Current Research Projects
“God, Suffering, Struggle, and the Evolution of Life.”
Book project: with authors Dr. Neil Messer, Christopher Southgate, Paul Fiddes, Michael Lloyd, Bethany Sollereder, and Mark Wynn, scheduled for publication in 2025.
For the past few years, Neil Messer has been part of a collaborative project with Christopher Southgate (University of Exeter, UK) and others, exploring the question: How should Christians think and speak of the goodness of God in light of the suffering, violence, and destruction entailed by the evolution of life on earth? This project has included a series of intensive workshops, the first two at Regent’s Park College, Oxford, and the most recent in June 2024 at Sarum College, Salisbury, England.
The outcome of the project will be a co-authored book: Christopher Southgate, Paul Fiddes, Michael Lloyd, Neil Messer, Bethany Sollereder, and Mark Wynn, God, Suffering, Struggle, and the Evolution of Life (London: Bloomsbury, scheduled for publication in 2025).
“Dementia: Determining the Capacity Necessary to Designate a Surrogate.” (2020-2024).
Funder: Texas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation. Awarded: $13,865. Principal Investigators: Devan Stahl, Lauren Barron, Sally Weaver.
The purpose of this project is to validate an innovative instrument that will assess patients’ capacity to designate a surrogate. We are testing the reliability and validity of the Capacity Necessary to Designate a Surrogate (CDS) instrument, assess the usability and practicality of the CDS instrument, and assess physicians’ planned behavior for using a CDS instrument, including the identification of barriers to uptake of this tool.
“Psychosocial Phenotyping of Vietnamese Americans - Tâm Lý Xã Hội của Người Mỹ Gốc Việt” (2023).
Funded by: Southern Nursing Research Society & Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing Dean’s Grant. BU Research Team: Dr. Lina Nguyen, PI & Dr. Weiming Ke, Co-I
Other Collaborators: Dr. Miyong Kim, Dr. Tam Nguyen, Dr. Christopher Lee, and DFW Chapter of the Vietnamese American Nurses Association
Dr. Lina Nguyen and Dr. Weiming Ke received a $7,500 grant from the Southern Nursing Research Society in 2023.
The purpose of this study, “Psychosocial Phenotyping of Vietnamese Americans - Tâm Lý Xã Hội của Người Mỹ Gốc Việt”, was to construct a Vietnamese survey set that would enable psychosocial phenotype categorization for Vietnamese Americans with or at risk for type 2 diabetes. Dr. Nguyen received an additional $3,850 Dean’s grant from the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing to expand this project to include additional surveys completed in English, allowing the identification of the major psychosocial phenotypes of this larger collective sample.
The findings from this research addresses these prioritized research areas from the NINR: (1) population health with the selection of standardized surveys; (2) prevention/health promotion by identifying health needs of Vietnamese Americans; (3) social determinants of health are a domain of interest in this study; and (4) health equity through the precision health interventions which will be developed with psychosocial phenotyping.
The PI of this project was Dr. Lina Nguyen. Dr. Weiming Ke was a CO-I. Collaborators on this project include Dr. Miyong T. Kim from University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Tam H. Nguyen and Dr. Christopher Lee from Boston College, and the DFW Chapter of the Vietnamese American Nurses Association.
“Diabetes Prevalence, Risk Factors, and Care in Vietnamese Americans of Texas: Data from the 2015 – 2019 Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System” (2021-2022).
Funder: Baylor University Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement Program. Awarded: $5,000. Principal Investigators: Lina Nguyen and Thy Khong.
This study uses a cross-sectional study design to conduct secondary analysis of data gathered in Behavioral Risk Factors Surveillance System surveys between 2015 to 2019. The purpose of this study is to compare Vietnamese Americans, non-Hispanic Whites, and the aggregate Asian population of Texas with regards to: (1) estimated prevalence of diabetes and frequency of diabetes care and (2) risk factors and other associated factors of diabetes. Vietnamese Americans comprise the second largest ethnic group among the Asian population in Texas. Given the evidence of higher diabetes prevalence in this population, it is important to learn more about their health status and needs.
“Vietnamese Translations for the Tripartite Model of Risk Perception (TRIRISK), Acculturation Scale for Southeast Asians, and Spiritual Perspective Scale (SPS).” (2020-2021).
Funder: Baylor University Research Committee. Awarded: $7,000. Principal Investigator: Angelina Nguyen.
The purpose of this grant is to culturally adapt (including Vietnamese language translations) instruments measuring the concepts of: (1) risk perception related to diabetes, (2) acculturation, and (3) spirituality. This project will provide valid and reliable tools to be used in measuring diabetes risk perception, acculturation level, and spirituality in Vietnamese Americans who are either monolingual or bilingual but with reading preference for the Vietnamese language.
“Bioenhancement Technologies and the Vulnerable Body.” (2019-2021). Funder: Issachar Fund. Awarded: $81,444. Principal Investigator: Devan Stahl
The aim of this project is to address the current lack of engagement in bioenhancement technologies and transhumanism from Christian scholars who work within minority communities. This project will assemble a working group of approximately twelve scholars who will collectively develop foundational insights for articulating a theology of human flourishing in light of biomedical enhancement technologies, which can be communicated to the public through an academic volume and a Christian adult education series.