Crean College Welcomes Six New Full-Time Faculty Members

Each year, scholars and teachers from the most select universities join the faculty of Chapman University. Crean College of Health & Behavioral Sciences is delighted to welcome the following full-time faculty members to the Chapman Family:

Undergraduate Programs

Dr. Manjari Murali

Dr. Manjari Murali

Instructional Assistant Professor of Health Sciences

Dr. Murali received her Ph.D. in Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology at Brown University. She has conducted research at the Alzheimer’s Association in Orange County as well as the Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders Center at Rhode Island Hospital. In 2015, she published “The Synaptic Effects of Nicotine Exposure in Brain Reward Circuit: Implications for Addition.” She lectured at Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College, and Chapman before joining the Department of Health Sciences in January.

Dr. Jennifer Robinette

Dr. Jennifer Robinette

Assistant Professor of Psychology

Dr. Robinette received her Ph.D. at the University of California, Irvine with a concentration in Health and Quantitative Psychology. Her post-doctoral work was completed at USC’s School of Gerontology. Her research focuses on the examination of health in the contexts of age and residential neighborhoods. Using multiple large national data sets, Robinette has investigated whether neighborhood hazards increase the risk for poor health, whether neighborhood resources decrease the risk for poor health and the degree to which peoples’ individual characteristics partially explain or even modify these neighborhood-health associations. Dr. Robinette’s research has been supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Aging. She is the director of the new Context and Aging Research Lab (CARE) at Crean Hall.

Graduate Health Programs

Mike Cordia, MSPAS, PA-C

Michael Cordia, MPAP, PA-C

Assistant Clinical Professor of PA Studies

Professor Cordia completed his Masters of Science in Physician Assistant Practice at the University of Southern California. Since his graduation from USC, he has worked at LePort Surgical Associates specializing in laparoscopic, bariatric, and robotic surgery. He was a visiting professor at Chapman’s PA Studies program last year before officially joining the faculty in January. He has served as the advisor to the Pre PA Club at UC Irvine since 2008 and has been an active volunteer in a number of youth outreach programs in the OC community.

Dr. Brent Harper

Dr. Brent Harper, PT, DPT, DSc, OCS, FAAOMPT

Assistant Professor of Physical Therapy

Dr. Harper joined the physical therapy department in January 2020. He has been a practicing physical therapist since 1997. Dr. Harper is coming from Radford University, working as core faculty for the last eight years while serving as the chair/program director for two years. Before academia, he served as a hospital Director of Rehabilitation & Wellness and in senior hospital administration serving as a surgery service line director. Dr. Harper’s research is looking at subtle sub-threshold system changes that may predispose or make a person more susceptible to musculoskeletal or concussion injury risk.

Dr. Shannon Sheppard

Dr. Shannon Sheppard

Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders

Dr. Sheppard received her Ph.D. in Language & Communicative Disorders from the Joint Doctoral Program at the University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the SCORE Lab. The overarching aim of her research is to gain an understanding of the underlying language and cognitive deficits resulting from stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s Disease and Frontotemporal Degeneration, which lead to Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Dr. Sheppard is the director of the new Cognition Rehabilitation And Neurolinguistics In AphasiaLab (CRANIAL) at the Rinker Health Sciences Campus.

Mayngan Stone, MSPAS, PA-C

Mayngan Stone, MSPAS, PA-C

Assistant Professor of PA Studies

With her 16 years of experience as a Physician Assistant, Professor Stone joined the faculty at Chapman University’s Master of Medical Science Physician Assistant Studies Program as a Clinical Assistant Professor in January 2020.  Fluent in Vietnamese, she started her physician assistant career serving the Vietnamese community under a Pulmonologist/Intensivist.  Since that first job, Professor Stone has gained experience in many fields of medicine including hematology/oncology, urgent care, general surgery, and dermatology. She has spent the last 12 years working as a Hospitalist Physician Assistant.