Directory

Renato Ferreira Leitao Azevedo's directory photo.

Renato Ferreira Leitao Azevedo

(he/him/his)

Graduate Hourly

Primary Affiliation

Cognition, Lifespan Engagement, Aging, and Resilience

Affiliations

Status Graduate Student

Home Department of Health and Kinesiology

Phone 979-8957

Email razeved2@illinois.edu

Address 2414 Beckman Institute, 405 North Mathews Avenue

  • Biography

    Renato Ferreira Leitão Azevedo is a scholar with expertise on the development and use of human-centered digital interventions to facilitate positive behavior changes and successful decision-making.

    At UIUC, he serves as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Human Factors & Aging Lab working alongside Prof. Wendy A. Rogers. Previously, he served as a Research Assistant at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and as a Teaching Assistant working alongside Prof. Daniel G. Morrow (EPSY 456: Human Performance and Cognition in Context). 

    Education

    • Ph.D., educational psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2021

    • M.Sc., applied statistics, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2016

    • M.Sc., accounting, University of Sao Paulo, 2010

    • B.Sc., accounting, University of Sao Paulo, 2007

    • B.Sc., information systems, Anhembi Morumbi University, 2006

  • Honors

    2023 – 2024: Mistletoe Research Fellowship (MRF) ($10,000), Momental Foundation.
    2023 – 2024: CREATE Trainee Pilot Project Grant ($10,000), Center for Research and Education on Aging and Technology Enhancement (CREATE).

    2023 - 2024: GIANT Diversity Leadership Award ($2,000), The Grainger College of Engineering Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (IDEA) Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2023: Most Resourceful Community Aide, Family & Graduate Housing, Student Affairs, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2023: Recognition of amazing performance and great efforts, Family & Graduate Housing, Student Affairs, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2022: George E. Briggs Dissertation Award, Division 21 - Applied Experimental & Engineering Psychology, American Psychological Association 

    2021: List of teachers ranked as excellent by their students (Outstanding, Fall 2020, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2020: List of teachers ranked as excellent by their students, Fall, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2020: Joseph H Smith Award ($750), Student Leadership Awards and Scholarships (SALAS), Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign  

    2020: Hardie Dissertation Award ($2000), College of Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2020: Stand-Alone Tuition and Fee Waiver Award, College of Education, Spring, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2019: Honorable Mention - Division 21 Poster Contest, American Psychological Association (APA), USA.

    2019: Best Leader and Most Active Member - Global Leaders: Orange & Blue Engagement (GLOBE), Fall, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2019: Graduate Student Volunteer Award. Office of Volunteer Programs (OVP), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2019: Best Leader, GLOBE Ambassador, and Most Active Member - Global Leaders: Orange & Blue Engagement (GLOBE), Spring, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2019: Hardie Conference Travel Award - 2018/2019 (US$500), College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

    2018: Best Leader and Most Active Member - Global Leaders: Orange & Blue Engagement (GLOBE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2018: List of teachers ranked as excellent by their students, Fall 2017, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign     

    2018: Outstanding Leadership Award - Global Leaders: Orange & Blue Engagement (GLOBE), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2018: Certificate of Exceptional Service by a Graduate Student - Office of Volunteer Programs (OVP), University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2017-2018: Russell & Janet Zwoyer Scholarship ($1000), College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   

    2017: Block Grant Award ($1300), Graduate College/College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   

    2017: Thomas and Margaret Huang Award for Graduate Research ($3500), Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   

    2017: Hardie Conference Travel Award - 2016/2017 (US$500), College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

    2017: List of teachers ranked as excellent by their students, Fall 2016, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   

    2016-2017: Inspiring Service Merit Award, Inspiring Service

    2016: Best conference paper - Division Accounting Education and Research, granted by the (Brazilian) National Association for Post-Graduation and Research in Administration (ANPAD), XL National Encounter of the Association for Post-Graduation and Research in Administration (XL EnAnpad), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

    2015: Hardie Conference Travel Award - 2015/2016 (US$500), Charles Dunn Hardie Endowment, the College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

    2015: Block Grant Award (US$110), Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign   

    2014: Block Grant Award (US$500), Graduate College, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

    2013: Hardie Conference Travel Award (US$475), College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

    2013: Spring 2013 EPOL Conference Travel Award (US$500), EPOL, College of Education, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 

    2013: Lemann Institute Student Travel Award (US$1000), Lemann Inst. for Brazilian Studies, CLACS, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

    2012-2013: William Chandler Bagley Doctoral Scholarship (US$2000) – College of Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 

  • Research

    Renato Ferreira Leitão Azevedo’s research focuses on understanding the fundamentals of human behavior in the context of technology interactions, and it often engages the use of technology to capture demographic, socio-demographic, and other health data. His work advances applications of digital health among older adults, which includes data visualization, computational modeling, design for aging populations, technology acceptance and training.

