Rate My Professor Ideathia Harvey

Idethia Shevon Harvey, DrPH, is a Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She holds a BS in Ceramic Engineering from Clemson University, followed by a career as an industrial engineer in Boston. Transitioning to public health, she earned an MPH in Public Health from Morehouse School of Medicine, a DrPH in Behavioral and Community Health Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the W. K. Kellogg Community Health Scholars Program at the University of Michigan. Her academic appointments include Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from 2006 to 2011, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut from 2011 to 2014. She then served as Associate Professor at Texas A&M University in Health Promotion & Community Health Sciences and Health and Kinesiology from 2014. In 2021, she joined the University of Missouri School of Health Professions as Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Faculty Fellow for Inclusive Excellence, subsequently promoted to Professor.

Dr. Harvey's research portfolio centers on ethnic minority populations utilizing participatory models of qualitative research to address chronic disease management and health disparities among rural and aging African Americans. Her academic interests include type 2 diabetes, rural health and health disparities, women and aging health, chronic disease self-management behavior, and qualitative research methodology. As Principal Investigator, she leads the NIH/NIDDK-funded STRESS project (2022-2025), investigating psychobiological measures linking poverty, chronic stress, and discrimination to poor type 2 diabetes outcomes. Notable publications encompass her book Temple of Care: Understanding the Role of Spirituality and Spiritual Beliefs in Managing Illness (2008), and peer-reviewed articles such as Tomar, A., Harvey, I. S., Meng, X. (2024). The relationship of health-related and health-system factors with patient-centered communication, HPV-related knowledge, and perceived effectiveness of the HPV vaccine. American Journal of Health Education; Mkuu, R. et al. (in print). Acceptability of HPV self-collection: A qualitative study of black women living with type 2 diabetes and social vulnerability. Journal of Clinical & Translational Endocrinology; David, I. et al. (2023). COVID-19 and higher education: A qualitative study on academic experiences of African international students in the Midwest. Applied Research in Quality of Life. She has received the Lewis and Clark Discovery – Excellence Award (2025) for mentorship excellence and high-impact health research, and the 2025 Mentorship Award from the American Academy of Health Behavior. Dr. Harvey is also a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America.