About Us

Alex is the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Education and a Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in the Department of Kinesiology & Health Education. Her research focuses on adolescent and young adult health, particularly tobacco use in disparate populations. Alex has a special interest in examining how factors from multiple ecological levels (e.g., family, school, culture) interact to protect adolescents and young adults from negative health outcomes. In addition to the projects described on the website, she is funded by the National Cancer Institute to examine tobacco and nicotine use in adolescents and young adults.

Research and Publications

Lou Ann is the Program Director for the Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team at UT Austin, where she provides leadership and supervision for a wide range of tobacco prevention and control initiatives. Her work encompasses several Texas Department of State Health Services-funded projects, including the eTobacco Protocol project, the College Tobacco Initiative, and the Tobacco Prevention and Control Coalition (TPCC) program. Lou Ann also oversees the program evaluation of two MD Anderson tobacco use initiatives: the Council for Tobacco Treatment Training Programs (CTTTP) and the Eliminate Tobacco Use Initiative. Prior to joining the UT Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team, she served as an epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health and was responsible for managing a federal grant that funded primary and preventive healthcare services that were integrated into 14 county health departments. Lou Ann has over twenty years of experience working in public health planning, program development and evaluation, management and research.

Sherman is a Senior Project Manager at the Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team. He oversees Project VAMoS (Vaping, Acculturation and Media Study), funded by the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities. The primary goals of Project VAMoS are to identify the mechanisms underlying ENDS-related social media exposure and engagement, and electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) use among Mexican American college students. He also oversees the evaluation of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s EndTobacco Program, and provides program support for the College Tobacco Initiative (Peers Against Tobacco). He also provides management and administrative support across all team projects. From 2014-2019, he coordinated the Project M-PACT study, a rapid response surveillance study funded by the Food and Drug Administration/National Cancer Institute. Before joining the team in 2014, Sherman coordinated numerous research studies on childhood obesity prevention with elementary and middle school-aged children in Central Texas. Sherman specializes in qualitative methods and mixed-methods research.

Hien Nguyen is the Project Manager for the Texas College Tobacco Initiative – which includes the statewide Peers Against Tobacco program – on UT Austin's Tobacco Research and Evaluation (TRE) team. She received her PhD in Educational Psychology and her MEd in Quantitative Methods from The University of Texas at Austin. Hien works with the TRE team across multiple projects, with responsibilities including program/grant management, community and stakeholder engagement, research, and program evaluation. She is passionate about public health initiatives and interventions at the systems level and for preventative care for young people. She especially enjoys working with college populations.

Ashley is a Senior Outreach Program Coordinator for the Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team. She works with healthcare systems across Texas to help integrate the electronic tobacco cessation referral tool (eTobacco protocol) into electronic medical records/electronic health records and connects them with the Texas Quitline. Ashley received her MPH from Texas A&M University, where she also worked on the Texas Youth Tobacco Awareness Program (TYTAP). She has extensive experience in tobacco policy work and chronic disease media campaigns at the local public health level. She has a passion for reaching populations experiencing a greater burden of tobacco.

Caroline is a Postdoctoral Fellow who conducts research broadly focusing on understanding the etiology of substance use, namely electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) and cannabis use, in young adulthood. Her research aims to understand the development of substance use behaviors by examining how factors including mental health, personality, and social networks (e.g., peers) directly, and in interaction, impact the development and progression of substance use behaviors. Caroline also conducts surveillance research with the Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team to identify trends in tobacco use behaviors among Texas college students.

Srishty is a Graduate Research Assistant with Dr Alexandra Loukas and a doctoral student in Health Behavior and Health Education. Srishty earned her Master’s in Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics and worked as an Epidemiologist in the Emergent and Infectious Disease branch and the Immunization branch at the Texas Department of State Health Services in Austin. Her main research focus is looking at the longitudinal patterns of tobacco use among college students and young adults, and how different ecological factors are linked to the various types of substance use (tobacco, marijuana etc.). She also holds a Dental degree and practiced as a Dentist in India before coming to the US for her MPH.

Roderique is a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) with Dr. Alexandra Loukas and is working on her Master’s in Health Behavior and Health Education. As a GRA, she works as the Outreach Coordinator on the College Tobacco Initiative (Peers Against Tobacco) with the Tobacco Research & Evaluation Team at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to becoming the Outreach Coordinator, Roderique received her B.S in Health Promotion and Behavioral Science. Roderique is passionate about public health initiatives that involve multiple ecological levels to address health disparities (e.g., mental health, tobacco use, and chronic diseases).