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

Detecting multiple change points in piecewise constant hazard functions

Survey study of anesthesiologists' and surgeons' ordering of unnecessary preoperative laboratory tests

Comparison of small-area analysis techniques for estimating prevalence by race

Hepatitis B vaccination of male neonates and autism diagnosis, NHIS 1997-2002

Increasing research literacy in minority communities: CARES fellows training program

Does "off-hours" admission affect burn patient outcome?

Psychosocial stress and 13-year BMI change among blacks: The pitt county study

Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1-9 years

An evaluation of multiple behavioral risk factors for cancer in a working class, multi-ethnic population

Attitudes regarding overweight, exercise, and health among Blacks (United States)