Lea Yerby, PhD
Associate Professor and Vice Chair
Dr. Lea G. Yerby, is an associate professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Population Health at the College of Community Health Sciences. Yerby directs medical student education on topics of community medicine, population health and leadership. She also teaches the Health Policy course in the College’s Master of Science in Population Health Sciences degree program.
Yerby’s primary research focus is health disparities in rural children, particularly access to health services and equitable opportunities for healthy development. This work has included screening and intervention for autism spectrum disorders and Medicaid innovation analysis. She is site MPI for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study, the largest long-term study of early brain development in the United States
Yerby received a bachelor's degree in Biology from Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., a master’s 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 UA and the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also completed a health policy fellowship with 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. Yerby was also the 2018 awardee of the Buford Peace Award, which recognizes UA faculty who actively promote peace and justice.