His current interests include Psycho-oncology, AIDS and psychoneuroiminunology: coping styles, social support, life event stress, and health/disease.

My lab studies the effects of stress/adversity factors, social resources, and cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) interventions on psychological adjustment, biological processes, and health outcomes in chronic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, chronic fatigue syndrome, and breast, prostate, and cervical neoplasias. This work has ranged from basic psychoneuroimmunology (stress-associated modulation of neuroendocrine functioning; leukocyte gene expression; and T-cell, B-cell, NK-cell, and monocyte-mediated immune functions) to clinical intervention research, all conducted in patients with medical conditions. My team has also shown that neighborhood disadvantage relates to greater anxiety, serum cortisol, and tumor inflammatory gene expression and predicts shorter breast cancer survival in women in our catchment area. We have also been involved in clinical translational work, which has adapted the content, format, and delivery of stress management and health behavior change interventions through community-based participatory research methods, linguistic and cultural translation, and remote technologies (telephone, videophone, tablet/computer delivery, and mHealth apps). This allowed us to successfully reach many underserved populations in South Florida, including African American smokers, Latina cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, monolingual Hispanic prostate cancer patients, and Black (African American and Caribbean) women breast cancer survivors. I am currently PI of a trial testing a video-conferenced CBSM intervention effects on affective, immune (FLU vaccine) and inflammatory and immune senescence processes in older, distressed breast cancer patients, and MPI in an NCI trial testing the effects of a linguistic and cultural translation of CBSM on HRQoL and inflammation in Spanish speaking prostate cancer patients. I have expertise in the following areas: mental health issues in diverse populations; translational research; behavioral interventions; novel methods of intervention delivery and assessment; depression; psychoneuroimmunology; and the role of psychosocial factors in adaptation to breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and HIV/AIDS. Finally, I have collaborated with US software companies and academic partners to develop and test digital apps to improve the reach of CBSM interventions to different medical populations.