Cheryl Merzel

Clinical Associate Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Community Health Science and Practice

Professional overview

Cheryl Merzel has over 30 years’ experience in public health research, evaluation, program development, advocacy, and education. She is Director of the GPH Doctor of Public Health program. Previously, she served as the School’s MPH Program Director and as Director of Educational Advancement and Assessment. In addition to NYU, she has served on the public health faculty at a number of institutions including Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the City University of New York, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Merzel is currently Editor-in-Chief of the journal Pedagogy in Health Promotion: The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Dr. Merzel’s work focuses on the design and evaluation of community-based health promotion interventions and development of community capacity to engage in efforts to improve population health. Past areas of research include adolescent health, maternal and child health, and tobacco control. Her recent work involves developing approaches to support public health practitioners and communities in translating research to relevant, evidence-based practice. Dr. Merzel is committed to improving public health pedagogy through scholarship and innovative teaching practice. 

Education

BA, Biology, Yeshiva University, New York, NY

MS, Jewish Education, Yeshiva University, New York, NY

MPH, Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY

DrPH, Sociomedical Sciences/Political Science, Columbia University, New York, NY

Honors and awards

Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health, Delta Beta Chapter (2016)

Calderone Award for Junior Faculty Development, Columbia University (2000)

Marissa de Castro Benton Dissertation Prize, Columbia University (1988)

Alumni Scholarship, Columbia University (1987)

Areas of research and study

Community-based health promotion

Community-based intervention design and evaluation

Community-based participatory research

Dissemination and Implementation of Evidence-based Programs

Public Health Pedagogy

Publications

Publications

A cost-effectiveness analysis of interventions to increase repeat testing in patients treated for gonorrhea or chlamydia at public sexually transmitted disease clinics

Psychological mediating factors in an intervention to promote adolescent health care-seeking

Attitudinal and contextual factors associated with discussion of sexual issues during adolescent health visits

Comparison of methods to increase repeat testing in persons treated for gonorrhea and/or chlamydia at public sexually transmitted disease clinics

Computer Access and Internet Use among Urban Youths

On reconsidering community-based health promotion [3] (multiple letters)

Reconsidering community-based health promotion: Promise, performance, and potential

Access to health services in an urban community: Does source of care make a difference?

Effect of an STD/HIV behavioral intervention on women's use of the female condom

Tailoring interventions to the local context and working with community partners: Lessons learned from a multi-site, multi-component intervention study

Gender differences in health care access indicators in an urban, low- income community

The adolescent years: An academic-community partnership in Harlem comes of age.

Factors influencing participation in weekly support groups among women completing an HIV/STD intervention program

The diffusion of innovation in AIDS treatment: Zidovudine use in two New Jersey cohorts

Rethinking Empowerment.

New Jersey's medicaid waiver for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

Home care of HIV illness

Health through three life stages: A longitudinal study of urban black adolescents

Biopsychosocial and Epidemiologic Perspectives in Adolescent Health

Challenging the CON game.

Drug use initiation among urban Black youth: A seven-year follow-up of developmental and secular influences