Faculty

Dr. Balzaretti is a Family and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner and nursing educator with experience in psychiatric mental health, community health, and general nursing practice. She is passionate about holistic care that recognizes the connection between mental and physical health and the social factors that influence both.

In her psychiatric practice, Dr. Balzaretti works primarily with youth and young adults, with a particular focus on trauma-informed, person-centered care for...

Dr. Cox is a dual board-certified adult nurse practitioner and adult psychiatric nurse practitioner, and certified public health nurse. Her specialty interests and NP work are in integrated psychiatric mental health care, addiction medicine, behavioral and community health of vulnerable populations, advocacy, and psychiatric consultation. She brings her clinical experience, interests, energy, and enthusiasm for community and mental health to her teaching, service, clinical work, and volunteerism...

Courtney Keeler is a health economist. She has been teaching at USF's Master in Public Health programs since August 2011. Her research surrounds topics related to adolescent health, mental health, and smoking prevention and control. In her teaching, she works to meet students where they are in hope of creating a classroom climate where individuals feel well-equipped to tackle the subject matter covered in the course.

Merideth Lewis, PhD, RN, PHN, CNOR has recently completed her dissertation research around the conceptualization of the experience of surgical smoke in the operating room. Merideth’s mixed methods research offers a rigorous and detailed look at a very complex, dynamic, and important occupational health exposure. Her methodology and findings may be transferrable to other hazardous occupational and environmental exposures.

Her background as a Public Health Nurse and Perioperative nurse in the...

Allison Luengen received her MS in Marine Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). She then completed her PhD in Environmental Toxicology, also at UCSC. Following her PhD, she moved to the East Coast for postdoctoral research with Dr. Nicholas Fisher in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. As a postdoc, Professor Luengen worked with radioisotopes to look at how methylmercury bioavailability to phytoplankton was affected by dissolved...

Kimberly Tseng is an Instructor in the Health Professions Department at the School of Nursing and Health Professions. Her current courses include epidemiology, health equity and disparities, and public health internship. Her professional and scholarly interests include reproductive health literacy and refugee and immigrant health.

Lily Xu is a tenure-track faculty member in the School of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of San Francisco. Her research focuses on stress, mental health, and well-being among nursing students and other healthcare trainees. Her broader research interests include developing and evaluating evidence-based interventions to reduce stress and promote mental health, as well as incorporating biological stress markers into future nursing research. Lily is committed to student mentorship...