Jylana L. Sheats

Project focus: Jylana will co-design and co-manage the “Our Future is Science” initiative in close partnership with the Aspen Institute and Coda Societies to spark passion, confidence, and curiosity about science for high-school-aged Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

About Jylana
Jylana L. Sheats is an applied behavior scientist and serves as the Aspen Institute’s Civic Science Fellow. Leveraging her education and experience, she has successfully designed and balanced a simultaneous career in academia and industry— enabling her to lead, shape, and innovate in public, private and non-profit sectors. Across these landscapes, she works collaboratively to address the complex interplay between individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors that impact health behaviors and health outcomes. Her civic/citizen science research has: led to greater understanding of neighborhood-level barriers and facilitators of health among racial/ethnic and underserved populations; and led to environmental changes (built, social). The impact of these efforts are documented in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and Preventive Medicine. Jylana is also a 2016 NIH Building Innovative Research Careers in Women’s Health awardee and 2017 NIH Obesity and Health Disparities PRIDE (Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research) scholar. Vested in service, she holds leadership positions with national and international charitable organizations. A graduate of Spelman College (BA, Psychology), Jylana received her MPH (Nutrition) from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, PhD in Health Behavior from Indiana University-Bloomington, and post-doctoral training certificate in Behavioral Medicine from Stanford School of Medicine.