Joyce Pressley, PhD

  • Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at CUMC
Profile Headshot

Overview

Dr.Joyce Pressley's experience in research, teaching and injury prevention is multidisciplinary--crossing the disciplinary boundaries of public health policy, epidemiology, emergency medicine, critical care, economics and health care management. She has chaired and served on several national organizations and committees whose missions are to address injury and violence.

Her ongoing research interests include use of large, multiple-sourced data sets to investigate modifiable factors related to transportation safety, injury disparities, legislation and translational science to scale up proven effective interventions.

As part of her early work on disparities in life expectancy, she developed the Socioeconomic Model of Functional Decline, a theoretical framework used to study injury-related disparities and the Active Life Expectancy Functional Impairment (ALE) Scale to improve the ability to quantify factors associated with active and disabled life expectancy. Dr. Pressley developed the Comprehensive Injury Risk Assessment and Reduction which identifies modifiable risk from four major contributing sources: the home, community, individual intrinsic (health status, physical and cognitive comorbid diseases) and medical care/rehabilitation.

She has research and grants management experience serving as PI of NIH-funded grants including the Injury Research Core of a P50 Health Disparities Center grant. She is Chair of the TRB Occupant Protection Committee, a member of the Impairment in Transportation Committee of the National Academies and a member of the Academic Advisory Council of Partners for Automated Vehicle Education. She is a former Chair of SAVIR's Council of Centers and APHA's ICEHS Injury Section.

Academic Appointments

  • Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Health Policy and Management at CUMC

Administrative Titles

  • Director, Outreach Core, Columbia Center for Injury Science and Prevention
  • Faculty lead, Injury and Violence Prevention Certificate, Department of Epidemiology
  • Chair, University Seminar Series for Injury Control

Credentials & Experience

Education & Training

  • BA, 1975 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • MPH, 1980 University of South Carolina at Columbia
  • PhD, 1996 Duke University

Committees, Societies, Councils

Chair, Occupant Protection Committee, Transportation Research Board, National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, 2017-2023

Member, Impairment in Transportation Committee, Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine, 2017-2023

Member, Academic Advisory Council, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education (PAVE), 2020-

Member, Motor Vehicle National Peer Learning Team, 2017-present

Chair, APHA Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section, 2007-2009; Governing Councilor, 2009-2013; Chair, Scientific Program Committee, 2014-2015, (CoChair, 2016-2017)

Chair, Council of Centers, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research (SAVIR), 2015-2018

Editorial Boards

Injury Epidemiology

Honors & Awards

President's Award, Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research, 2017

Outstanding Service Award, American Public health Association, 2014

Research

Research Interests

  • Aging
  • Child and Adolescent Health
  • Community Health
  • Urban Health

Selected Publications

Pressley JC, Arora A, Sarmah R. Marijuana use in U.S. teen drivers: A comparison of a road-side survey of reported use and fluid tests for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Injury Epidemiology 2019;6(Suppl 1):25:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-019-0204-0.

Pressley JC, Hines LM, Bauer MJ, Oh SA, Kuhl JR, Liu C, Cheng B and Garnett M. Using Rural–Urban Continuum Codes (RUCCS) to examine alcohol-related motor vehicle crash injury and enforcement in New York State. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2019; 1346:1-17. doi:10.3390/ijerph16081346.

Prince P, Hines LM, Bauer MJ, Liu C, Luo J, Garnett M, Pressley JC. Pediatric restraint use and injury in New York City taxis compared to other passenger vehicles. Transportation Research Record, Sage Publications 2019; 1–9. National Academy of Sciences: DOI: 10.1177/0361198119843091

Huang, Yu-Yun, Liu Chang, Pressley JC. Restraint use and injury in infants and toddlers involved in a fatal motor vehicle crash. Injury Epidemiology 2019; Huang et al. Injury Epidemiology 2019, 6(Suppl 1):28:1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40621-019-0200-4.

Pressley JC, Hines LM, Oh SA, Bauer MJ, Kuhl JR, Liu C, Cheng B and Garnett M. Factors associated with alcohol-related motor vehicle crash injury and alcohol-related enforcement in the Upstate and Long Island Regions of New York State. 2019; TRB compendium. http://amonline.trb.org/68387-trb-1.4353651/t0032-1.4361963/1632-1.43621....

Oh, SA, Liu C, Pressley JC. Fatal pediatric motor vehicle crashes on U.S. Native American Indian lands compared to adjacent Non-Indian lands: Restraint use and injury by driver, vehicle, roadway and crash characteristics. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2017;doi:10.3390/ijerph14111287.

Liu C, Huang Y and Pressley JC. Restraint use and risky driving behaviors across drug types and drug and alcohol combinations for drivers involved in a fatal motor vehicle collision on U.S. roadways. Injury Epidemiology 2016:3:9 Epub 2016.

Huang Y, Liu C, Pressley JC. Child restraint use and driver screening in fatal crashes involving drugs and alcohol. Pediatrics 2016; doi: 10.1542/peds.2016-0319 Epub.

Pressley JC, Gatollari HJ, Liu C. Rear seat belt laws and restraint use in rear-seated teen passengers traveling in passenger vehicles involved in a fatal collision on a U.S. roadway. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2016 Oct;81(4 Suppl 1):S36-43.

Raneses E and Pressley JC. Factors associated with mortality in rear-seated adult passengers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes on US roadways. Injury Epidemiology 2015; 2:5;1-12.