise. Initial assessments performed in our lab evaluated high-intensity exercise in relatively healthy and active individuals. 

brian kliszczewicz
Dr. Maria Valero

Dr. Maria Valero

Assistant Professor of Information Technology

Dr. Maria Valero is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology in the College of Computing and Software Engineering at ÈâÈ⴫ý, where she also serves as the Director of the pioneering IoT as a Service (IoTaS) Research Group. She earned a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Georgia and a master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Los Andes in Venezuela.​

Dr. Valero has carved a niche for herself in cutting-edge research. Her diverse research interests converge around  IoT and AI, catalyzing transformative innovations in smart healthcare, distributed computing, signal processing, wireless sensor networks, and cyber-physical systems. Dr. Valero has served as PI of multiple research grants in NSF, NIH, and NSA. She is currently the PI of an NIA-funded project related to developing a non-invasive AI-powered blood glucose monitoring system, for which she secured a provisional patent and national and international recognition.