Melody S. Goodman is an American biostatistician and higher education executive whose work focuses on social determinants of health, health literacy, and stakeholder engagement in health research.[1][2][3] Goodman has spoken publicly about racial disparities in access to healthcare,[4][5] and is an advocate for public outreach and engagement on health issues.[6][7] She is a professor of biostatistics and Interim Dean of the New York University School of Global Public Health.[8]
Education and career
Goodman majored in economics and applied mathematics & statistics as an undergraduate at Stony Brook University,[1] graduating in 1999.[9] She went to Harvard University for graduate study in biostatistics,[1] earning a master's degree in 2003 and completing her Ph.D. in 2006.[9] Her dissertation, Statistical Methods for Community-Based Cancer Interventions and Health Disparities Research, was supervised by Yi Li.[10] She is African-American, but had no African-American professors throughout her education, and her later publications have included work on the diversity of students and faculty in public health.[11]
Goodman taught biostatistics at Stony Brook University,[12] where she was an assistant professor of preventive medicine,[9]Washington University in St. Louis,[12] where she was an assistant professor in the Division of Public Health Sciences, and New York University.[13] Goodman has been a member of the NYU Global Public Health faculty since 2017.[14][3]
On March 29, 2024, Goodman was named Interim Dean of the NYU School of Global Public Health after Debra Furr-Holden stepped down from the deanship.[14]
Books
Goodman is the author of the book Biostatistics for Clinical and Public Health Research (Routledge, 2018).[15] With Vetta Sanders Thompson, she is co-editor of Public Health Research Methods for Partnerships and Practice (Routledge, 2018).
