Jo Anne L EarpJo Anne L. Earp, ScD, Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a medical sociologist whose research focuses on the role of social and attitdinal factors in explaining variation in health behaviors. Current research interests concern barriers preventing older minority women from getting mammograms and pap smears, community and physician strategies for overcoming these barriers, and factors responsible for high risk behaviors among persons with, or at risk for, STDs and AIDS. Earp has published over 110 articles in peer-reviewed journals and has extensive experience in curriculum development. She earned her ScD from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. In 2003, Earp became interested in patient advocacy as a topic of research, teaching and practice. She led two national conferences on the subject in 2003 and 2005, taught the first course at UNC-Chapel in 2006, and began speaking to national audiences, including AARP, on patient advocacy in 2007. Read More Read Less