Lydia O’Donnell, senior vice president, directs EDC’s Health and Human Development Division, and is also a member of EDC’s policy-making management council. She has conducted extensive research on adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, prevention programs, and community health promotion. In the mid-1980s, she conducted some of the first research with health care providers on AIDS stigma to improve the quality of health services. An enduring interest of hers has been developing interventions that can be sustained by schools, clinics, and community agencies.
O’Donnell has conducted research at EDC for more than 20 years and has published widely. She has developed and evaluated interventions addressing sexual risk taking, violence, and alcohol and substance use on numerous studies funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, and several foundations.
O’Donnell has a doctor of education in human development from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health. Her bachelor of arts is from the University of Pennsylvania.