
Melissa Valerio
Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs
Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences
956/755-0638
Regional Academic Health Center
One West University Blvd, SPH Building, S1.330, Brownsville, TX 78520
About
Dr. Melissa Valerio-Shewmaker is a Professor in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences and serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs. Her primary areas of focus include research design, program design and evaluation, intervention mapping and community engagement. She has been involved in research focused on prevention and management of chronic illness including type 2 diabetes prevention and management, asthma, cancer prevention and screening and patient-provider communication. She conducts research supported by NCATS, CDC, NIH, PCORI, Texas DSHS and foundations. She has served as PI for studies assessing genetic understanding of type 2 diabetes risk, adolescent diabetes prevention, healthy families using multi-level approaches and community strategies to understand maternal health needs, father engagement and care coordination strategies to promote early entry into prenatal care and maternal outcomes. Dr. Valerio teaches Intervention Mapping and Community Health Needs Assessment.
Center Affiliation
Center for Health Promotion and Prevention Research
Research Interests
- Adolescent Health
- Behavioral/Mental Health
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular and Chronic Diseases
- Health Education/Behavioral Sciences
- Maternal and Child Health
- Program Evaluation
- Women's Health