Lenis Chen Edinboro

Associate Professor

Dr. Lenis Chen-Edinboro is an Associate Professor of Public Health and a Gerontology Faculty Affiliate in the College of Health and Human Services at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her research includes the interplay among lifestyle factors, such as sleep and nutrition, and outcomes such as cognition and mental health. Dr. Chen-Edinboro has conducted research with older adult populations and is interested in conducting research across the lifespan. Dr. Chen-Edinboro has recently done work combining her interests in the arts and in lifestyle factors and health. For example, she has collaborated with others at UNCW and elsewhere on some projects involving music and health. She has graduate-level training in epidemiology, biostatistics, aging, cognition, mental health and sleep research. Dr. Chen-Edinboro has been at UNC Wilmington since Fall 2015.

Dr. Chen-Edinboro has an interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and aims every year to improve her teaching. She values evidence-based strategies to improve pedagogy. She was also a Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL) Fellow during the 2024-2025 academic year.

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Sleep Research in the Department of Mental Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Ph.D. in Human Nutrition in the Department of International Health, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Ed.M. in Arts in Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education
B.S. in Biology, Duke University

Specialization in Teaching

Dr. Chen-Edinboro has taught a number of public health classes, including Introduction to Biostatistics (PBH 299), Public Health Practice (PBH 295), Explorations in Public Health (PBH 105), Intercultural Communication in Global Health (PBH 352), Research Methods in Public Health (PBH 359), and Capstone in Public Health (PBH 496).

Research Interests

Gerontology/aging; lifestyle factors such as nutrition, sleep, and exercise; cognition; mental health; complementary/integrative health, including music therapy; research involving teaching and learning.