Jylana L. Sheats

Jylana L. Sheats, Ph.D., MPH, is an applied behavior scientist who joined the Aspen Institute in 2021 as a Civic Science Fellow within the Science & Society Program and was promoted to Associate Director of the Program in 2023. She has leveraged her education, training, and experience to lead, shape, and innovate across public, private and non-profit sectors. As a result, Jylana has successfully designed and balanced a career in both industry and academia—enabling her to address the complex interplay between individual, interpersonal, community, and societal factors that impact behaviors and health outcomes. An independent and collaborative scientist, Jylana works interdisciplinarily and cross-functionally to identify problems and create solutions. Her long-standing commitment to excellence and addressing the needs of diverse communities has been recognized by academic and industry standards. In addition to being published in journals such as the Journal of the American Medical Association and Preventive Medicine, Jylana is a 2016 National Institutes of Health (NIH) Building Innovative Research Careers in Women’s Health awardee and 2017 NIH Obesity and Health Disparities PRIDE (Programs to Increase Diversity among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research) scholar. She also received five leadership awards from Johnson & Johnson while on their Behavior Science and Advanced Analytics team. Vested in service and mentorship, Jylana has holds volunteer leadership positions with The Links, Incorporated (area level) and Code to Hope; and is a past executive board member for the Junior League of Greater Princeton and Girls, Inc. of Monroe County.

Jylana is a graduate of Spelman College (B.A., Psychology), Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine (M.P.H., Nutrition), and Indiana University – Bloomington School of Public Health (Doctorate, Health Behavior, Public Affairs). She received post-doctoral training at Stanford School of Medicine (Behavioral Medicine) with a focus on designing digital health behavior change interventions for racial/ethnic minority and underserved populations.