Professional Summary
Barbara Israel is a Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education. She received her Doctorate in Public Health and Master in Public Health degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Israel has published widely in the areas of community-based participatory research, community empowerment, evaluation, stress and health, social networks, and health disparities. Her research interests include: the social determinants of health; the relationship between stress, social support, control and physical and mental health; community empowerment and health; and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Dr. Israel has extensive experience conducting community-based participatory research in collaboration with partners in diverse ethnic communities. She is Principal Investigator of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center, funded initially in 1995 through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and presently funded by the Skillman Foundation and the University of Michigan. The Center involves multiple funded research and intervention projects aimed at increasing knowledge and addressing factors associated with health disparities and quality of life in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Israel is involved in several of these CBPR efforts focusing on: an examination of the social and physical environmental determinants of childhood asthma and intervention strategies aimed at reducing these determinants; diabetes management and prevention; the relationship between psychosocial and physical environmental and biological factors and cardiovascular disease and strategies for addressing these factors (e.g., interventions aimed at increasing access to healthy foods and physical activity spaces); and building capacity for and engaging in policy change aimed at eliminating health disparities. Dr. Israel received the Excellence in Teaching Award at UM SPH in 2007.
Courses Taught
HBEHED636: Qualitative Methods and Participatory Action Research
HBEHED640: Community Organization for Health Education
HBEHED652: Group Process in Health Education
HBEHED733: COMMUNITY-BASED PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH (CBPR)
Education
Dr.P.H., Health Behavior & Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1982
M.P.H., Health Behavior & Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1978
Research Interest & Projects
Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center
Michigan Center for the Environment and Children's Health
REACH Detroit Partnership
Healthy Environments Partnership
Promoting Healthy Eating in Detroit
Selected Publications
Israel, B.A., Krieger, J.W., Vlahov, D., Ciske, S.J., Foley, M, Fortin, P., et al. (2006). Challenges and facilitating factors in sustaining community-based participatory research partnerships: Lessons learned from the Detroit, New York City, and Seattle Urban Research Centers. Journal of Urban Health., 83(6), 1022-1040.
Israel, B. A., Parker, E.A., Rowe, Z., Salvatore, A., Minkler, M., Lo￳pez, J., et al. (2005). Community-based participatory research: Lessons learned from the Centers for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(10), 1463-1471.
Israel, B.A., Eng, E., Schulz, A.J., Parker, E.A. (eds.) ( 2005). Methods in Community-Based Participatory Research for Health San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Israel, B. A., Farquhar, S., James, S. A., Schulz, A. M., and Parker, E. A. (2002). The relationship between social support, stress and health among women on Detroit's east side. Health Education & Behavior, 29(3), 342-360.
Schulz, A. J., Israel, B. A., Williams, D. W., Parker, E. A., Becker, A. B., and James, S. A. (2000). Social inequalities, stressors and self-reported health status among African American and white women in the Detroit metropolitan area. Social Science & Medicine, 51(11), 1639-1653.
Professional Affiliations
American Public Health Association
Society for Public Health Education
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