Rate My Professor Nancy Asdigian

Nancy L. Asdigian, PhD, is Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Community and Behavioral Health at the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver-Anschutz Medical Campus, affiliated with the Centers for American Indian and Alaska Native Health. Her research specializes in the development, adaptation, and evaluation of culturally tailored prevention programs targeting youth risk behaviors, with a focus on American Indian and Alaska Native populations. These efforts address substance use, alcohol-exposed pregnancies, HIV risk, nicotine vaping, skin cancer risk, and early childhood developmental screening, employing community-based participatory research methods, mobile health interventions, and randomized controlled trials to promote equity and cultural relevance.

Asdigian has authored or co-authored numerous peer-reviewed publications documenting the impact of these interventions. Key works include 'Flexibility and resilience in equity-centered research: lessons learned conducting a randomized controlled trial of a family-based substance use prevention program for American Indian families' (Frontiers in Public Health, 2024); 'Reducing Youth Vaping: A Pilot Test of the Peer-Led "Youth Engaged Strategies for Changing Adolescent Norms!" (YES-CAN!) Program' (Health Promotion Practice, 2023); 'Effects of the "Circle of Life" HIV-prevention program on marijuana use and sexual risk behaviors among American Indian adolescents: a randomized controlled trial' (American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 2018); 'Design and Effectiveness of the Youth Engaged Strategies for Changing Adolescent Norms! (YES-CAN!) Program for Reducing Skin Cancer Risk' (Journal of Cancer Education, 2023); and 'Community-Led Health Promotion Groups in a Bhutanese-Nepali Refugee Community' (Health Promotion Practice, 2022). Additional contributions cover participant perceptions of the Thiwáhe Gluwá?akapi substance use prevention program (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2025), one-month outcomes of the Native WYSE CHOICES mobile app for alcohol-exposed pregnancy prevention (Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, 2025), and feasibility of validating early developmental screening tools for American Indian and Alaska Native children (Infant Mental Health Journal, 2022). Her work advances health promotion strategies through peer-led programs like YES-CAN! and virtual Indigenist community-based participatory approaches.