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By the time she entered U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health for her
doctoral degree, her experience in “barefoot epidemiology” laid the foundation
for her independent work. Following graduation she took a position at the
Stanford Prevention Research Center in the School of Medicine where she is
currently a Professor of Medicine. During the last 20 years, her research and
teaching have combined epidemiologic study with intervention research to further
the understanding of the social determinants of health. She has been principal
investigator on numerous NIH and other governmental studies, and has published
over 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Winkleby’s initial studies focused on the health of homeless children and
adults. Subsequent studies helped identify Americans who have disproportionate
rates of illness and death. The high risk groups she has helped identify include
low-income African-American adults who have among the highest rates of
hypertension, obesity and diabetes in America; low-income white, non-Hispanic
adolescents and adults who are targeted by tobacco companies and have the
highest smoking rates of all ethnic groups; and Latino agricultural labor
workers who have few opportunities for cancer screening and treatment. Her
current research is focused on elucidating the influence of neighborhoods on
health. She is a co-investigator on a 5-year intervention study with her
long-term partner, the Monterey County Health Department, who was awarded one of
the CDC “Steps to a Healthier U.S.” grants for implementing policy and
organizational change to address obesity, diabetes, and asthma. She is also an
active collaborator with researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm,
Sweden, known for their work on improving the health of immigrant and
impoverished populations.
Dr. Winkleby is equally well known as the co-founder and faculty director of
the highly successful Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, a program that is
a national model for pre-college science education. SMYSP is an intensive
five-week summer residential program that gives priority to students who are the
first in their families to attend college, have faced personal hardship (e.g.,
death or imprisonment of a parent, foster care), and are from under-resourced
schools and communities (e.g., rural and inner-city schools, agricultural labor
camps.) Each summer 24 students are selected to live on campus where they are
exposed to the field of medicine through science instruction, anatomy and
pathology practicum, hospital field-placements, in addition to receiving
college admissions preparation and, most importantly, long-term mentoring by an
array of staff, Stanford students, and professors. SMYSP has been evaluated
since its creation in 1988 and shows outstanding results. All but three of the
428 alumni have attended college, with the majority majoring in the biological
or physical sciences. Eighty-one percent have graduated from four-year colleges
compared to 15% of comparable low-income youth in California, and 52% of these
graduates have continued on to graduate and medical schools.
Dr. Winkleby has continued to broaden the vision of SMYSP. She oversees a
school outreach program that partners with low-income high schools that serve
Native American, African American, and Latino students. UC San Diego School of
Medicine has replicated SMYSP and other Schools of Medicine and Public Health
are working to do the same. Her book, Healing Journeys: Teaching Medicine,
Nurturing Hope, co-authored with Julia Steele with a foreword by Dr. David
Satcher, and a documentary film, Opportunity of a Lifetime, demonstrate the
transformations that happen at SMYSP (see http://smysp.stanford.edu/news/opportunity.html).
Last year Dr. Winkleby was appointed by the Dean of the School of Medicine to
be the first Faculty Director of the new Office of Community Health whose
mission is to foster and support community-responsive scholarship, advocacy, and
public service aimed at improving the health of underserved populations. Dr.
Winkleby recently won the Stanford teaching award for exceptional contributions
to education at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, and the Miriam Roland
Volunteer Service Prize, which recognizes the Stanford faculty member who most
involves students in integrating academic scholarship with significant service
to society. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association Council on
Epidemiology and Prevention, and a Fellow of the American College on
Epidemiology.
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