Team

Raina Pang, PhD
Associate Professor of Research Population and Public Health Sciences
rpang@usc.edu

About Raina Pang, PhD

Dr. Pang’s research interest lies in understanding sex/gender differences and women specific factors in addiction. As part of these efforts, she has completed a postdoctoral fellowship investigating the interactive role of menstrual cycle and nicotine on response inhibition and smoking behavior using laboratory based behavioral pharmacology. Currently, she is PI on a five year study aimed at understanding within and between subject effects of ovarian hormones on mood and smoking behavior across the menstrual cycle using ecological momentary assessment.

Lauren Ragsdale
Research Coordinator I
lragsdal@usc.edu

About Lauren Ragsdale

Lauren Ragsdale graduated from Temple University earning a B.S in Public Health and a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences. She completed her graduate fieldwork investigating the effects of tobacco use, prevention, and control measures which expanded her passion in research, advocacy, and community-based outreach. Her professional background includes contributing to the COVID-19 Containment Division, where she focused on supporting, educating, and implementing disease prevention and control plans during and after the COVID-19 outbreak. Her research interests include child and adolescent health, health behavior, disease prevention and maternal health. In her free time, she enjoys working out, traveling, watching sports, and spending time with family and friends.

Nicole St. Denis
Project Assistant
 nstdenis@usc.edu

About Nicole St. Denis

Nicole St. Denis graduated from the University of Portland with a B.S. in Integrative Health & Wellness. At the University of Portland, Nicole was a research assistant on an Integrative Review identifying and describing current definitions and instruments used to measure nurse well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research interests include women’s health, disease prevention and health disparities. Nicole’s future goals include receiving an MPH. Outside of research, she enjoys camping, cooking, beach volleyball, and spending time with family and friends. 

Jasmine Alagoz
Volunteer Research Assistant
alagoz@usc.edu

About Jasmine Alagoz

Jasmine Alagoz is an undergraduate at the University of Southern California studying Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Her research interests include socioeconomic disparities in women’s health, infertility, and healthcare accessibility in Los Angeles. In her free time, Jasmine loves to spend time with her family and friends, travel, cook, and write. In the future, Jasmine hopes to become a physician and work in underserved communities.

Skyler Korkowski
Volunteer Research Assistant
korkowsk@usc.edu

About Skyler Korkowski

Skyler Korkowski is an undergraduate student at the University of Southern California studying Cognitive Science and International Relations. Her research interests include women’s cognitive and emotional health, healthcare policy, and global health security. In her free time, Skyler loves to travel, paint, explore the outdoors, and cook with her friends. She hopes to attend graduate school and work in the global health and legal fields.

Yuchan Cao
Doctoral Student
yuchanca@usc.edu

About Yuchan Cao

Yuchan Cao is a first-year PhD student in the Health Behavior Research Program at the University of Southern California (USC). She previously earned a Master of Public Health (MPH) from Brown University, where she specialized in interdisciplinary public health research. Yuchan’s research interests focus on the intersection of behavior health and addiction, and she is currently investigating how depression symptom levels are associated with negative affect, positive affect, and cognitive dysfunction during smoking cessation attempts. She is passionate about advancing public health interventions and tobacco control strategies. Outside of research, Yuchan enjoys reading tarot, hiking, and teaching students.

Lina D’Orazio, PhD
lina.dorazio@med.usc.edu
Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology

Casey Guillot
cguillot@usc.edu
Assistant Professor

Matthew Kirkpatrick, PhD
mgkirkpa@usc.edu
Associate Professor of Research Population and Public Health Sciences