Lori Carter-Edwards, PhD, associate professor, is a public health professional and researcher with expertise in epidemiology and behavioral sciences and education. 

Dr. Carter-Edwards' research focuses on community engagement in the prevention of chronic disease in vulnerable populations. She uses community participatory strategies to investigate the role of psychosocial correlates on cardiovascular-related outcomes, such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. Currently, her emphasis in community-engaged research is on faith-based organizational capacity to promote health, dissemination of a system science-driven tool developed by an Action Learning Cohort to address hypertension prevention, treatment, and control, and implementation of an action learning transformative leadership initiative for leaders in public health departments.  She is also the Associate Director of the Community Academic Resources for Engaged Scholarship (CARES) in the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, a committee member of the strategic planning team for the North Carolina Community Health Workers Statewide Initiative, and a board member for the American Heart Association Mid-Atlantic Affiliate.

Representative Courses

PUBH 746 Public Health Program Planning and Evaluation | Syllabus

PUBH 735 Policy Development | Syllabus

Research Activities

Cardiovascular disease
Community engagement
Diabetes
Evidence-based public health
Faith-based organizational health promotion
Health behavior
Health disparities
Health equity
Hypertension
Obesity

Key Publications

Using Community Engagement, Community Building, and Social Action to Improve Health. Wallerstein N, Minkler M, Carter-Edwards L, Avila M, Sanchez V.  (2015). In Glanz K, Rimer BK, and Viswanath K, eds. Health Behavior: Theory, Research & Practice, 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Wiley,.

Community member and stakeholder perspectives on a healthy environment initiative in NC. Carter-Edwards L, Lowe-Wilson A, Mouw MS, Jeon JY, Ross Baber C, Vu M, Bethell M (2015). Preventing Chronic Disease, 12(127).

Evaluating policy, systems, and environmental change interventions: Lessons learned from the CDC’s Prevention Research Centers. Honeycutt S, Leeman J, McCarthy WJ, Bastani R, Carter-Edwards L, Clark H, Garney W, Gustat J, Hites L, Nothwehr F, Kegler, MC. (2015). Preventing Chronic Disease, 12(174).

Engaging faith-based communities: a public health leadership perspective. Carter-Edwards L, Pullen-Smith B, Toms F, Whitt-Glover M, Wilson C. (2013). . In, F Toms and S Burgess, eds. Lead the Way: Principles and Practices in Civic and Community Engagement. San Diego: Cognella Publishing,.

Report on CTSA consortium use of the Community Engagement Consulting Service. Carter-Edwards L, Cook J, McDonald MA, Weaver SM, Chukwuka K, Eder M. (2013). Clinical and Translational Science, 6(1), 34-39.

What "price" means when buying food. Insights from a multi-site qualitative study with Black Americans. DiSantis KI, Grier S, Odoms-Young A, Carter-Edwards L, Young DR, Lassiter V, Kumanyika S. (2013). American Journal of Public Health, 103(3), 516-522.

Education

PhD, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1995

MA, Behavioral Sciences and Health Education, University of California at Los Angeles, 1990

BA, Psychology, University of Notre Dame, 1987