Staff: April Oh, Ph.D., M.P.H.

April Oh

April Oh, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Program Director
Former Organization:

April Oh, Ph.D., M.P.H., was a Program Director in the Health Communication and Informatics Research Branch (HCIRB). She led a research program in physical activity and diet communication, neighborhood and policy effects and community health promotion, mobile health, technology applications to promote behavior change and public health. Dr. Oh's research program includes examination of the context of eating and activity behaviors (policy, communication, built and social environments), multilevel communication interventions to promote HPV vaccination uptake, neighborhood environments, and social determinants of behavioral health and health disparities. Dr. Oh has scientific and programmatic interests in dissemination and implementation science research and serves as Program Director for NCI's Speeding Research Tested Interventions into Practice (SPRINT) training program and works as a programmatic liaison to the Implementation Science Team at NCI. She previously served as Senior Policy Advisor to the U.S. Surgeon General.

Before joining HCIRB, Dr. Oh was a Senior Behavioral Scientist at Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. In this position, she supported the Health Behaviors Research Branch, also part of the Behavioral Research Program at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Oh has also worked as a fellow at the University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Population Health and Health Disparities. Dr. Oh's other work includes managing the Kellogg Scholars in Health Disparities postdoctoral program training scholars in health disparities with the Center for Advancing Health. She also worked as a staff consultant supporting various state governments' contract monitoring of Medicaid Managed Care programs.

Dr. Oh holds a doctoral degree in public health (community health sciences) from the University of Illinois at Chicago, a master's degree in public health from the University of Michigan, and bachelor's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.



Current and/or past BRP mentees include Heather D'Angelo.


Research Areas

  • Dissemination and implementation science
  • Multilevel approaches to health communication research and interventions
  • Social determinants of health
  • Contextual influences on diet and physical activity

Selected Publications and Presentations

  • Oh AY, Davis T, Dwyer LA, Hennessy E, Li T, Yaroch AL, Nebeling LC. Recruitment, Enrollment, and Response of Parent-Adolescent Dyads in the FLASHE Study. Am J Prev Med 2017 Jun; 52(6):849-855.
  • OH A, Chou W, Jackson, et al Reducing Cancer Disparities through Community Engagement: The Promises of Informatics. Oncology Informatics 2016.
  • Dwyer L, Oh A, Patrick H, Hennessy E. Promoting family meals: A review of existing interventions and opportunities for future research. Adolesc Health Med Ther 2015 Jun 22; 6:115-131.
  • Oh A, Nguyen AB, Patrick H. Correlates of Reported Use and Perceived Helpfulness of Calorie Information in Restaurants Among U.S. Adults. Am J Health Promot 2015 Jul 9.
  • Oh, A., Perna, F., Atienza, A., Moser, R., Shaika, A., & Waters, E. Health disparities in awareness of physical activity and cancer prevention: Findings from the National Cancer Institute's 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). J Health Commun 2010; 15(3):60-77.

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