Post-doctoral Researchers
Joshua Landvatter, PhD
Dr. Joshua Landvatter is a postdoctoral fellow in the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Laboratory at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. After completing bachelor’s degrees in Spanish and Psychology, he pursued his master’s and PhD in Social Health Psychology from the University of Utah, where he investigated psychophysiological mechanisms underlying interpersonal relationships and their effects on cardiovascular, immune, autonomic, and inflammatory health. His research highlights the role of dyadic processes in influencing health outcomes, particularly how a partner’s health behaviors can significantly impact one’s own well-being. His work also explores the mediating role of sleep on self-rated health and inflammation, adding to the growing understanding of the relationship between psychosocial factors and physiological health.
Prior to his PhD, Dr. Landvatter spent 15 years working in direct patient care, including roles in palliative and hospice care, perioperative care, and anesthesia. His clinical background has informed his research focus, enabling him to approach health behavior from both a clinical and behavioral science perspective. He is committed to advancing research that integrates relationship science and behavioral medicine to support resilience and health across the lifespan.
Clarisa Medina Poeliniz, PhD, MSN, APN, CPNP
Dr. Medina Poeliniz is completing a research fellowship supported by the Dick and Timmy Post-doctoral Fellowship with the College of Nursing and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health supported by the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine (DFPM) of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. She is being mentored by Dr. Sara Simonsen at the College of Nursing and Dr. Kelly Glazer Baron at the Department of Family & Preventative Medicine.
She completed her bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Clinically, she has experience in a variety of settings related to maternal-child health that spans over 20 years and for the past 15 years, she has worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner. Dr. Medina Poeliniz completed her master’s degree and a post-master’s certificate from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She went on to complete her PhD from Rush University, College of Nursing with a focus on the role of maternal obesity on biological lactation outcomes and translated the utility of human milk biomarkers as an objective measure of secretory activation.
Dr. Medina Poeliniz is passionate about eliminating health disparities, specifically among underserved communities by understanding social determinants of health related to metabolic conditions among women throughout the lifespan Dr. Medina Poeliniz’s overarching interest is to understand the impact of social determinants of health and study the burden of maternal obesity on cardiometabolic disorders and whether breastfeeding has a protective mechanism against these cardiometabolic disorders.
