Lisa Lindley, DrPH, MPH, CHES

Dr. Lisa Lindley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Community and Population Health specializing in LGBTQ+ health, sexual health promotion, and the prevention of HIV/STIs and unintended pregnancies. Dr. Lindley’s public health career began during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, where she served as a consultant and trainer with the South Carolina AIDS Training Network, HIV Coordinator with the South Carolina Department of Education, Scholar Advisor and Faculty Member with the CDC’s Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership, and co-founder and Director of an education and support organization for LGBTQ+ youth in South Carolina. She also served as a public health faculty member at Western Kentucky University, the University of Florida, and the University of South Carolina in the Arnold School of Public Health. She became a Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) in 2000.

Dr. Lindley comes to Lehigh from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, where she was a faculty member in the Department of Global and Community Health for the past 13 years. In addition to serving as Director of Master’s Degree Programs, Dr. Lindley assisted in the development of Mason’s CEPH-accredited BS, MPH, and PhD degree programs, and the establishment of the first College of Public Health in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Education

• DrPH, Health Promotion and Education, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 1997
• PH, Health Promotion and Education, University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, 1993 
• BSEd, Community Health Education, George Mason University, 1991

Areas of Research and Publications

Dr. Lindley’s research has evolved over the years from focusing on school-based HIV/AIDS and sexuality education, to addressing health disparities among LGBTQ populations. She has explored the sexual and reproductive health concerns of sexual minority (non-heterosexual) women; including discovering that bisexual women and women who had male and female sex partners in the past year (regardless of sexual identity) are at greater risk for STIs, unintended pregnancies, and other health disparities compared to their heterosexual counterparts and women who only had male sex partners. 

Her research has been published in a number of professional journals including Women’s Health Issues, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, and the American Journal of Public Health, and featured in Healthy People 2020 and the CDC’s 2010, 2015, and 2021 STD Treatment Guidelines. Most notably, the New England Journal of Medicine’s Journal Watch referred to results from her pregnancy study of LGB high school students in New York City as “practice changing.” 

Awards and Honors

• Master Teacher Award, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, 2015
• The Lambda Distinguished Alumni Award, Lambda Alumni Chapter, George Mason University, 2015
• Allies Who’ve Made a Difference, LGBTQ Resources, George Mason University, 2013
• James A. Keith Excellence in Teaching Award, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 2009
• Inductee, Delta Omega, National Public Health Honorary, Mu Chapter, Norman J. Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, 2004
• Faculty Award for Teaching, College of Health & Human Services, Western Kentucky University, 2002
• Excellence in HIV/STD Prevention, OutSmart in the Midlands, 1999

Courses