Lab Alumni

Sarah Pitman, PhD

Sarah Pitman is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in the Department of Health, Human Performance & Recreation. She graduated with her PhD in Health Behavior and Health Education (HBHE) from UT Austin in August 2025. She also completed her M.S. in HBHE at UT and her B.A. in Psychology from Baylor University. Her research focuses on food insecurity, nutrition, media use, and marketing exposure among young adults, with interests in mental health, substance use, and community-level influences on health. In her spare time, Sarah enjoys spending time with her dog and two cats, drinking coffee, and staying active.

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Rachel Davis

Rachel is a third year undergraduate student at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing a B.A. in Psychology and an interdisciplinary certificate in Children & Society. Her research interests center around adolescent development. She is interested in risk factors for adolescent-age substance use, the role of intersectionality in adolescent wellness, and substance use prevention in adolescents. Her other interests include harm reduction and mental health. In her free time, Rachel enjoys reading, riding her OneWheel around Austin, and playing laser tag with her cat.

Daniel Kim

Daniel is a third-year undergraduate student at The University of Texas at Austin pursing a B.S. in biochemistry. He is from Flower Mound, Texas. Daniel’s broad research interest is psychiatric disorders and specific interest is substance use disorders. In his free time, Daniel enjoys karaoke, and playing soccer and basketball. 

Daniel Kreitzberg, PhD

Daniel is a 4th year doctoral student in Health Behavior and Health Education. He holds a Master’s of Science in the same degree (earned in 2016) and both a Bachelor’s of Science in Psychology and Art Practices from Portland State University where he graduated in 2012. Daniel has been with the lab since June 2014 and has primarily worked on point-of-sale tobacco marketing surveillance and tobacco regulation in general. In addition to his work at PRL, Daniel enjoys spending time with his son Elliott (born 2018), wife Amber, and dogs. He also enjoys art, philosophy, working out, and recently started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu!

Lara Latimer, PhD

Lara Latimer is an Associate Professor of Instruction in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Latimer graduated with a B.S. in Exercise & Sport Science from Texas Tech University. She earned a master’s degree and Ph.D. in Health Education from The University of Texas at Austin, and completed postdoctoral work at Cornell University. She lives in Austin and runs a private coaching business along with her teaching position at UT. 

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Natalie Poulos, PhD

Phoebe Ruggles

Phoebe Ruggles is a second year master’s student in Health Behavior and Health Education. Before coming to UT, she completed her B.A. in Health and Societies with Minors in History and South Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research interests center in childhood obesity prevention, with particular focus on the influence of food and beverage marketing on youth, as well as the targeting of food and beverage marketing toward certain demographics (e.g. low-income). In addition to marketing, Phoebe has a growing interest in food and nutrition policy, including topics such as sugar-sweetened beverage taxes and food marketing regulation. In her free time, Phoebe enjoys birdwatching, gardening, and trying out new recipes!

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Jacob E. Thomas, PhD

Jacob graduated from the Health Behavior and Health Education at The University of Texas at Austin in 2025 and now works in the tech industry, where he blends the outward mask of Austin’s startup culture with a deeper drive to introduce cultural critique and unconventional ideas into systems in need of reform. He enjoys watching the sunrise at the park each morning with his daughter and encourages other young fathers to embrace daily physical-activity–centered rituals. Prior to coming to UT, he earned a B.S. in Psychology from The University of Texas at Dallas in 2014, and then an M.A. in Psychology from Columbia University in 2016 with a concentration in Research Methods.

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Nathan Wu