    One of the research projects is focused on helping patients understand and use health information presented through a ‘patient portal’ (electronic health record). Portals are intended to improve patient care by providing more access to health information when patients want it. However, portals have been used less than expected by older adults, in part because they are hard to use and the information is often hard to understand. We are focusing on patient understanding of numeric information such as test results. Patients often need to understand cholesterol and diabetes numbers and other test results in order to determine whether they are at risk for illness, compare treatments based on their risks and benefits, or make other health-related decisions. 

    Another research project is focused on support providers’ ability to educate patients about medication management and patients’ ability to accomplish this and other self-care goals at home. More specifically, we will develop tools integrated with Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems that automatically translate medication information in the EHR into language that patients can easily understand and use, and integrate this language into a computer agent (CA)-based medication adviser system that supports distributed collaboration between providers and patients.  

  • 2024

    • Alrawashdeh, G. S., Fyffe, S., Azevedo, R. F. L., & Castillo, N. M. (2024). A global meta-analysis of technology-enabled personalized and adaptive learning’s effectiveness on reading. Educational Research Review, 42, 100587. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2023.100587

    2023

    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Garcia-Retamero, R., Morrow, D. G., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., & Gu, K. (2023). The influence of memory for and affective response to health messages on self-care behavioral intentions. Human Factors in Healthcare, 4(100058). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hfh.2023.100058
    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Hale, T., Warren, T., Baby, E., Lee, J. K., Insel, K., Rogers, W., & Mudar, R. (2023). Assessing Usability of a Medication Adherence System for Persons with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Innovation in Aging, 7, (sup.1), 83, https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igad104.0266
    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Varzino, M., Steinman, E., & Rogers, W. (2023). Evaluating mHealth Applications for Older Adults with Diabetes: Systematic Meta-Analysis of Clinical Trials. Innovation in Aging, 7 (sup. 1), 1181, https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igad104.3783
    • Hale, T. M., Azevedo, R. F. L., Sun, K., & Rogers, W. A. (2023, March). Developing a Theory-Based Summative Testing Approach to Evaluate a Mobile Health App for Older Adults. 2023 International Symposium on Human Factors and Ergonomics in Health Care. Orlando, FL.
    • Trinh, M., Harris, M., Azevedo, R. F. L., & Rogers, W. A. (2023). Understanding Older Adults’ Perceptions of mHealth Apps Using the Technology Readiness Index – Health. Gerontechnology, 22(1) 1-7, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2023.22.1.841.10

    2022

    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Trinh, M., Mitzner, T. L., Harris, M. T., & Rogers, W. A. (2022, October). Designing Instructional Materials for Older Adults to Successfully Onboard and Use mHealth Applications. In Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 66th Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
    • Azevedo, R.F.L., Harris, M. T., Nie, Q, Al-Saleh, S. A., Smith, C., Maguire, R, & Rogers, W. A. (2022). Developing and selecting images to facilitate comprehension of hypertension educational materials for older adults. Gerontechnology, 21(s), 1-1, https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2022.21.s.586.opp7
    • Azevedo, R.F.L., Nicholas, J., Lee, J., Insel, K., & Rogers, W. (2022). A Transdisciplinary Team Approach to Technology Development to Support Health and Well-being. Innovation in Aging, 6 (sup. 1), 310. https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igac059.1226
    • Azevedo, R.F.L., Roy, B., Christianson, K., Zhong, Y., & Morrow, D. G. (2022). Affective Distancing Associated with Second Language Use Influences Response to Health Information. Languages, 7(2), 120.
    • Lee, J. K., Insel, K. C., Nicholas, J. S., Azevedo, R.F.L., & Rogers, W. (2022). A technology innovation to improve hypertension medication adherence for older adults. Gerontechnology, 21 (s), p-3-3. https://doi.org/10.4017/gt.2022.21.s.593.3.sp3

    2021

    • Dunn Lopez, K., Chin, C.-L., Azevedo, R. F., L., Kaushik, V., Roy, B. Schuh, W., Banks, K., Sousa, V. & Morrow, D.G (2021). Electronic Health Record Usability and Workload Changes Over Time for Provider and Nursing Staff following Transition to New EHR. Applied Ergonomics. May, 93:103359. doi: 10.1016/j.apergo.2021.103359. Epub 2021 Feb 6. PMID: 33556884.
    • Valdiviejas,H., Azevedo, R.F.L., Maldonado, E., Bosch, N., Anderson, C., & Perry, M. (2021, April). Spontaneously Produced Metacognitive Language and Achievement in a STEM Online College Course: An Exploratory Analysis. Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
    • Williams-Dobosz, D., Azevedo, R.F. L. , Jeng, A., V., Thakkar, V., Bhat, S., Bosch, N., & Perry, M. (2021, April). A Social Network Analysis of Online Engagement for College Students Traditionally Underrepresented in STEM. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK21).
    • Williams-Dobosz, D., Jay, V., Thakkar, V., Bhat, S., Azevedo, R.F.L., Henricks, G., Anderson,C.J., Angrave, L., Bosch, N., & Perry, M. (2021, April). Online help-seeking behavior and responses to requests for help for students underrepresented in STEM. Proceedings of the American Educational Research Association (AERA).
    • Williams-Dobosz, D., Jeng, A. Azevedo, R. F. L., Bosch, N., Ray, C., & Perry, M. (2021). Ask for Help: Online Help-Seeking and Help-Giving as Indicators of Cognitive and Social Presence for Students Underrepresented in Chemistry. Journal of Chemical Education. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.1c00839.

