Lori R. Carter-Edwards, PhD, MPH

Biography

Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Government Affairs; Acting Co-Director for Health Equity Research Core; Professor

Health Systems Science

Lori Carter-Edwards, PhD, MPH, oversees the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine’s strategic efforts to engage with community partners in the city of Pasadena and across the wider Los Angeles County area, working with stakeholders in the non-profit, healthcare, government, faith-based-and social services sectors. A nationally recognized expert in community engaged research, Dr. Carter-Edwards previously served as Associate Professor in the Public Health Leadership Program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health; as Director of the Community and Stakeholder Engagement (CaSE) Program with the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS); and as Co-Director of the Academic Career Leadership Academy in Medicine. She has 25 years of experience conducting observational studies, interventions, and programs—including numerous grant-funded projects—with emphasis on social determinants of health associated with cardiovascular-related risk factors and outcomes in African American faith communities. She has authored or co-authored more than 50 peer-reviewed articles and books.

Education and Training

Degrees: BA, University of Notre Dame
MPH, University of California, Los Angeles
PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Professional Positions

Postdoctoral Epidemiology Research Fellow: Duke Hypertension Center, Duke University Medical Center; 1995-1997

Research Assistant Professor, Depts. of Epidemiology and Health Behavior and Health Education: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 1997-2001

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Dept. of Epidemiology: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 2001-2017

Senior Project Manager and Epidemiologist: Rho, Inc.; 2001-2003

Senior Researcher: Shaw University, Institute for Health, Social and Community Research; 2003-2006

Research Assistant Professor and Faculty Liaison, Division of Community Health: Duke University Medical Center, Center for Community Research (DCCR); 2006-2011

Research Fellow, Cecil B. Sheps Center for Health Services: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 2011-present

Research Associate Professor, Department of Health Behavior: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 2012-2016

Evaluator, Public Health Leadership Program: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 2014-2016

Adjunct Associate Professor, Depts. of Epidemiology and Health Behavior: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 2016-2021

Associate Professor, Public Health Leadership Program: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health; 2016-2021

Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Government Affairs, Professor, Health Systems Science: Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine; 2021-present

Acting Co-Director of Health Equity Research Core (HERC): Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine; 2023-present

Honors and Awards

Community Appreciation Award, Village HeartBEAT Initiative: Mecklenburg County Health Department, Charlotte, NC; 2014

Delta Omega Honor Society Faculty Award: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; 2017

Scholarly Activities

: View Dr. Lori Carter-Edwards' Researcher Profile

Selected peer-reviewed research manuscripts

Lancaster K, Carter-Edwards L, Grilo S, Shen C, Schoenthaler AM. Faith-related obesity interventions in African Americans: a systematic review. Journal of Family and Community Health 2014; 15 Suppl 4:159-76.
Carter-Edwards L, Lowe-Wilson A, Mouw MS, Jeon JY, Ross Baber C, Vu M, Bethell M. Community member and stakeholder perspectives on a healthy environment initiative in NC. Preventing Chronic Disease 2015; 12:E127.
Shea CM, Young TL, Powell BJ, Rohweder C, Enga ZK, Scott JE, Carter-Edwards L, Corbie-Smith G. Researcher readiness for participating in community-engaged dissemination and implementation research: a conceptual framework of core competencies. Translational and Behavioral Medicine 2017; Sep;7(3):393-404.
Hopper LN, Blackman KF, Page RA, Barnes K, Gizlice Z, Rivera I, Carter-Edwards L. Seeds of HOPE: Incorporating community-based strategies to implement a weight-loss and empowerment intervention in Eastern, NC. North Carolina Medical Journal 2017; 78(4):230-236.
Silberberg M, Carter-Edwards L, Mayhew M, Murphy G, Anstrom K, Collier D, Evenson KR, Perrin EM, Shin JH, Kolasa KM. Integrating registered dietitian nutritionists into primary care practices to work with children with overweight. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. 2017 Aug 24; doi: 1559827617726950.
Isselmann DiSantis K, Kumanyika S, Carter-Edwards L, Rohm Young D, Grier SA, Lassiter V. Sensitizing black adult and youth consumers to targeted food marketing tactics in their environments. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2017 Oct 29;14(11):1316.
Taggart T, Gottfredson N, Powell W, Ennett S, Chatters LM, Carter-Edwards L, Eng E. The role of religious socialization and religiosity in African American and Caribbean Black adolescents' sexual initiation. Journal of Religion and Health 2018; (5):1889-1904.
Carter-Edwards L, Lindquist R, Redmond N, Turner C, Harding C, Oliver J, West L, Ravenell J, Shikany J. Designing faith-based blood pressure interventions to reach young Black men. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2018; 55(5S1):S49-S58.
Young TL, Carter-Edwards L, Frerichs L, Green MA, Hassmiller-Lich K, Quarles E, Dave G, Corbie-Smith G. Action learning cohort series: an innovative community-engaged approach for translating research into practice. Health Promotion Practice 2019; doi: 10.1177/1524839919858592.
Carter-Edwards L, Turner CM, Shikany JM. A community-academic collaborative recruitment approach to explore faith-based, blood pressure intervention strategies among young African American men. SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health; 2020, doi: 10.4135/9781529743548.
Carter-Edwards, Lori PhD, MPH; Grewe, Mary E. MPH; Fair, Alecia M. DrPH; Jenkins, Carolyn DrPH, MSN, RN, RD; Ray, Natasha J. MS; Bilheimer, Alicia MPH; Dave, Gaurav MD, DrPH; Nunez-Smith, Marcella MD, MHS; Richmond, Alan MSW; Wilkins, Consuelo H. MD, MSCI. Recognizing cross-institutional fiscal and administrative barriers and facilitators to conducting community-engaged clinical and translational research. Academic Medicine: April 2021; 96(4):558-567; doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003893.

Books and chapters

Carter-Edwards L, Johnson JH Jr, Parnell A, Koenig H. Faith-based organizations and the provision of care for the elderly. In, S Harper and K Hamblin, eds. International Handbook on Ageing and Public Policy. Cheltenam, UK: Elgar Publications, 2014.
Johnson, JH Jr. and Carter-Edwards L. Entrepreneurial spirituality and community outreach in African American churches. In, SD Brunn, ed. The Changing World Religion Map: Sacred Places, Identities, Practices and Politics. New York: Springer, 2015.
Wallerstein N, Minkler M, Carter-Edwards L, Avila M, Sanchez V. Using Community Engagement, Community Building, and Social Action to Improve Health. In Glanz K, Rimer BK, and Viswanath K, eds. Health Behavior: Theory, Research & Practice, 5th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Wiley, 2015.
Carter-Edwards L, Brooks JL, Burgess S, Toms F. Race, ethnicity, and cultural influences. In, T Daaleman and M Helton, eds. Chronic Illness Care: Principles and Practices, pp. 17-28. New York: Springer, 2018.
Carter-Edwards L, Pullen-Smith B, Emanuel C, Whitt-Glover M, Toms F, Wilson C. Engaging faith-based communities: a public health leadership perspective. In, F Toms and S Burgess, eds. Lead the Way: Principles and Practices in Civic and Community Engagement, 2nd edition. San Diego: Cognella Publishing, in press.
Carter-Edwards L, Moyer EAA, Pullen-Smith B. Transformative leadership: applying community-engaged principles in designing and delivering public health interventions. In, F Toms and S Burgess, eds. Lead the Way: Principles and Practices in Civic and Community Engagement, 2nd edition. San Diego: Cognella Publishing, in press.