Ralph DiClemente

Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. Ralph DiClemente was trained as a Health Psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco where he received his PhD in 1984 after completing a ScM at the Harvard School of Public Health.  He earned his undergraduate degree at the City University of New York.

Dr. DiClemente’s research has four key foci:

1. Developing interventions to reduce the risk of HIV/STD among vulnerable populations
2. Developing interventions to enhance vaccine uptake among high-risk adolescents and women, such as HPV and influenza vaccine
3. Developing implementation science interventions to enhance the uptake, adoption and sustainability of HIV/STD prevention programs in the community
4. Developing diabetes screening and behavior change interventions to identify people with diabetes who are unaware of their disease status as well as reduce the risk of diabetes among vulnerable populations.

He has focused on developing intervention packages that blend community and technology-based approaches that are designed to optimize program effectiveness and enhance programmatic sustainability.

Dr. DiClemente is the author of ten CDC-defined, evidence-based interventions for adolescents and young African-American women and men. He is the author of more than 540 peer-review publications, 150 book chapters, and 21 books. He serves as a member of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council.

Previously, Dr. DiClemente served as the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Public Health at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.  He was also Associate Director of the Center for AIDS Research, and was previously Chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health Education at the Rollins School of Public Health.

Dr. DiClemente is Past President of the Georgia chapter of the Society for Adolescent Health & Medicine.  He previously served as a member of the CDC Board of Scientific Counselors, and the NIMH Advisory Council.

Education

BA, The City College of the City University of New York (CCNY), New York, NY

ScM, Behavioral Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

PhD, Health Psychology, University of California San Francisco Center for Behavioral Sciences, San Francisco, CA

Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco, CA

Areas of research and study

Community Interventions

Diabetes

HIV/AIDS

Implementation science

Influenza

Psychology

Publications

Publications

Correlates of correct condom use among high-risk African American men attending an Urban STD clinic in the South

Correlates of heterosexual anal intercourse among at-risk adolescents and young adults

Effects of fear of abuse and possible STI acquisition on the sexual behavior of young African American women

Efficacy of sexually transmitted disease/human immunodeficiency virus sexual risk-reduction intervention for African American adolescent females seeking sexual health services: A randomized controlled trial

Exploring the mediating mechanism between gender-based violence and biologically confirmed chlamydia among detained adolescent girls

Exposure to High-Risk Genital Human Papillomavirus and Its Association with Risky Sexual Practices and Laboratory-Confirmed Chlamydia Among African-American Women

Exposure to tobacco on the internet: Content analysis of adolescents' internet use

HIV prevention and heterosexual African-American women

Mass media as an HIV-prevention strategy: Using culturally sensitive messages to reduce HIV-associated sexual behavior of at-risk African American youth

Multidimensional family therapy HIV/STD risk-reduction intervention: An integrative family-based model for drug-involved juvenile offenders

Parent-adolescent sexual communication: Associations of condom use with condom discussions

Parental monitoring as a moderator of the effect of family sexual communication on sexual risk behavior among adolescents in psychiatric care

Prevalence and correlates of HIV testing among sexually active African American adolescents in 4 US cities

Prevalence, correlates, and sexually transmitted infection risk related to coitus interruptus among african-american adolescents

Preventing HIV Among Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa

Psychological distress as a correlate of a biologically confirmed STI, risky sexual practices, self-efficacy and communication with male sex partners in African-American female adolescents

Test-Retest Reliability of Self-Reported HIV/STD-Related Measures Among African-American Adolescents in Four U.S. Cities

The validity of teens' and young adults' self-reported condom use

Threats of cross-contamination on effects of a sexual risk reduction intervention: Fact or fiction

Validation of the worry about sexual outcomes scale for use in STI/HIV prevention interventions for adolescent females

Withdrawal (Coitus Interruptus) as a sexual risk reduction strategy: Perspectives from African-American adolescents

An event-specific analysis of condom breakage among African American men at risk of HIV acquisition

Co-occurrence of intoxication during sex and sexually transmissible infections among young African American women: Does partner intoxication matter?

Condom use among high-risk adolescents: Anticipation of partner disapproval and less pleasure associated with not using condoms

Condom use at last sex as a proxy for other measures of condom use: Is it good enough?