Rate My Professor Joy Scheidell

Joy D. Scheidell, Ph.D., MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of Central Florida's College of Health Professions and Sciences, where she joined in Spring 2023. She earned a Bachelor of Science in community health with a focus in health education from Florida Gulf Coast University. Scheidell then obtained a Master of Public Health in epidemiology from the University of Florida and completed her PhD in Epidemiology at New York University, with a dissertation titled “Perceived Stress, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Reproductive Health Among Women.” Prior to UCF, she held a position as Assistant Professor in research at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Earlier in her career, she worked in a health department performing HIV and HCV testing, Hepatitis B vaccinations, and delivering educational presentations on STIs, HIV, and HCV. She also taught introductory public health, epidemiology, and sexual and reproductive health courses at the Bard Prison Initiative.

Scheidell's research centers on the intersections of substance use, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and health inequities, particularly disparities in healthcare access among women, people of color, and other marginalized groups. Her key areas include substance use implications for sexual and reproductive health, harm reduction, epidemiologic methods, perceived stress, sexually transmitted infections, and reproductive health. She has produced over 40 peer-reviewed publications, including highly cited works such as "A conceptual model for understanding post-release opioid-related overdose risk" published in 2019 in Addiction Science & Clinical Practice; "The relationships of childhood trauma and adulthood prescription pain reliever misuse and injection drug use" in 2016 in Drug and Alcohol Dependence; "Childhood traumatic experiences and the association with marijuana and cocaine use in adolescence through adulthood" in 2018 in Addiction; "Racial/ethnic disparities in opioid overdose prevention: comparison of the naloxone care cascade in White, Latinx, and Black people who use opioids in New York City" in 2023 in Harm Reduction Journal; and "Adverse experiences in childhood and sexually transmitted infection risk from adolescence into adulthood" in 2017 in Sexually Transmitted Diseases.