LaVonna B. Lewis

Biography

LaVonna Blair Lewis, Ph.D., MPH, is a Teaching Professor and the Director of Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. She joined the University of Southern California faculty in the Fall of 1996.

Dr. Lewis’ areas of research consistently focus on cultural competency and the health status and health care needs of underrepresented groups. She is currently involved in addressing racial disparities cardiovascular disease and diabetes through the Community Health Councils, Inc., African American Building a Legacy of Health Project. The project, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a community based project that explores individual, organizational, and community support for (and barriers to) healthy living.

Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of General Internal Medicine, and other health management and policy journals. Moreover, all of the work to date has employed a community based participatory research framework that partners with the relevant stakeholder groups in developing the research questions.

She is member of the Board of Directors for the Association of University Programs in Health Administration; and the Standards Council for the Commission on Accreditation in Health Management Education. She is also a member of several associations including the American College of Healthcare Executives and Community Campus Partnerships for Health.

Selected Publications

• Payán, D. D., Lewis, L. B., Illum, J., Hawkins, B., & Sloane, D. C. (2022). United for health to improve urban food environments across five underserved communities: a cross-sector coalition approach. BMC public health, 22(1), 1-9.
• Lowery, B., Sloane, D. C., Payan Dias, D., Illum, J., & Lewis, L. B. (2016). Do Farmers’ Markets Increase the Availability of Healthy Foods in Underserved Communities? Assessing the nutritional environment at 19 markets in Los Angeles. Journal of American Planning Association, 82, 252-266.
• Robertson, P. J., Lewis, L. B., Sloane, D. C., Galloway-Gilliam, L., & Nomachi, J. (2012). Developing networks for community change: Exploring the utility of network analysis. Community Development: Journal of the Community Development Society, 43(2), 187-208.