Patient Engagement Lab

Dr. LaShara A. Davis is an independent scientist with The Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab. She graduated with a degree in Communication from the School of Communication and Information in 2004. She continued her education at Purdue University where she received a MA in 2007 and a PhD in Communication in 2011 with an emphasis in Health Communication and Social Influence. She completed postdoctoral training in racial and ethnic disparities in living donor kidney transplant in 2013 at Washington University School of Medicine. Since then, Dr. Davis has built her career around research on patient-centered care, health education development and reducing racial and ethnic health disparities. As an independent Scientist at Houston Methodist Hospital, her goal is to deepen the understanding of the creation, implementation, and evaluation of health campaigns with a special focus on health disparities affecting low-income, low-literate, and underserved populations.

Catherine Pulicken is responsible for business and research operations for The Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab implementation at Houston Methodist through the management of research associates and federally funded grant projects. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Health Education in 2014 and completed a Master of Health Administration (MHA) in 2017 from the University of Houston. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, pursuing a public health degree with emphasis on health promotion and behavioral sciences. Catherine is an advocate for health promotion, chronic disease prevention and management, and reducing health disparities through public health initiatives, clinical and research efforts. Previous projects include improving the quality and delivery of chronic disease management and care within community health centers to improve both patient and provider outcomes. She hopes to inspire others and create a meaningful difference within the progressive world of public health.

Victoria Cassell graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology in 2018 and obtained her MS in Psychology in 2021. Her focus in academics is Social Psychology, specifically gender, diversity, and inclusion, and the relationship between identity and motivational factors/experiences of fear. She is currently working as the Clinical Research Data Coordinator for the Patient Engagement & Research Lab at Houston Methodist’s Academic Institute, where she hopes to contribute to research addressing disparities in healthcare and access to health education affecting individuals based upon their gender identity, race/ethnicity, and/or socioeconomic status.

Andrea Meinders is a general surgery resident at Houston Methodist Hospital and a research fellow in the Texas A&M Academy of Physician Scientists through the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and her medical degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She is interested in finding ways to decrease the gap in the number of patients waiting for a transplant and the number of available organs by expanding the living and deceased donor pools. She is also interested in studying the factors leading to living donor dropout and ways to intervene. Her goal is to become a transplant surgeon and apply her research in her everyday clinical practice to improve the transplantation process.

Hannah Bass is a clinical research scholar at The Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab at the Houston Methodist Hospital’s Academic Institute. Hannah graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors of Science in Biological Engineering in 2019, worked for a growth strategy business consulting firm in Austin, Texas for 2 years, and is now pursuing a medical degree and Master of Engineering through Texas A&M University's EnMed Program. Her academic interests include improving access to care in underserved communities both locally and abroad and promoting public health initiatives. In her free time, Hannah enjoys hiking, reading and traveling.

Alexandra Farhangui is a TAMU clinical research scholar in the Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab at the Houston Methodist Hospital’s Academic Institute. She graduated from Cornell University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. Currently, Alexandra is in the EnMed program at Texas A&M School of Medicine and is completing a Master of Engineering as well as an MD. This innovation-based background in combination with her medical education positions her optimally in the mission to increase access and improve outcomes for those in need of transplants.

Divek Toprani is a student in the EnMed Program at the Texas A&M School of Engineering Medicine and a clinical research scholar at Houston Methodist Hospital. He graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelor of Science in Bioengineering: Biotechnology in 2019. He completed a Masters in Translational Medicine at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Francisco in 2021. His current research interests include driving improvements in patient care through engineering innovation, gathering and implementing data based on patient-reported outcomes, and addressing social determinants of health.

Greg Wilson is a clinical research scholar in The Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab at the Houston Methodist Hospital’s Academic Institute. Greg graduated from UCLA in 2018 with a BS in Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology. He is currently a third-year medical student at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, and is interested in pursuing a career in interventional radiology. While attending UCLA, he worked in a research lab dedicated to exploring factors that contribute to racial disparities in healthcare. He hopes to continue to learn more about healthcare disparities and contribute meaningful research to the field of kidney paired donation as a member of The Patient Engagement, Disparities & Research Lab.