Welcome, New Faculty Members
Departments of Graduate Studies and Research
Department of Research
Annalyn S. DeMello, PhD, MPH, RN, CNE
Assistant Professor
With a blended background in public health and clinical care, DeMello’s interdisciplinary research focuses on the psychosocial and behavioral sequela of firearm injury and rehabilitation among adolescent and young adult survivors. She uses mixed methods designs and incorporates cognitive, behavioral, social, and community factors to understand, disseminate, and implement strategies to improve health outcomes among survivors and strengthen protective community factors to prevent firearm-related harm.
DeMello is an alumna of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Future of Nursing Scholars. She has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, multiple Sigma International Honor Society of Nursing chapters, the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)’s Joint Seed Program to Advance Public Health, the Beverly and F.A. Odom Endowment for Nursing, and the Alice Caroline Brown Award for Nursing Research. She has co-authored position statements for the Texas Nurses Association, served as a guest speaker for the Harris Health INSPIRE Symposium, and is published in numerous peer-reviewed research journals. She teaches population health and enjoys mentoring students.
Christian "Paige" Owen, PhD, MSN, RN, CEN
Assistant Professor
Owen came back to the Cizik School of Nursing faculty after completing her PhD at the school in May 2024. She previously served as an instructor in the Department of Undergraduate Studies. Owen has been recognized for outstanding teaching in secondary, clinical, and academic settings. She has received numerous awards, including the Healthcare and Nursing Education Foundation Scholarship, Emergency Nurses Association Foundation scholarships, and a Good Samaritan Foundation bronze award. She was one of 75 doctoral students nationwide to be named a Jonas Nursing Scholar. She was inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International as a graduate student, receiving MSN and PhD student awards and the Rising Star Award through the Zeta Pi chapter. Owen received her BSN and her MSN in Nursing Leadership from Cizik School of Nursing.
Suhyun Park, PhD, RN
Assistant Professor
Park’s research focuses on improving the usability of electronic health records (EHRs) by examining how nurses utilize EHR information in their workflows. She employs novel informatics approaches to identify the cognitive behaviors of nurses when interacting with EHRs. Before earning her PhD in nursing from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, she earned both her MSN and BSN from Ewha Womans University College of Nursing in Seoul, South Korea, where she also served as a clinical instructor. Her professional experience includes roles as a medical-surgical nurse at Ewha Womans University Medical Center.
Wesley R. Browning, PhD
Assistant Professor
Browning’s current work utilizes novel research methodology to focus on the interactions among family dynamics such as relationships between caregivers and care recipients, along with other family members, and how family dynamics impact caregivers’ risk and resilience to stress, anxiety, depression, and engagement in elder abuse and neglect towards their care recipients. He recently began work on a project, funded by the Speros Martel Endowment for the Aging, that aims to recruit sibling pairs of family caregivers to better describe the family dynamics of these larger family caregiving units. Brown holds a PhD in lifespan developmental psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Department of Graduate Studies
Sandra A. Hyder, DNP, MBA, APRN, ACNPC-AG, CPHQ, NEA-BC, LBBP, CCRN, CVRN, PCCN
Assistant Professor
Hyder has over two decades of experience in nursing, including nearly nine years as a nurse practitioner and eight years of teaching experience at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Currently, she serves as the interim director of advanced practice providers at Memorial Hospital-Texas Medical Center. Hyder has been actively engaged in advancing the profession through both national and international lectures and has made a significant contribution to the field. Her expertise has been recognized at events such as the American Nurses Association’s 2022 national gathering, “You Make a Difference.”
Hyder earned her DNP on the executive leadership track from Cizik School of Nursing as well as her BSN, MBA, and MSN on the adult/gerontology nurse practitioner track from Texas Woman’s University.
Christopher Rodriguez, DNP, APRN, AGACNP-BC, OCN
Assistant Professor
Rodriguez earned his BSN from Concordia College New York. After practicing in the areas of inpatient bone marrow transplant, leukemia, lymphoma, head and neck, melanoma, and sarcoma nursing for several years at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he earned his MSN focusing on the adult/gerontology acute care nurse practitioner population and a DNP degree at NYU Rory Meyer’s College of Nursing.
As an advanced practice registered nurse in the emergency department at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and as an assistant professor, he works to create a student-focused learning environment. Rodriguez’s teaching philosophy is anchored in respecting and embracing all learners.
