— College of Public Health — Departments — Department of Health Promotion — Faculty & Staff — Melissa Tibbits, PhD

Melissa Tibbits, PhD

Associate Professor, UNMC Department of Health Promotion
Assistant Director of Evaluation, Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska

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Phone: 402-559-9447
Fax: 402-559-3773

Melissa Tibbits, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Health Promotion of the UNMC College of Public Health. She also is assistant director of evaluation at the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska.

Previously in the department, she served as vice chair and graduate program director.

She was a pre-doctoral fellow in the National Institute on Drug Abuse National Research Service at the Prevention Research Center of Pennsylvania State University.

Education

2009, PhD, Human Development & Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University
2006, MS, Human Development & Family Studies, Pennsylvania State University
2004, BA, Anthropology and Psychology, University of Tulsa

Research interests

Dr. Tibbits specializes in community-based research aimed at promoting physical and behavioral health in adolescence. She had led numerous needs assessment, evaluation, and research projects focused on improving adolescent health, including projects aimed at preventing substance use, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections. More recently her work has focused on improving adolescents’ access to physical and behavioral health care. Additionally, she has been involved in many projects within the field of maternal and child health, including those focused on infant mortality and child health outcomes. She has extensive experience collaborating on research and evaluation projects with a variety of partners, including non-profit organizations, schools, government agencies, and local health departments.

Selected Publications

Tibbits, M., Grimm, B., Wheelhouse, C., Maloney, S., Abresch, C., Lyons, K., & Palm, D. (2024). Utilizing advocacy to promote the adoption and implementation of Medicaid policies that increase insurance coverage among adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 74, 148-154.

Gilbert, C., Johnson, M., Karki, B., Lyons, K., Tibbits, M., Toure, D., Rookwood, A.C., Abresch, C. (2024)

Preventing job burnout: Could workplace support protect maternal and child health professionals who are doing public health equity work? Maternal and Child Health Journal, 28, 24-30.
Tibbits, M., Lyons, K., & Abresch, C. (2021). The ‘A’ is the weakest link: What local health departments are doing to improve adolescent health. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 25, 368-376.
Tibbits, M., Maloney, S., Ndashe, T.P., Grimm, B., Johansson, P., & Siahpush, M. (2018). Impact of the community-wide Adolescent Health Project on sexually transmitted infection testing in Omaha, Nebraska. American Journal of Public Health, 108, 782-784.
Tibbits, M., Ndashe, T.P., King, K., & Siahpush, M. (2018). Promoting condom use through a youth-focused community-wide free condom distribution initiative. American Journal of Public Health, 108, 1506-1508.

Professional Affiliations

American Public Health Association
Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine