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

Complementary and alternative medicine use decreases adherence to HAART in HIV-positive women

Condom Misuse Among Adjudicated Girls: Associations with Laboratory-Confirmed Chlamydia and Gonorrhea

Conducting internet-based HIV/STD prevention survey research: Considerations in design and evaluation

Correlates of consistent condom use among HIV positive African American women

Correlates of HIV risk and preventive behaviors in Armenian female sex workers

HIV discrimination and the health of women living with HIV

HSV-2 serologic testing in an HMO population: Uptake and psychosocial sequelae

Images of sexual stereotypes in rap videos and the health of African American female adolescents

Oral contraceptive use may not preclude condom use: A study of non-pregnant African-American adolescent females

Personal, relational, and peer-level risk factors for laboratory confirmed STD prevalence among low-income African American adolescent females

Prevalence, incidence, and predictors of dating violence: A longitudinal study of African American female adolescents

Refining self-reported condom use among young men at risk of HIV acquisition

Relationship of STD-Related Shame and Stigma to Female Adolescents' Condom-Protected Intercourse

Sexual behaviors and their correlates among young people in Mauritius: A cross-sectional study

The protective value of school enrolment against sexually transmitted disease: A study of high-risk African American adolescent females

The role of spirituality in sustaining the psychological well-being of HIV-positive black women

Understanding motivations for sex among detained youth: Implications for HIV prevention programs

Using communication strategies in an HIV prevention curriculum to enhance african-american adolescents' adoption of HIV-preventive behaviors

Validation of a partner sexual communication scale for use in HIV/AIDS prevention interventions

Witnessing Community Violence and Health-Risk Behaviors Among Detained Adolescents

"Islands of risk": Subgroups of adolescents at risk for HIV

A decade in review: Building on the experiences of past adolescent STI/HIV interventions to optimise future prevention efforts

Biologically confirmed sexually transmitted infection and depressive symptomatology among African-American female adolescents

Development of a new Adolescent Patient-Provider Interaction Scale (APPIS) for youth at risk for STDs/HIV

Ecological factors associated with STD risk behaviors among detained female adolescents