Dr. Harold “Woody” Neighbors

Dr. Harold “Woody” Neighbors is a Senior Scientific Advisor with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. As an applied social psychologist with a background in survey research, Dr. Neighbors specializes in the development of methodological procedures to recruit difficult-to-reach population groups (i.e., prison residents, psychiatric inpatients, low-income groups of color, and men). He has spent his career studying racial, ethnic and gender disparities in help-seeking behavior for emotional problems, and the measurement of mental disorder in treatment and community settings. Dr. Neighbors also studies hope, discouragement, and social mobility as mechanisms connecting race and stress to mental health. He recently completed a community-based lifestyle intervention that reduced HbA1c, an indicator of blood sugar, in 40 adult Black men diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Neighbors has mentored numerous students and early-career professionals. He has been Principal Investigator/Program Director on three NIH-funded diversity research programs, most recently on the Research to Reduce Disparities in Disease (R2D2) program, where he focused on medical students interested in community research on patient care within the context of the social determinants of population health. Dr. Neighbors is currently working on the translation of research findings to decrease structural inequities, so that individual health behaviors are easier to implement.

Dr. Neighbors received his B.A. in psychology from Haverford College and Ph.D. in social and community psychology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Selected Publications

• Neighbors, H.W. (2017). The Ethical Challenge of Community Beneficence in Research. AMA Journal of Ethics, 19, 978-988.
• Neighbors, H.W., Sellers, S.L., Zhang, R., Jackson, J.S. (2011). Goal-Striving Stress and Racial Differences in Mental Health. Race and Social Problems, 3(1), 51-62.
• Neighbors, H.W., Njai, R., Jackson, J. S. (2007). Race, ethnicity, John Henryism, and depressive symptoms: The National Survey of American Life Adult Re-Interview. Research in Human Development, 4(1-2), 71-87.
• Neighbors, H.W., Caldwell, C.H., Williams, D.R., Nesse, R., Taylor, R.J., Torres, M., Jackson, S.J., (2007). Race, ethnicity, and the use of services for mental disorders: Results from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Archives of General Psychiatry, 64, 485-494.
• Neighbors, H.W., Trierweiler, SJ, Ford, BC, Muroff, J. (2003). Racial Differences in DSM Diagnosis Using a Semi-Structured Instrument: The Importance of Clinical Judgment. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 44(3), 237-256.
• Neighbors, H.W., Braithwaite, R.L., Thompson, E.L. (1995). Health Promotion and African Americans: From Personal Empowerment to Community Action. American Journal of Health Promotion, 9(4), 281-287.
• Neighbors, H.W., Jackson, J.S. (1984). The use of informal and formal help: Four patterns of illness behavior in the Black community. American Journal of Community Psychology, 12, 629-644.