Education

  • Ph.D., Biostatistics, Tulane University, 2004
  • M.S., Biostatistics, Tulane University, 1998
  • B.S., Zoology (Certificate in Genetics), Duke University, 1991

Research Interests

Dr. Broyles’s research seeks to understand how the different contexts in which we live – e.g., neighborhood, work, parks, social networks – shape our disease risks and health outcomes. Within the broad area of physical activity and obesity, her research is focused on understanding the contextual influences on health and behavior and on longitudinal changes in them, in both observational and interventional settings. Dr. Broyles has worked in public health for over 20 years, and her work relies heavily on community engagement, and frequently integrates research and service. She brings this approach to her work as co-Director of the Community Outreach and Engagement Resource Core for the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Center, a collaboration among all major academic, research, and health care institutions in Louisiana. Methodologically, she has expertise in investigating environmental determinants of health using spatial methods and geographically-linked variables, as well as in multilevel statistical analysis, and she enjoys collaborating on research projects that use novel analytic or study-design techniques. In 2016, Dr. Broyles was awarded the Founder’s Award by the Louisiana Public Health Association, which honors significant achievement in research in public health by a Louisiana resident. Dr. Broyles is also on the graduate faculty of the LSU Health Sciences Center, holding an adjunct position in the LSUHSC School of Public Health’s Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Program, where she teaches doctoral courses and mentors several PhD students.

Department: Contextual Risk Factors

Selected Publications

  1. Broyles ST, Denstel KD, Church TS, Chaput, J-P, Fogelholm M, Hu G, Kuriyan R, Kurpad A, Lambert EV, Maher C, Maia J, Matsudo V, Olds T, Onywera V, Sarmiento OL, Standage M, Tremblay MS, Tudor-Locke C, Zhao P, Katzmarzyk PT. The epidemiological transition and the global childhood obesity epidemic. Int J Obes Supp. 2015; 5:S3–S8.
  2. Broyles ST, Drazba KT, Church TS, Chaput J-P, Fogelholm M, Hu G, Kuriyan R, Kurpad A, Lambert EV, Maher C, Maia J, Matsudo V, Olds T, Onywera V, Sarmiento OL, Standage M, Tremblay MS, Tudor-Locke C, Zhao P, Katzmarzyk PT. Development and reliability of an audit tool to assess the school physical activity environment across 12 countries. Int J Obes Supp 2015; 5:S36-S42.
  3. Broyles ST, Myers CA, Drazba KT, Marker AM, Church TS, Newton RL, Jr. The influence of neighborhood crime on increases in physical activity during a pilot physical activity intervention in children. J Urban Health. 2016;93(2):271-278.
  4. Broyles ST, Staiano AE, Drazba KT, Gupta AK, Sothern M, Katzmarzyk PT. Elevated C-reactive protein in children from risky neighborhoods: evidence for a stress pathway linking neighborhoods and inflammation in children. PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45419.
  5. Myers CA, Denstel KD, Broyles ST. The context of context: Examining the associations between healthy and unhealthy measures of neighborhood food, physical activity, and social environments. Prev Med. 2016;93:21-26.
  6. Broyles S, Katzmarzyk PT, Srinivasan SR, Chen W, Bouchard C, Freedman DS, Berenson GS. The pediatric obesity epidemic continues unabated in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Pediatrics 2010;125:900-905.
  7. Broyles ST, Mowen A, Theall KP, Gustat J, Rung A. Integrating social capital into a park use and active living framework. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 2011; 40:522-529.