Yzette Lanier

Yzette Lanier, PhD, is an assistant professor at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. As a developmental psychologist, her research broadly centers on health promotion and disease prevention in communities of color, with a special focus on preventing HIV/STIs and unintended pregnancy among African American adolescents. Using health equity and strengths-based lenses, her research seeks to understand how individual, social, and cultural factors influence adolescents’ sexual decision-making. Lanier’s current research examines how adolescent romantic relationships influence sexual behaviors. Her long-term goal is to develop effective developmentally-appropriate, culturally tailored interventions that promote healthy romantic relationships and protective sexual behaviors among adolescents. In June 2016, Lanier was awarded $1.2 million from the CDC for HIV behavior intervention based on young black heterosexual couples' dynamics.  

Lanier earned her PhD and MS in developmental psychology at Howard University. She completed a T32 postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Health Equity Research at the University of Pennsylvania and a postdoctoral research fellowship in HIV prevention in communities of color at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.