    2020

    • Morrow, D., Azevedo, R. F. L., Sari, L., Gu, K,. Sakakini, T., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Bhat, S., Graumlich, J. ., Huang, T. , Hariharan, A., Shao, A., & Cox, E.(2020, October). Closing the Loop in Computer Agent/Patient Communication. Proceedings of the 2020 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.
    • Sakakini,T., Lee, J. Y., Duri, A., Azevedo, R. F. L., Sadauskas, V., Gu, K., Bhat,S., Morrow, D., Graumlich, J., Walayat, S., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T., Willemsen-Dunlap,A., & Halpin, D. (2020, November). Context-Aware Automatic Text Simplificationof Health Materials in Low-Resource Domains. Proceedings of LOUHI: 11th International Workshop on Health Text Mining and Information Analysis.

    2019

    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Morrow, D. G., Graumlich, J., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T., Gu, K., Bhat, S., Sakakini, T., & Halpin, D. (2019, August). Conversational Agents as a Support for Older Adults Self-Care. Poster session at the 2019 American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, IL.
    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Morrow, D., Gu, K., Huang, T., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Soni, P., Tang, S., Sakakini, T., Bhat, S., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., & Graumlich, J. (2019). The Influence of Computer Agent Characteristics on User Preferences in Health Contexts. Proceedings of the 2019 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Health Care Symposium, Chicago, IL.
    • Morrow, D. G., Azevedo, R. F. L., Graumlich, J., Bhat, S., Sakakini, T., Gu, K., Huang, T., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., & Halpin, D. (2019, August). Health Literacy Supports Older Adult Memory for Web-Based Health Information. Poster session at the 2019 American Psychological Association (APA), Chicago, IL.
    • Morrow, D., Azevedo, R. F. L., Garcia-Retamero, R., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T., Schuh, W., Gu, K., & Zhang, Y. (2019). Contextualizing Numeric Clinical Test Results for Gist Comprehension: Implications for EHR Patient Portals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 25(1), 41-61.

    2018

    • Azevedo, R. F. L., & Morrow, D. G. (2018). Improving older adults’ comprehension and use of patient portal-based health information. In Pak, R., & McLaughlin, A. C. Aging, Technology and Health, Academic Press, 2018, 49-80. ISBN 9780128112724.
    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Morrow, D., Graumlich, J., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T. S., Gu, K., Bhat, S., Sakakini, T., Sadauskas, V., & Halpin, D. J. (2018). Using conversational agents to explain medication instructions to older adults. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. San Francisco, CA: American Medical Informatics Association.
    • Azevedo, R.F.L., Morrow, D., Gu, K., Huang, T. S., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Graumlich, J., Sadauskas, V., Sakakini, T., Bhat, S., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., & Halpin, D. (2018, August). Evaluating computer agents for patient comprehension of medication information. Poster to be presented at the 126th American Psychological Association. San Francisco, CA.
    • Morrow, D., & Azevedo, R. F. L. (2018). Acquiring and Maintaining Expertise in Aging Populations. In: P. Ward, J. M. Schraagen, J. Gore, & E. Roth. The Oxford Handbook of Expertise. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    2017

    • Azevedo, R. F. L., Gu, K., Zhang, Y., Sadauskas, V., Sakakini, T., Morrow, D., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T. S., Bhat, S., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., Halpin, D.J., Graumlich, J., & Schuh, W. (2017). Using computer agents to explain clinical test results. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. Washington, DC: American Medical Informatics Association.
    • Azevedo, R.F.L., Garcia-Retamero, R., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T., Schuh, W., Gu, K., Zhang, Y., Yang, X. & Morrow, D. (2017, August). An interdisciplinary approach to improving patient portal messages. Poster to be presented at the 125th American Psychological Association. Washington, DC.
    • Malik, T., Azevedo, R. F. L., Morrow, D., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T. S., Schuh, W., Gu, K., & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2017). Age Differences in Responding to Graphically Conveyed Health Risk Information. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 61(1), 542-544.
    • Morrow, D., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T. Schuh, W., Azevedo, R. F. L., Gu, K., Zhang, Y., Roy, B. & Garcia-Retamero, R. (2017). A multidisciplinary approach to design and evaluating electronic medical record portal messages that support patient self-care. Journal of Biomedical Informatics, 69, 63-74.
    • Sakakini, T., Azevedo, R.F.L., Sadauskas, V., Gu, K., Zhang, Y., Bhat, S., Morrow, D., Hasegawa-Johnson, M., Huang, T.S., Willemsen-Dunlap, A., Halpin, D.J., & Graumlich, J. (2017). Dr. Babel Fish: A Machine Translator to Simplify Providers' Language. In AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings. Washington, DC: American Medical Informatics Association.