Dr. Teri E. Lassiter is the Assistant Dean of Diversity & Inclusion and an Assistant Professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Health. She coordinates academic offerings with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to ensure that the curriculum attends to the public health challenges faced by all populations of New Jersey and the United States; she works with the Director of Student Affairs to create systems that support student learning and success that attend to the diversity of student life experiences with regard to gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation and nation of birth. As a faculty member at the School of Public health, she provides strong mentorship for the students as a teacher and as a community-based research mentor.
She is a member of the RBHS Diversity Leadership Council and a member of the Anti-Racism Task force where she co-chairs the committee on Conversation on Racism. Currently, Dr. Lassiter in a member of the RBHS Strategic Planning Steering Committee and co-chairs the sub-committee on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Nationally, she is a member of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s Task Force on Zero Tolerance for Discrimination, Harassment and Racism in Public Health.
Dr. Lassiter is a graduate of the Rutgers School of Public Health (MPH, 2003) and the Rutgers School of Nursing (PhD, 2012). Her research focused on the relationship between dating/sexual violence and health risk behaviors among White, Black, and Hispanic female adolescents, using data from the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey and the 2009 New York City Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
For the past eight years, Dr. Lassiter has been a member of the Newark Community Collaborative Board (NCCB) research team that addresses substance misuse and related health disparities among those that have been incarcerated and reside in the City of Newark. She continues to participate in community-based service projects throughout the City of Newark that focus on violence reduction, reentry, and the social determinants of health.
Research Highlights
Region II Health Equity Council Prevention of Youth Violence Advisory Board, Union County, NJ City of Newark, Mayor’s Children’s Cabinet, Health Subcommittee, Newark, NJ Newark Community Collaborative Board, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work, Urbana, IL