Jeannette Ickovics

Jeannette R. Ickovics is a scientist known for her complex research on biomedical, behavioral, social and psychological factors that influences and effects the community's health. She focuses on determinants and the consequences of health behaviors and health outcomes. Her research also mainly focuses on HIV/AIDS and how this disease effects race and social class. She is a Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Psychology at Yale University.

Ickovics has earned numerous awards such as the Outstanding Community Partner Award for being a Partner of the Health Change at New Haven Public Schools. In 2015, she received the Highest Honor, Leadership in Public Health Practice and Research with Commitment to Social Justice in Connecticut Public Health Association. Following that same year, in 2015, she obtained the Winslow Centennial Honor Roll for Excellence and Service and Outstanding Contribution to Public Health at the Association of Yale Alumni. In 2013, she earned the Leadership in Healthcare Award at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. In the same year of 2013, she acquired the title of the Healthcare Hero through Community Service in Connecticut Business News. In 2003, she obtained the Yale/Seton and Ivy Award for outstanding contributions towards improved relations between New Haven and Yale University and for community-based research on women's health at Yale University. In 2002, she became a Fellow in Division of Health Psychology in Division 38, Society for the Psychology of Women in Division 35, and Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in Division 9 in the American Psychological Association. In 2000, she acquired the Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest in the American Psychological Association. In 1999, she received the Committee on Women in Psychology Distinguished Emerging Leader Award in the American Psychological Association. Lastly, in 1999, she also earned the National Frontrunner Protegee Award in Science and Humanities in the Sara Lee Foundation.

Ickovic has published multiple articles such as "Intimate Partner Victimization and Health Risk Behaviors Among Pregnant Adolescents", "School breakfast and body mass index: a longitudinal observational study of middle school students", "Discrimination and excessive weight gain during pregnancy among Black and Latina young women", "Exploring Group Composition among Young, Urban Women of Color in Prenatal Care: Implications for Satisfaction", "Engagement, and Group Attendance", "Prenatal Depressive Symptoms and Postpartum Sexual Risk Among Young Urban Women of Color", and "Everyday discrimination and physical health: Exploring mental health processes".

Jeanette R. Ickovics's attended Muhlenberg College and earned her bachelors of arts degree in 1984. She then attended George Washington University and obtained her PhD in applied social psychology in 1989. She worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale University. She received an honorary Masters of Arts degree from Yale University in 2008. She received ah honorary Doctor of Science degree from Muhlenberg College in 2012.

Ickovics was invited to speak at the 2015 Master Lecture Program at the APA Convention by the 2014 American Psychological Association Board of Scientific Affairs.

Ickovics's profession is a professor at Yale University and she teaches psychology. Ickovics is a part of many organizations, such as the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Aids and Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE). Ickovics took the directorial position for these organizations. Her research consists of the influence had on public health that is impacted by various factors. Such factors include psychological, social, biomedical and behavioral. By using clinical trials, she is able to continue her research with the community's assistance. Ickovics is able to perform these clinical trials by the grants she receives and the sum of these grants are in the million, close to 40 million. Ickovics has built quite a large name for herself through all of her work for the community regarding health and her research on AIDS. Due to this, she founded Adherence Committee of the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (NIAID). This group is responsible for performing clinical trials, which were about 27 trials.

Ickovics' research mainly focuses on HIV/AIDS and how this disease effects race and social class. She focuses on determinants and the consequences of health behaviors and health outcomes.

Ickovics and her research team have been immensely focused on several studies including: identifying factors that influence recruitment; adherence retention in AIDS clinical trails; identifying the behavioral and psychological consequences of HIV counseling and testing for women; disaggregating the effects of race and social class on access to health care, health behaviors and health outcomes; and other research on the prevention of interventions, high-risk sexual behavior, access to health care, and health outcomes for people with HIV. These studies are important because they will help society and educate more people on the issues and consequences of having HIV/AIDS. Ickovics is impacting the society by creating more public policies and medical education reforms. Throughout her studies she focuses on underrepresented minority groups such as women with color; specifically Black and Latina young women.

Jeannette R. Ickovics conducted a research in August 10, 1994 about the Limited Effects of HIV Counseling and Testing for Women. It was done in four community health clinics in Souther Connecticut. The health clinics provided the women with HIV counseling and testing and other specialized primary health care services. Ickovics and other researchers such as Allison C. Morrill, Susan E. Beren, Unjali Walsh, and Judith Rodin interviewed participants during recruitment. Two weeks to three months later the women received their results. Two groups of women were interviewed, one group of women were seeking HIV counseling and testing and the other group of women were never tested for HIV. All the women were matched for according to their race, age, and clinics. The outcomes of this research were the measures of sexual risks that were developed according to their sexual activities. Other risk factors were taken with these tests such as condom use with their partner. There were also measures taken according to the general psychological functioning and immunodeficiency syndrome of AIDS. The results of this study came out to be an average level of sexual risk was lower for women tested for HIV compared to the non-tested women. For the women that were tested had more knowledge and awareness about AIDS and had a lower change of getting AIDS after being counseled and tested. However, there weren't any significant change in sexual risks between these two groups of women in the 3-month study. The conclusion of this research was that the women who received counseling and testings on the behavioral and psychological consequences of HIV had a lower risk for obtaining HIV.

• Adler, N. E., Epel, E. S., Castellazzo, G., & Ickovics, J. R. (2000). Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning: Preliminary data in healthy, White women. Health psychology, 19(6), 586.
• Ickovics, J. R., Hamburger, M. E., Vlahov, D., Schoenbaum, E. E., Schuman, P., Boland, R. J., ... & HIV Epidemiology Research Study Group. (2001). Mortality, CD4 cell count decline, and depressive symptoms among HIV-seropositive women: longitudinal analysis from the HIV Epidemiology Research Study. Jama, 285(11), 1466–1474.
• O'Leary, V. E., & Ickovics, J. R. (1995). Resilience and thriving in response to challenge: an opportunity for a paradigm shift in women's health. Women's health (Hillsdale, NJ), 1(2), 121–142.
• Epel, E. S., McEwen, B., Seeman, T., Matthews, K., Castellazzo, G., Brownell, K. D., ... & Ickovics, J. R. (2000). Stress and body shape: stress-induced cortisol secretion is consistently greater among women with central fat. Psychosomatic medicine, 62(5), 623–632.