Faculty Profile

Barbara Israel

Barbara Israel, DrPH

  • Professor Emerita, Health Behavior and Health Equity
  • Director of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center

Dr. Israel received her Doctorate in Public Health and Master in Public Health degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has published widely in the areas of: the social and physical environmental determinants of health and health inequities; the relationship among stress, social support, control and physical and mental health; and community-based participatory research (CBPR). Dr. Israel has extensive experience conducting CBPR in collaboration with partners in diverse communities. Since 1995, she has worked together with academic and community partners to establish and maintain the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (Detroit URC). One of the goals of the Center is to foster and support the development of equitable community-academic partnerships focused on understanding and addressing health inequities in the city of Detroit. The Detroit URC has facilitated the establishment of numerous such CBPR partnerships affiliated with the Center, which are engaged in multiple NIH and Foundation-funded basic etiologic research, intervention research and training projects aimed at increasing knowledge and addressing factors associated with health inequities. Dr. Israel is actively involved in several of these CBPR partnerships and projects examining, for example, the environmental triggers of childhood asthma and strategies for reducing them, the social and physical environmental determinants of cardiovascular disease, the impact of physical activity interventions on heart health, the translation of research findings into policy change, and capacity building for conducting CBPR and policy advocacy. Dr. Israel received the Excellence in Teaching Award at U-M SPH in 2007, the Harold R. Johnson Diversity Service Award, at U-M in 2013, and the Game Changer Designation, in the field of health behavior and health education, by the American Journal of Health Promotion (2015).

  • DrPH, Health Behavior & Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1982
  • MPH, Health Behavior & Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1978

Community Action Against Asthma
Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments
Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center
Healthy Environments Partnership
Measurement Approaches to Partnership Success

Israel B, Schulz A, Parker E, et al. Critical issues in developing and following CBPR principles. In: Wallerstein N, Duran B, Oetzel J, Minkler M, eds. Community-Based Participatory Research for Health: Advancing Social and Health Equity. 3rd ed. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 2018:31-46.

Schulz, A.J.; Mentz, G.B.; Sampson, N.; Ward, M.; Dvonch, J.T.; de Majo, R.; Israel, B.A.; Reyes, A.G.; Wilkins, D. Independent and Joint Contributions of Fine Particulate Matter Exposure and Population Vulnerability to Mortality in the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 2018, 15, 1209.

Coombe, Chris M., Amy J. Schulz, Lello Guluma, Alex J. Allen, Carol Gray, Wilma Brakefield-Caldwell, J. Ricardo Guzman, et al. Enhancing Capacity of Community-Academic Partnerships to Achieve Health Equity: Results From the CBPR Partnership Academy. Health Promotion Practice, December 29, 2018.

Ward, M., Schulz, A.J., Israel, B.A., Rice, K.L., Martenies, S.E., Markarian, E. A conceptual framework for evaluating health equity promotion within community based participatory research partnerships. Eval Program Plann. 2018 Oct;70:25-34.

Schulz, A.J., Israel, B.A., Mentz, G.B., Bernal, C., Caver, D., DeMajo, R., Diaz, G., Gamboa, C., Gaines, C., Hosten, B., Opperman, A., Reyes, A.G., Rowe, Z., Sand, S.L., Woods, S (2015). Effectiveness of a walking group intervention to promote physical activity and cardiovascular health in predominantly non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic urban neighborhoods: Findings from the Walk Your Heart to Health Intervention. Health Education and Behavior, 42(3): 380-392.

Israel, B.A., Eng, E., Schulz, A.J., Parker, E.A. (eds.). (2013). Methods for Community-Based Participatory Research for Health (2nd edition). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schulz, A.J., Israel, B.A., Coombe, C., Gains, C., Reyes, A., Rowe, Z., Sand, S., Strong, L., Weir, S.A. (In Press). A Community-based participatory planning process and multilevel intervention design: Toward eliminating cardiovascular health inequities. Health Promotion Practice.

Israel, B.A., Coombe, C.M., Cheezum, R.R., Schulz, A.J., McGranaghan, R.J., et al. (2010). Community-based participatry research: A capacity building approach for policy advocacy aimed at eliminating health disparties. American Journal of Public Health 2094-2102.

Schulz, A.J., Zenk, S.N., Israel, B.A., Mentz, G., Stokes, C., Galea, S. (September, 2008). Do neighborhood economic characteristics, racial composition, and residential stability predict perceptions of stress associated with the physical and social environment? Findings from a multilevel analysis in Detroit. Journal of Urban Health 642-661.

Parker, E.A., Israel, B.A., Robins, T.G., Mentz, G., Lin, X., Brakefield-Caldwell, W., Ramirez, E., Edgren, K.K., Salinas, M., Lewis, T.C. (2008). Evaluation of Community Action Against Asthma: A community health worker intervention to improve children's asthma-related health by reducing household environmental triggers for asthma. Health Education and Behavior 376-395.

Schulz, A.J., House, J.S., Israel, B.A., Mentz, G., Dvonch, J.T., Miranda, P., Kannan, S., Koch, M. (2008). Relational pathways between socioeconomic position and cardiovascular risk in a multiethnic urban sample: Complexities and their implications for improving health in disadvantaged populations. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 638-646.

Israel, B.A., Schulz, A.J., Estrada-Martinez, L., Zenk, S.N., Viruell-Fuentes, E., Villarruel, A.M., Stokes, C. (May, 2006). Engaging urban residents in assessing neighborhood environments and their implications for health. Journal of Urban Health 523-539.

Email: ilanais@umich.edu
Phone: 734-647-3184
Fax: 734-763-7379
Address: 2794 SPH I
1415 Washington Heights
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2029

For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu