Dr. Sylvia Long

Dr. Sylvia Long is a civilian public servant in the federal government and works for the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) as a Social and Behavioral Scientist Administrator in the Division of Extramural Science Programs (DESP). Prior to joining NINR, she served the NIH’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities, and the NIH’s Clinical Center in the Office of Clinical Research Training and Medical Education. She is also a faculty member at the Foundation for Advanced Education in Sciences at NIH (FAES), and instructor at the University of North Carolina – Wilmington Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (UNCW/OLLI), where she develops and teaches courses on science communication, emotional intelligence, and healthy aging.

Dr. Long holds a Bachelor of Science in Management and a Master of Arts in Organizational Communication from Bowie State University, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Studies from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where her research explored associations between perceived credibility, health belief, and willingness to comply with nonpharmaceutical intervention recommendations. Her findings yielded the development of the Perceived Credibility and Severity (PERCS) Model of Compliance, which she continues to employ in health communication and social determinants of health (SDOH) research. Dr. Long is Certified in Public Health (CPH) by the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE).