Department

Applied Health Science

Education

• BA, Studies in Women and Gender; Studies in Health and Society  University of Virginia  
• MPH, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education  Emory University Rollins School of Public Health  
• PhD, Health Behavior  Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington  

Background

Alyssa Lederer is an applied behavioral scientist and master certified health education specialist. Much of her current work focuses on enhancing young people's health and reducing health inequities through the design and evaluation of health promotion interventions. She is especially interested in the intersection between health education and behavior change, community-engaged research, and using multiple methods of inquiry. Although Dr. Lederer works on several public health issues, much of her research relates to adolescent and emerging adult sexual health, college student health broadly, and public health workforce development.

Examples of Dr. Lederer's ongoing sexual health research are the multi-method evaluation of a curricular intervention intended to reduce sexual violence and improve sexual health outcomes among college students, an assessment of facilitators and barriers to expedited partner therapy (EPT) acceptance to treat chlamydia among Black youth in New Orleans, and a randomized controlled trial examining the impact of graphic images of sexually transmitted infections in sexuality education. Other current college health projects include: a USDA-funded study that uses a policy, systems, and environmental (PSE) change approach to understand and mitigate food insecurity among minoritized college students; a multi-pronged examination of the relationship between undergraduate students' well-being and their academic success; and an investigation of how COVID-19 impacted college students and ways in which institutions of higher education can best meet students' needs.

Committed to public health research, teaching, and practice, and how they inform one another, Dr. Lederer also engages in public health capacity building, workforce development, and scholarship of teaching and learning research to most effectively prepare the current and next generation of public health professionals and educators. Examples of these efforts are a national study on how public health doctoral students are trained to teach, identifying innovative strategies for enhanced research methods education, and previously serving as Co-Principal Investigator of the HRSA-funded Region 6 South Central Public Health Training Center. Dr. Lederer is also the current Chair of the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment Advisory Committee.

Prior to joining IUB's faculty in 2022, Dr. Lederer was an Assistant Professor and Director of the Health Education and Communication MPH Program at Tulane University's School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She also has practice-based experience as a health promotion practitioner and evaluator in non-profit, university, workplace, and K-12 school settings. She enjoys partnering with community organizations and practitioners to help them build their program design, evaluation, and research capacity and to support the translation of research to practice. Dr. Lederer is a Fellow of the American College Health Association and has been the recipient of several teaching and research awards.

Scholarly Interest

• Health education and promotion
• Intervention design
• Program evaluation
• Sexual health, especially sexuality education, sexually transmitted infections, and sexuality-related stigma
• Adolescent and emerging adult health
• Mixed methods research
• Public health workforce development
• Scholarship of teaching and learning

Selected Publications

Articles

Lederer, A.M., Foster, A.M., Schmidt, N.M., Gomes, G.R., Scott, G., Watson, S., & Kissinger, P.J. (2023). A framework for using real-time interview feedback for health promotion program and evaluation improvement: The Check It case study. Program Planning and Evaluation, 97, 102216.

Lederer, A.M., Johnson, K.M., Liddell, J.L., & Sheffield, S. (2023). The multi-method evaluation of a curricular intervention intended to reduce sexual violence on a college campus: A synthesis of findings and lessons learned. Health Promotion Practice, 24(2), 323-331.

Lederer, A.M., Griner, S., & Oswalt, S.B. (2023). Expedited partner therapy at U.S. college health centers: Update and recommendations for improved uptake and measurement. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 50(2), 79-82.

Stolow, J., & Lederer, A.M. (2023). “I was learning every step of the way”: Student perceptions about a new required foundational Master of Public Health program planning course. Public Health Reports, 138(2), 378-385.

Walker, E.L., Lederer, A.M., & Stolow, J. (2022). A qualitative examination of barriers and facilitators to providing pedagogical training for doctoral students in behavioral and social sciences programs at U.S. schools of public health. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 8(4), 332-341.

Lederer, A.M., & Hoban, M.T. (2022). The development of the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment III: An improved tool to assess and enhance the health and well-being of college students. Journal of American College Health, 70(6), 1606-1610.

Lederer, A.M., Hindmarch, G.M., Schmidt, N., Gomes, G., Watson, S., Scott, G., & Kissinger, P.J. (2021). Facilitators and barriers of patient-delivered partner therapy acceptance among young African American men who have sex with women in a Southern urban epicenter. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 48(11), 823-827.

Lederer, A.M., & Vertacnik, A.L. (2021). Correlates of sexually transmitted infection knowledge among late adolescents. Sexual Health, 18(4), 303-310.

Lederer, A.M., & Stolow, J. (2021). Will student contracts keep campuses safe from COVID-19? A behavioral science perspective. Public Health Reports, 136(3), 274-280.

Johnson, K.M., Lederer, A.M., Liddell, J., Sheffield, S., & McCraw, A. (2021). Teaching to impact sexual violence? Evaluating a curricular intervention for first-year college students. American Journal of Health Promotion, 35(3), 438-441.

Lederer, A.M., & Sheena, B.S. (2021). A content analysis of college students’ gaps in knowledge about sexually transmitted infections. Health Education Journal, 80(2), 238-250.

Lederer, A.M., Hoban, M.T., Lipson, S.K., Zhou, S., & Eisenberg, D. (2021). More than inconvenienced: The unique needs of U.S. college students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health Education & Behavior, 48(1), 14-19.

Lederer, A.M., Tims, M.S., Czachowski, A.K., Williams-Aghimien, S.E., & Pinto, C.A. (2020). The design, implementation, and evaluation of a health-themed residential learning community for undergraduate students. Health Promotion Practice, 21(4), 484-486.

Oswalt, S.B., Lederer, A.M., Chestnut, K., Day, C., Halbritter, A., & Ortiz, D. (2020). Trends in college students’ mental health diagnoses and utilization of services, 2009-2015. Journal of American College Health, 68(1), 41-51.

Lederer, A.M., & Laing, E.E. (2017). What’s in a name? Perceptions of the terms sexually transmitted disease and sexually transmitted infection among late adolescents. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 44(11), 707-711.

Lederer, A.M., & Oswalt, S.B. (2017). The value of college health promotion: A critical population and setting for improving the public’s health. American Journal of Health Education, 48(4), 215-218.

Lederer, A.M., Sherwood-Laughlin, C., Kearns, K.D., & O’Loughlin, V.D. (2016). The development and evaluation of a doctoral-level public health pedagogy course for graduate student instructors. College Teaching, 64(1), 19-27.