Health Promotion and Behavior


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Su-I Hou

Assistant Professor, CPH DrPH Coordinator
shou@uga.edu

309 Ramsey Center
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
706.542.8206 (voice)
706.542.4956 (fax)

Research Interests

  • HIV/AIDS preventive research (among late adolescents & young adults, ethnic minority groups, and older adults)
  • Cancer screening education and prevention (cervical, colorectal, and ovarian cancers)
  • International Health (particularly the Asian population)
  • Survey instrument development and validation
  • Intervention Mapping (IM)
  • Evaluation of health programs


Honors and Awards

  • Selected Service-Learning Fellow Participant, 9 th Annual Summer Service-Learning Institute (advanced track), Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (2006).
  • Selected Minority Investigator participant, 2006 NCI Behavioral Research Program, “Minority Investigators Workshop on Behavioral Methodology”. National Cancer Institutes (2006) .
  • Sarah H. Moss Fellowship Award (2005-2006) for junior faculty career development, OISD / UGA. Visiting scholar and research collaboration at National Cheng-Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan.
  • Faculty Recognition of Great Contribution to Student Career Development (2004-2005), The UGA Career Service Center, Athens, GA.
  • Selected as one of the top poster abstracts at the 19 th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control (2005), Atlanta, GA.
  • Lilly Teaching Fellow Award (2004-2005), Office of instructional Support & Development (OISD), The University of Georgia (UGA).
  • Sarah H. Moss Fellowship Award (2003-2004) for junior faculty career development, OIDS / UGA. Training at the 2003 Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Michigan.
  • Institute of Behavior Research (IBR) Mentoring Program Award (2003-2004), The University of Georgia.
  • Excellent Health Promotion Program Recognition (2004) by National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Center for Diseases Control, Atlanta, GA.
  • Selected as one of the College’s Scholars of Influence as a Rising Scholar in the COE annual magazine ( EDUCATION 2004), College of Education, UGA.

Selected Publications

  • 2007-2008 Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act (PI) 02/15/07 – 03/31/08 Clarke County Board of Health (CCBOH), Athens , GA “HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Needs Assessment for NE Georgia ”
  • 2006 Georgia Gerontology Consortium Seed Grant (PI) 02/10/06-12/31/06 Funding agency: Institute of Gerontology, University of Georgia “Preventive Health Service Utilization among Older Adults – Developing and Pilot Testing Role Model Stories to Promote Cancer Screenings”.
  • 2006 Scholarship of Engagement Grants for University Engagement (SEGUE) (PI) 01/01/06-12/31/06 VP for Public Service & Outreach, The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Athens, GA “A public Health Initiative in the Pinewood Hispanic Mobile Home Community”.
  • 2005 UGARF Faculty Research Grant (PI) 01/02/05 - 05/15/06
    The University of Georgia Research Foundation, Athens, GA “HIV Risk Assessment among African American Students Attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)”.
  • 2004 Ryan White Title III - HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Needs Assessment for NE Georgia (PI) 01/04/04 - 1/31/05
    Sub-contracted by Clarke County Board of Health (CCBOH), Athens, GA
  • 2003 UGARF Faculty Research Grant & 2003 COE Early Career Faculty Grant (PI) 01/02/03 - 12/31/03 The University of Georgia Research Foundation & UGA College of Education, Athens, GA "Assessing Correlates of HIV Testing Among College Students Using a Web-Based Survey".
  • International Research (PI) 02/20/02 – 12/31/02 Biomerica, Inc. California & Cheng-Ching Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan “EZ DETECT – Screening for Life” Program in Taiwan
  • Cancer Prevention and Education Research (PI) 01/20/99 – 12/31/00 Cheng-Ching Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan “Cervical Cancer Screening Among Women in Taiwan”
  • Publications

About Dr. Hou's Research

Dr. Hou's topical areas of research interests include cancer screening education and promotion, HIV prevention, and international health. She had worked in the past with the Encore Plus Evaluation (Evaluation of a National Breast & Cervical Cancer Education Program), funded by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; “HIV filter paper home screening for high risk people in Taiwan” and “HIV(+) cases follow-up project”, funded by Department of Health, R.O.C.

Dr. Hou has focused on projects related to community and worksite strategies to promote screening for early detection of selected cancers. Most of the studies involved developing and validating the study instrument, assessing psycho-social factors that influence screening behavior, developing and implementing theory-based screening programs, and evaluating the effectiveness of program interventions. One of her cancer screening promotion programs was invited to be included in the CDC Chronic Disease Prevention Database as a model to assist health professionals in planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs.

Since came to UGA, Dr. Hou has successfully received a number of grants, awards, and contracts as Principal Investigator to establish collaborative research. One was to study theory-based psychosocial factors and risky behaviors that are correlated with HIV testing among college students. These works have provided opportunities for instrument development delivered via the Internet and feasibility testing of research protocols. She is currently expanding her research to students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities and working closely with colleagues at Center for Family Research and investigators at HBCUs. Dr. Hou recently received another HIV contract grant from the Clark County Board of Health to conduct the “2007-2008 HIV/AIDS Comprehensive Needs Assessment for NE Georgia ”, using the Ryan White CARE Act federal funds. She will again lead a team of graduate students and collaborate with diverse community partners including NE Georgia HIV/AIDS Consortium, Health District, Specialty Care Clinic, and AIDS Athens to conduct this research and service consulting project for the state. Dr. Hou has served on HIV advisory boards both at local and state levels.

Dr. Hou has close professional ties with Taiwan and China and has been active to increase UGA's visibility and outreach activities in these countries . She was invited by CDC of Taiwan as a keynote speaker at “Community HIV/AIDS Prevention Conference” (2002). She also presented her research at National Taiwan University (2004) and National Cheng-Kung University (2005) in Taiwan . In 2005, Dr. Hou served as one of the trainers for the Sino-American Joint Training Program, sponsored by the International Center for Democratic Governance, Carl Vinson Institute at UGA; and provided a training session on “Public Health & HIV/AIDS Global Epidemics” at the Institute of SiChuan Administration , Chengdu , SiChuan , China .

Prior to become a university faculty member, Dr. Hou had considerable practical and administrative experience in health care and community settings, serving as the Founding Director of the Community Health Department at one of the major teaching hospitals in Taiwan. She has been in the field of health promotion and education for more than a decade. Dr. Hou currently serves as the Director of the recently approved DrPH program and chairs the college-wide DrPH committee to overseeing its admission and implementation at UGA. She also currently serves on the DrPH Committee at the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH).


Professional Affiliations

  • Member and SOPHE Academic Anchor, The Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE – www.sophe.org).
  • Member, American Public Health Association (APHA – www.apha.org).
  • Member, American College of Epidemiology (ACE – www.acepidemiology.org).
  • Member, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH – http://depts.washington.edu/ccph).
  • Member, The Chinese-American Academic and Professional Association in Southeastern United States.
  • Member, The Lambda Beta Chapter-At-Large, Sigma Theta Tau International.