天美传媒

Spangler is one of the world's leading experts in tobacco epidemiology and was the keynote speaker for 2004 World Health Organization Tobacco and Community Health Conference in New Delhi, India. He founded the first physician-run tobacco-cessation clinic in North Carolina and was recently awarded $1.6 million grant to develop tobacco cessation curriculum for medical schools across the United States. He has won several prestigious awards including the Association of Teachers of Preventative Medicine Program of the Year Award and the Behavioral Sciences Forum Program of the Year Award. He is currently co-Principal Investigator on a longitudinal study of tobacco use among students at 11 colleges and universities in NC and VA.

Elizabeth "Liz" Budd is a nationally recognized scholar of public health, health promotion and health equity. She holds leadership roles in the Physical Activity Section of the American Public Health Association. The goal of her research is to prevent the onset of chronic diseases, especially among groups with heightened risk, in order to achieve population-level health equity. Specifically, she examines the policies and environmental factors (social and physical) that influence physical activity and healthy eating. She has a particular interest in youth, adolescent girls, and Latino/a/x community members. Budd also works to implement, evaluate, and foster the sustainability of evidence-based interventions to promote healthy behaviors in community settings. 

She鈥檚 part of a team of researchers that designed a program that used culturally informed outreach with well-located community testing sites to triple turnout for COVID-19 testing in Latinx communities around Oregon. The researchers are hopeful their findings can help shape future public health and other outreach campaigns to Latinx communities across the country.

Budd is an Evergreen Assistant Professor situated within the College of Education, Counseling Psychology and Human Services Department, and affiliated with the Family and Human Services and Prevention Science programs. She鈥檚 also a member of the Health Promotion Initiative and Prevention Science Institute.

Dr. Debra Vinci is the associate professor of health promotion. She currently teaches courses in social marketing, health promotion, and nutrition. Dr. Vinci uses her professional expertise as a community health educator and registered dietitian to prepare students for careers in health promotion. 

Her current research interests focus on using children鈥檚 picture books as an innovative approach to increase physical literacy and movement in preschool teachers. Over the past two years, she has worked with Dr. Christopher Wirth in the development of two picture books, Walker Finds His Wiggle and Play the Walker Wiggle Way featuring Abby Fitt that will be used in interventions with preschool teachers to incorporate movement in childcare settings. Prior to working on this project, Dr. Vinci was the co-principal investigator for Let鈥檚 Wiggle 5-2-1-0, a program that trains child care providers on ways they can increase physical activity in the classroom setting. 

Dr. Vinci has also worked with community coalitions in promoting their role in obesity prevention. She has helped facilitate community efforts to develop strategies that help at-risk community groups and individuals adopt healthier lifestyle behaviors. Additionally, she has been involved in a childhood hunger task force to increase access to fresh fruits and vegetables to neighborhoods in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties that experience food insecurity at rates higher than national and state averages. This initiative is also interested in linking these neighborhoods with community resources that promote healthy lifestyles and decrease diet-related chronic disease.

In addition to her work on obesity prevention, Dr. Vinci is also involved in program evaluation efforts related to state-wide cancer prevention efforts. 

Before coming to UWF in 2004, she developed health education interventions targeting college-age students and worked as the Director of Health Education at Hall Health at the University of Washington. As a registered dietitian, she spent 15 years working as an outpatient nutritionist with expertise in diabetes education and nutrition therapy with individuals with eating disorders.

Dr. Vinci received a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees in human nutrition from University of Vermont, and a doctorate in health education from Loma Linda University. 

Patricia Barrington, teaches health promotion and planning, changing health behaviors, stress management, theory and foundation of health promotion, and worksite wellness. 

Barrington has been developing, implementing, and managing health promotion programs and disease prevention initiatives for the past 30 years at military bases, non-profit organizations, and community collaborations. 

She leverages her experience in tobacco and alcohol prevention education with her desire to improve the quality of life of UWF employees, faculty and students, and residents of surrounding communities. In 2014, she led the task force to develop a tobacco policy for the UWF campus. The result of the task force鈥檚 effort was a tobacco-free campus policy which went into effect in 2016.  

Barrington holds several leadership positions, influencing public policy and programs in health promotion. She was appointed by the Governor of Florida as a state representative for the Florida Tobacco Advisory Council in 2015; president of the Florida Society of Public Health Education; chair of Healthy Environments Are Tobacco-free Partnership in Escambia County; and first vice president for Community Drug and Alcohol Council.    

At UWF since 2005, she is committed to supporting the next generation of community educators by providing undergraduate students with the opportunity to gain valuable experience through internships in the community. Many of her former students who are working in the field of health promotion return to UWF to mentor undergraduate students, sharing their experience and providing advice on the current job market. 

She received a bachelor鈥檚 degree in psychology from Bradley University, and a master's and doctorate in community health education from the University of West Florida.

As an Extension Specialist, Dr. Payne's overall goal is to improve health and well-being through research, education, and outreach programs that result in the delivery of quality and sustainable recreation, parks, and wellness programs/services. Her research examines the effects of leisure behavior on aspects of health and well-being among older adults. More specifically, she examines the relationship between leisure style and health of older adults with chronic conditions and the role of local parks and recreation agencies in health promotion and health behavior change. She has directed several statewide outreach and research programs such as the Illinois Rural Recreation Development Project, Illinois Senior Wellness Initiative, Take Charge of Your Health: Live Well be Well, and the Illinois Health Care Reform Initiative. Her work has been supported by the State of Illinois Division of Human Services, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Recreation Foundation, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.