John Elder

Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Science, Distinguished Professor and Division Head

John P. Elder is Distinguished Professor in the Division of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences at San Diego State University Graduate School of Public, and Adjunct Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California-San Diego. He received his Bachelor degree from the University of Nebraska, the Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University and an MPH from Boston University in international health. He currently serves as Principal Investigator of an obesity prevention research project funded by NIH/NIDDK, and of the CDC-funded San Diego Prevention Research Center.

He has authored 3 books and 345 other publications in the areas of health promotion, disease prevention, and behavioral epidemiology. Dr. Elder has consulted for USAID, DoD, the Rockefeller Foundation and WHO projects in 34 different countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. His international work has been in the areas of child survival, MCH, AIDS/HIV, dengue fever and malaria control, research design, and social marketing.

  • MPH, Boston University (1984)
  • PhD, Clinical Psychology, West Virginia University (1978)
  • MA, Clinical Psychology, West Virginia University (1975)
  • BA, Psychology, University of Nebraska (1974)
  • Behavior Modification Applied to Health Promotion and Prevention of Chronic Disease Risk Factors in Children Adolescents
  • Latino Community Health, especially Obesity Prevention and Control
  • Infectious Disease Control in Underdeveloped Countries

For an up to date publications list see Google Scholar.