CONTRIBUTOR:

David A. Sleet

AFFILIATION:

TITLE:

Associate Director for Science

DEPARTMENT:

Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention

INSTITUTION:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

BIOGRAPHY:

"Dr. Sleet is a behavioral and social scientist in Public Health. He received his BA in Psychology and his MA in Exercise Science at San Diego State University and a Ph.D from the University of Toledo, Ohio. He has spent most of his professional career in academia and government service, conducting research and teaching in public health and health psychology. He was a Research Psychologist at the US Department of Transportation in Washington DC and a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Western Australia in Perth, where he directed a Research Unit on Road Injury and worked in the Western Australia State Health Department to develop a statewide approach to injury prevention. He received the Society for Automotive Engineers Technical Paper Award in 1985, the AAHPERD Safety Society's Professional Service Award in 1987, and four SDSU Meritorious Performance & Professional Promise Awards. He is a recipient of many grants, and has published over 170 articles related to injury prevention, health promotion, disease prevention, and community health. In l993 Dr. Sleet began work as a behavioral scientist at CDC, in Atlanta, and in 1994 he was named Acting Director of the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention. At the invitation of the Finnish Government, he was the first to conduct research in Finland on the benefits of airbags. In 1995 he was invited to Belgium to plan sports surveillance systems and injury curricula for University students. In 1999, he was awarded the Mayhew Derryberry Award from the American Public Health Association for his contributions to theory and practice in public health, and the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service in 2001 for his research on blood alcohol levels and driving—research that helped justify the .08 BAC as the new national standard in the USA. He and his team received the 2003 NHTSA Administrators Award for systematic reviews of traffic injury interventions, and The President’s Award for Research from Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 2006. He is co-editor of the World Health Organization publication World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention (2004), and the author of 3 additional books, including Injury and Violence Prevention: Behavioral Science Theories, Methods, and Applications (Jossey-Bass, 2006), and The Handbook of Injury and Violence Prevention (Springer, 2007), which won the 2007 CDC Communications Award. In 2009, Dr. Sleet won the APHA “Distinguished Career Award” in Injury Prevention and in 2010 was inducted into the Society for Public Health Education “Hall of Fame” where he received SOPHE’s highest honors, the Distinguished Fellow Award. He is currently the Associate Director of Science in the Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention at CDC, where he plans and manages research programs and provides direction to a national injury control program. He is Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University, Adjunct Professor at Curtin University in Australia and on the teaching faculty of the School of Public Health at Emory University, in Atlanta "