Alyssa Lederer, PhD, MPH, MCHES®
Health education coursework and related certifications provide concrete skills that can be applied in real-world public health settings.
SOPHE’s 2018 Graduate Research Paper of the Year award winner, Dr. Alyssa Lederer, has had an insightful journey into health education and health promotion.
From the beginning of her academic career, Alyssa forged her own path. While studying at the University of Virginia, she created her own major, “studies in health and society.” After completing her undergraduate degree, she received her MPH in behavioral sciences and health education from Emory University and PhD in health behavior from Indiana University-Bloomington.
Alyssa’s passion for health education and health promotion began from a young age when a family friend passed from AIDS-related causes. In high school, Alyssa organized World AIDS Day activities after seeing the lack of education her peers had regarding this health issue. This only made her passion for education stronger.
Alyssa enhanced her professional growth by working on a plethora of health-related topics related to sexual and reproductive health. As she progressed to her graduate studies, she shifted her focus towards broader, methods-based approaches related to intervention design and evaluation.
As a professor, Alyssa values her interactions with her students and peers, as she believes that learning is bi-directional. For Alyssa, it is a privilege to teach and to conduct meaningful research that can help shape the field of health education.
She constantly encourages students to seek mentors for various aspects of professional and personal growth and to be proactive about making their dreams come true.
“I am fortunate to have a role in training the next generation of health education professionals.”
In her spare time, Alyssa enjoys exploring her new surroundings in New Orleans. She loves history, food, and the constant social life that New Orleans provides. She is also an avid dog lover and enjoys reading for pleasure.
Alyssa is at the beginning of her career. She hopes to achieve tenure and to further develop her research and teaching, so they will have a longstanding impact on the public’s health.