Lynn Gerald, PhD, MSPH, Canyon Ranch Endowed Chair and professor of health promotion sciences at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, was appointed to the National Institutes of Health National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP).
The NAEPP provides advice to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute on matters concerning asthma. This includes facilitation of the efficient and effective exchange of information on asthma activities among the member agencies and voluntary health organizations to enhance the coordination of asthma-related programs and activities.
“The NAEPP’s primary mission is to provide advice to the NHLBI and other federal agencies on matters concerning asthma. This is the group that writes the guidelines for the diagnosis and management of asthma. I am very excited to be part of this group and while it is a very extensive service commitment, I believe that it is incredibly important to improve the health of patients with asthma,” said Dr. Gerald.
Dr. Gerald is the associate director for clinical research for the UA Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center. A nationally known expert in the area of school-based asthma, her experience includes implementation of asthma-management programs, school-based asthma case detection, and internet-based asthma monitoring. She also has extensive experience in the areas of clinical, behavioral and epidemiological research in asthma, COPD and tuberculosis.
Dr. Gerald provided expert testimony before the Arizona House of Representatives in February and the Senate Health Committee in March on the impact of a school-based stock albuterol program for students with asthma. The program was implemented by her research team in the Sunnyside and Tucson Unified School Districts and the Catholic Dioceses schools of Pima County. Dr. Gerald and colleagues published a report on the program in Sunnyside schools in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society.
She is a prominent researcher who has had major roles in federally funded grants on asthma and school health and is the lead or co-author on numerous published papers in referred journals. Among her many honors, she has been recognized by the American Thoracic Society Behavioral Science Assembly (2014 Lifetime Achievement Award and 2014 Health Equality Award for Clinical Programs), and the UAB School of Medicine (2006 Max Cooper Award for Research Excellence). She also received the UAB William C. Bailey Award for Excellence in Cancer Prevention and Control Research in 1999.
Dr. Gerald is involved in professional and community education related to asthma and has served on many national and local boards, including the American Thoracic Society Board of Directors and the American Lung Association of Southern Arizona Board of Directors. She serves as principal investigator of the American Lung Association Asthma Clinical Research Center at the University of Arizona.
Dr. Gerald graduated from UAB with a B.S. in psychology (1990) and PhD in medical sociology (1997).
