Biography:

Swati Raychowdhury is an Assistant Professor in the Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health at Georgia Southern University. She is a native of Indiana, and moved to Georgia in 2006, after receiving her Master of Public Health degree and Ph.D. in Health Behavior with a concentration in Community Health Education from Indiana University.

Dr. Raychowdhury teaches Social and Behavioral Sciences and Public Health (PUBH 6535), Communication and Advocacy (COHE 9235), Practicum in Public Health (PUBH 7730), and Directed Individual Study (COHE 7890). Previous courses taught include Health Communication, Drug Education, Personal Health, Stress Management, Women's Health, Human Sexuality, Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, International Health and Social Issues, Marriage and Family Interaction, Complementary and Alternative Approaches to Health, The Nature of Cancer, and Basic Nutrition. Dr. Raychowdhury uses a variety of technology in the classroom, including the use of interactive web-based instruction and the coordination of projects and student discussions via distance education technologies.

Dr. Raychowdhury describes her teaching philosophy as student-focused, practice-oriented and interactive. She is committed to training health promotion professionals via solid preparation in the social and behavioral sciences. This preparation should be done in a manner that facilitates students’ understanding of the delicate balance between science and the social, cultural, economic and political dynamics that influence the health of communities. In addition, Dr. Raychowdhury has a strong desire to be able to teach and mentor students in an environment that will facilitate their immersion into service learning partnerships with community-based organizations and public health departments.

Prior to becoming an Assistant Professor, Dr. Raychowdhury was be involved in multiple health promotion practice, research and teaching initiatives in academic, governmental and community-based settings over a period of eight years. These experiences provided her with rich insights into community health issues across a broad and diverse range of cultures and geographic regions and continue to have a strong influence on her professional objectives.

Early in her career, Dr. Raychowdhury’s practice experiences included developing health promotion programs as a project coordinator for the WonderLab Museum of Science, Health and Technology's Teen-Advocate Exhibit on Tobacco Prevention and Cessation, serving as a Research Intern for Eli Lilly & Company 's investigation on osteoporosis prevention, serving as a Research Intern in Immunology and Virology Laboratories at the Indiana State Department of Health, and serving in leadership positions in community health coalitions and planning processes. Across these experiences, she gained a practical understanding of the challenges associated with the delivery of health promotion programs that are scientifically sound and responsive to the needs of diverse communities.

Dr. Raychowdhury has extensive experience in instrument testing and modification of measures. She has developed and modified analytical plans for conducting and administering survey research, and analyzed and summarized survey data using a variety of quantitative data analysis programs (SPSS, Access, and Excel). Dr. Raychowdhury’s work strengthens her belief that community-academic research and practice partnerships have the potential for multiple mutually beneficial outcomes.

Dr. Raychowdhury’s practice and research experience has helped to inform the following research interests:

• Communicable Disease Behavioral Science. Exploring the shared determinants of behaviors related to the prevention of disease transmission and behaviors related to health maintenance and disease elimination (exercise, diet, medication adherence) among individuals receiving a communicable disease diagnosis. Understanding common elements of these behaviors, which are often considered separately by researchers and practitioners, may help to develop more comprehensive and integrated health promotion programs that are responsive to prevention and care needs simultaneously. Further, an interest in this area is the role of primary care and other health providers in the delivery of such integrated health promotion programs.
  
  
• Integrated Models of Health Promotion and Mental Health. Exploring the development and evaluation of models for integrated health promotion-mental health interventions. For example, among individuals with chronic disease, exploring the extent to which such integrated models in a mental health care setting may result in multiple outcomes (medication adherence, reduced disease stigma) above and beyond those routinely considered outcomes of mental health care (psychosocial adjustment).

Across each of these research interests, Dr. Raychowdhury has a strong desire to maintain a focus on the extent to which these issues are understood within the context of social inequalities and health disparities, particularly those associated with disenfranchised communities in both urban and rural settings.