Lea Yerby, PhD — Associate Professor and Vice Chair

Dr. Lea G. Yerby, is associate professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Population Health and the institute for Rural Health research at The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences. Yerby directs medical student education on topics of health, while also teaching graduate students on these topics. She is also a research professor with a focus on health disparities in rural children, particularly access to screening and intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders and Medicaid innovation. Currently, she is site PI for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study, which seeks to better understand and prevent the harms of prenatal and postnatal exposure to drugs and other adverse conditions on infant development. Yerby received a bachelor's degree in Biology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, a masters degree in Human Environmental Sciences focusing on Human Development and Health Science from The University of Alabama, and a PhD in Education and Health Promotion from a joint program of The University of Alabama and The University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also completed a health policy fellowship in the U.S. Senate. Yerby spent more than a decade as a leader in the Alabama HIV/AIDS service and policy community, was named an Advanced Health Promotion Policy Expert by the Society for Public Health Education, and was selected to participate in the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities Translational Health Disparities Course. She is also a member of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the Society of Public Health Education.