unlv students walking on campus

Department of Social and Behavioral Health News

Housed in the UNLV School of Public Health, the Department of Social and Behavioral Health consists of faculty who engage in research and develop and evaluate community-based programs that promote health and disease prevention. Our students learn to identify high-risk behaviors or trends in specific populations, as well as propose solutions that aim to improve overall public health in communities.

Current Social and Behavioral Health News

spring campus
Campus News |

Some of the most vibrant headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

Fall colors 2025
Campus News |

Some of the biggest news headlines featuring UNLV faculty and students.

First day of classes.
Campus News |

The top news stories starring university students and staff.

June campus horizon shot
Campus News |

The top headlines featuring UNLV’s staff and students.

Spring flowers
Campus News |

The students and faculty of UNLV are springing into headlines around the country.

Tim Grigsby sitting on a UNLV bench in the Academic Mall
People |

After an unexpected start in public health, this professor of social and behavioral health is uncovering the complexities of substance misuse and childhood trauma.

Social and Behavioral Health In The News

Indica News

Various teas are popular these days, and the health benefits of each have been studied. There is a lot of mystification about the benefits of each. So, here is a summary of these health benefits.

India Currents

Cancer that has been detected at an early stage and can be cured (possibly) with treatment and a plan of treatment determined by a urologist

Verywell Health

Research suggests that the bioactive compounds in saffron may support mood, emotional well-being, and help reduce oxidative stress on the body.

Verywell Health

Negative relationships don’t just affect your day-to-day well-being. They may also accelerate your aging. New research found that so-called “hasslers” — people in your social network who create stress or conflict — can increase your biological age by about nine months.

Las Vegas Review Journal

Legislative proposals to sunset daylight savings time have come, stalled or gone away, and spring forward season is again upon Nevada. That means later sunrises and sunsets, but it also means the need to adjust clocks — both external and internal.

New India Abroad

Federal crash statistics show that distracted driving was a factor in about eight percent of all fatal crashes nationwide in recent years.

Social and Behavioral Health Experts

An expert on health behavior and coping with stress.
An expert on health disparities and LGBTQ aging adults with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
An expert on lactation, breastfeeding, and maternal and child health and nutrition.
An expert on drug misuse and addiction.

Recent Social and Behavioral Health Accomplishments

Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine) has been awarded the 2025 Wiley Top Cited Article Award for “Investigating perceived core disaster competencies of nurses in Iran: A case study of northwest hospitals,” which he coauthored in 2024 in Public Health Nursing (Cite Score 3.3, Impact Factor 1.3, Acceptance Rate 4%).  
Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine), as a senior collaborator, coauthored an article titled, “Global, regional and national burden of ischemic heart disease attributable to suboptimal diet, 1990–2023: A Global Burden of Disease study,” in collaboration with GBD 2023 IHD and Dietary Risk Factor Collaborators in the…
Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine) coauthored an article titled, “Application of the multi-theory model to determine predictors of initiating and sustaining stress management behaviors in undergraduate college students,” in the Journal of Public Health in the Deep South in collaboration with coauthors from the…
Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine), as a senior collaborator, coauthored an article titled, “Global, regional, and national burden of meningitis, its risk factors, and aetiologies, 1990–2023: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023,” in the journal,The Lancet Neurology (impact factor: 45.5).…
Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine) reached the milestone of having published 500 peer-reviewed journal articles. His first peer-reviewed research article was published in 1994, based on his thesis. This gives him an average of publishing 15 articles per year in his research career. However, before 1994, he had a career…
Manoj Sharma (Social and Behavioral Health; Internal Medicine) presented a virtual oral paper titled, “The genesis of Perfection Quotient (PQ) in health promotion research,” at the 4th International Congress on Behavioral & Social Science Research (ICBSSR 2026) held in Rome, Italy. Perfection Quotient is a novel behavioral model developed by…