Dr. Hawkins is a clinical health psychologist and behavioral medicine researcher on a mission to understand the relationships between cognitive factors (e.g., executive function), emotional factors (e.g. depression), chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, cardiovascular disease) and health behaviors (e.g., eating, exercise) -- as they exist in and are impacted by larger socioeconomic contexts.
Scholarly Interests:
- Increasing representation of diverse voices in science
- Equity in clinical research and interventions, including Indigenous and rural populations
- Randomized controlled trials
- Psychosocial stress and wellness, including early life adversity
- Neurocognitive function & brain health
- Cardiometabolic health: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease
The REACH Lab at Indiana University* is a public health/behavioral medicine lab that studies the intersection between emotions, neurocognition, chronic disease, and public health. We study how emotions and cognitive function contribute to the development of poor health and chronic diseases in larger socioeconomic contexts. We also study how these diseases and poor health impact people's emotions and cognition. Intervening on these factors is also a major focus of this lab.
