Faculty & Staff

Post-Doctoral Fellow

Min-Jeong Yang, Ph.D.

Min-Jeong is an Applied Postdoctoral Fellow at the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program (TRIP) in the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt Cancer Center. She received her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Rutgers University in New Jersey in 2020, where she focused on cognitive, affective, and biological mechanisms that contribute to maintenance of smoking and alcohol use, utilizing behavioral tasks on implicit bias and psychophysiology. Her research interests are primarily in cue reactivity and mechanisms of mindfulness- and exposure-based interventions in smoking cessation and relapse prevention. During her postdoctoral fellowship, she is working on multiple projects specific to smoking cessation treatments based on mindfulness and cue exposure, and that also utilize various research methodologies including ecological momentary assessment, wearable sensors, augmented reality, and very low nicotine content cigarettes.

Research Staff

Karen Obremski Brandon, Ph.D.

Karen Obremski Brandon, Ph.D., is a Research Scientist III at the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She currently contributes to projects on self-help for smoking cessation, health disparities in smoking cessation treatments, and interventions to decrease stress in caregivers of cancer patients.

Valerie Yepez, M.M.S.

Valerie is a Research Coordinator III at Moffitt’s Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She graduated from the University of South Florida with degrees in Psychology and Biomedical Sciences and also graduated from Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine with her Master’s in Medical Sciences. Her research interests include health disparities and cognitive science. Valerie is currently contributing to a study focused on the emotional wellbeing of primary caregivers of patients at Moffitt Cancer Center.

Sierra Washington, M.P.H. 

Sierra is a Research Coordinator II at Moffitt’s Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work and the University of South Florida with a Master’s in Public Health. Her research interest includes behavioral and communication interventions for equitable health outcomes. 

Rashmi Gupta, B.S. 

Rashmi Gupta is a Research Assistant II in Dr. Vinci’s lab at Moffitt Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She graduated from the University of South Florida with a major in Biomedical Sciences and a minor in Psychology. Rashmi hopes to go to optometry school in the future. 

Sarah Jones, B.A.

Sarah is a Research Applications and Data Coordinator at Moffitt Cancer Center, working within the Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She graduated from the University of North Texas with a degree in Psychology. Her research interests include data science and cognitive science, and she plans to pursue a graduate degree in the future.

Research Interns

Steven Assad

Steven Assaad is a research intern in Dr. Vinci's lab at Moffitt Cancer Center's Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. He is a second-year undergraduate student at the University of South Florida, majoring in Biomedical Sciences with a minor in Psychology. Steven plans to attend medical school in the future. 

Abhinav Lingala

Abhinav Lingala is a research intern in Dr. Vinci’s lab at Moffitt Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. He is a second year undergraduate student at the University of South Florida and is majoring in Biomedical Sciences. He aims to go to Med School to pursue a MD and then become a doctor. His hobbies include: tennis, guitar and movies.

Aarya Satardekar

Aarya Satardekar is a research intern at Dr. Vinci’s lab at Moffitt Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention program. She is currently a third year undergraduate student at the University of South Florida, majoring in Public Health. Aarya plans to pursue a PhD in public health in the future. 

Ishwarya Maganti

Ishwarya Maganti is a research intern at Dr. Vinci’s lab at Moffitt Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention program. She is a second year student here at the University of South Florida, pursing a degree in Biomedical Sciences. Ishwarya plans to attend Medical School in the future, after finishing her undergraduate degree.

Sanskruti Patel

Sanskruti Patel is a research intern at Dr. Vinci’s lab at Moffitt Cancer Center’s Tobacco Research and Intervention Program. She is currently a second year undergraduate student at the University of South Florida majoring in Biomedical Sciences. She plans to pursue medicine in the future.

Administrative Staff

Samantha Diaz-McGimsey - Division Coordinator
Teresa White-Jones - Grants Administrator
Yanid Grullon - Grants Administrator Associate

External Collaborators

David Wetter, Ph.D. – University of Utah
Amy Copeland, Ph.D. – Louisiana State University
Cho Lam, Ph.D. – University of Utah
Claire Spears, Ph.D. – Georgia State University
Santosh Kumar, Ph.D. – University of Memphis
Virmarie Correa-Fernandez, Ph.D. – University of Houston
David Evans, Ph.D. - Ponce Health Sciences University
Katie Witkiewitz, Ph.D. - University of New Mexico
Michelle Kelley, Ph.D. - Old Dominion University
Andrea Enzinger, MD - Dana Farber Cancer Institute
Lee Ritterband, Ph.D. - University of Virginia
Kara Wiseman, Ph.D. - University of Virginia
Katrina Vickerman, Ph.D. - Optum Center for Wellbeing Research

Former Staff and Interns

Research Coordinators:  Emily Cutolo, Amanda Farris, Laura Hernandez, Mikaela Hemenway, Laura Casas, Sana Baban
Research Assistants:  Lorena Ruiz, Rachel Seng, Rachel Sauls
Interns: Catherine McInnes, Lauren Kenney, Siham Palliagath, Jake Silverman, Kaylee Aszman, Javier Pinilla-Baquero, Haley Kantarjian, Muniba Rehman, Jennifer Ming Yin Su, Uswa Khan, Danielle Simon, Antony Boghdadi, Nithin Kanumuri, Syed Faris Hasan, Sravani Gopaluni, Jonathan Henning, Alexandra Rivera, Kerri Murphy, Jared Zulueta, Noorah Baban, Safia Slimane