Melody Goodman

Interim Dean, School of Global Public Health

Professor of Biostatistics

Professional overview

Dr. Melody S. Goodman is a biostatistician and research methodologist. Her research interest is identifying the origins of health inequities and developing, as necessary, evidence-informed primary prevention strategies to reduce these health inequities. Dr. Goodman’s research efforts seek to develop a more rigorous understanding of the social risk factors contributing to urban health inequities to develop culturally competent, region-specific solutions through collaborative activities with community members, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, and other community health stakeholders. Her work aims to develop solutions for improving health in minoritized and medically underserved communities. 

Dr. Goodman led the team that developed and comprehensively evaluated the Research Engagement Survey Tool, a quantitative survey measure to assess the level of community engagement in research studies from the community partner perspective. She is the Founding Director of the Center for Antiracism, Social Justice, & Public Health. With numerous funders supporting her work (e.g., National Institutes of Health, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Verizon Foundation, Long Island Community Foundation, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, and Susan G. Komen), she has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and two books (2018 Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group): 1) Public Health Research Methods for Partnerships and Practice and 2) Biostatistics for Clinical and Public Health Research. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the inaugural recipient of the Societal Impact Award from the Caucus for Women in Statistics (2021).

Education

BS, Economics and Applied Mathematics & Statistics, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY

MS, Biostatistics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

PhD, Biostatistics (Minors: Social Determinants of Health Disparities and Theoretical Statistics), Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Honors and awards

Fellow, American Statistical Association (2021)

Societal Impact Award, Caucus for Women in Statistics (2021)

Network Builder Award, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation New Connections (2019)

Siteman Cancer Center “Rock Doc” (2013)

Satcher Health Leadership Institute - Morehouse School of Medicine, Community Health Leadership Institute Intensive Cohort II (2013)

Women of the Year - Health, National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Inc. - Suffolk Chapter (2010)

President’s Award for Teaching Excellence - Stony Brook University (2009)

President’s Award for Excellence in Team Achievement - Stony Brook University (2008)

Areas of research and study

Biostatistics

Community Health

Community-based Participatory Research

Dissemination and Implementation of Evidence-based Programs

Health Disparities

Health Equity

Minorities

Minority Health

Quantitative Research

Publications

Publications

The impact of teach-back on comprehension of discharge instructions and satisfaction among emergency patients with limited health literacy: A randomized, controlled study

An empirical analysis of White privilege, social position and health

Analysis of ordinal outcomes with longitudinal covariates subject to missingness

Brentwood community health care assessment

Does numeracy correlate with measures of health literacy in the emergency department?

Effect of cognitive dysfunction on the relationship between age and health literacy

Feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of brief health literacy and numeracy screening instruments in an urban emergency department

Is low health literacy associated with increased emergency department utilization and recidivism?

Perceived barriers to mammography among underserved women in a Breast Health Center Outreach Program

Racial disparities in risk of second breast tumors after ductal carcinoma in situ

Responses to genomic information by race/ethnicity in a medically underserved population

Screening for colorectal cancer: Using data to set prevention priorities

Urological chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptom flares: Characterisation of the full range of flares at two sites in the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network

An institutional strategy to increase minority recruitment to therapeutic trials

Availability of and Ease of Access to Calorie Information on Restaurant Websites

Examining infant and neonatal mortality by community health center concentration

Family Health History Communication Networks of Older Adults: Importance of Social Relationships and Disease Perceptions

Hidalgo and goodman respond

Spatial and Racial Patterning of Real Estate Broker Listings in New York City

Using small-area analysis to estimate county-level racial disparities in obesity demonstrating the necessity of targeted interventions

Factors affecting frequency of communication about family health history with family members and doctors in a medically underserved population

Nonparametric diagnostic test for conditional logistic regression

Perceived familiarity with and importance of family health history among a medically underserved population

Quantitative assessment of participant knowledge and evaluation of participant satisfaction in the CARES training program

Relationship between perceived racial composition and health literacy among community health center patients