Delesha Carpenter, PhD, MSPH, is a research assistant professor in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. Her educational training includes predoctoral and postdoctoral National Institute of Health fellowships at the UNC Kidney Center and the UNC Thurston Arthritis Research Center, respectively. She received a PhD in Health Behavior and Health Education from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and an MSPH from the Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior at the University of South Carolina’s School of Public Health. She completed her undergraduate degree in Cardiopulmonary Sciences at the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Carpenter’s research is guided by the social ecological perspective and, as such, has explored individual, interpersonal, organizational, and policy influences on medication adherence and chronic disease self-management. She is particularly interested in how support from health-care providers and spouses affects the health outcomes of individuals living with chronic illnesses. Methodologically, she is interested in scale development, survey administration, as well as qualitative and quantitative methods. Dr. Carpenter hopes to develop innovative interventions that use Web-based technologies to improve patients’ quality of life by enhancing their ability to self-manage their chronic illness.