Tilly A. Gurman

Tilly Gurman is Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Health.

• Phone: (202) 994-6789
• Fax: (202) 994-1955
• Email: tgurman@gwu.edu

Professor Gurman brings more than 15 years experience in international and domestic public health settings to SPHHS. A Venezuelan native, she has a strong professional interest in Latin America and the Latin American diaspora. Among her areas of expertise are health communications, program evaluation, global health, adolescent health, reproductive health, cultural competency, and provider-patient communications.

Passionate about the ability of research to inform public health practice, Professor Gurman is dedicated to using a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods to support rigorous, yet practical, evaluation.

For example, she partnered with Baltimore HealthCare Access to improve access to care for Spanish-speaking pregnant women, using health care provider surveys as the basis for creating professional development trainings.. Likewise, she used qualitative findings from patient interviews and focus group discussions to develop a video—fashioned after the Spanish-language soap operas called telenovelas- about navigating the health care system. More recently, she helped an indigenous women's reproductive health organization in Guatemala evaluate its adolescent pregnancy prevention program.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (Development studies), Brown University, 1995
Master of Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, 1999
Doctor of Public Health (Health communication), The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, 2007

Teaching

PubH 329: Theories and Applications in Global Health Promotion, Department of Global Health PubH 325: Global Health Social Marketing, Department of Global Health

Research

Dr. Gurman is currently collaborating on various research endeavors with Population Services International and with the Hollywood, Health and Society Project at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication. Her work, designed to produce data and information that can be applied directly to program development, focuses primarily on ethnic minorities, women, and adolescents.

Community Service

Professor Gurman has been a peer reviewer for the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, the Journal of Science Communication, and AIDS Care. During her doctoral training, she served on the DrPH Executive Committee at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Departments

• Global Health

Publications

• Using media to address adolescent health: lessons learned abroad.
  Gurman TA, Underwood C. Using media to address adolescent health: lessons learned abroad. In: Brown J, editor. Managing the media monster: the influence of media (from television to text messages) on teen sexual behavior and attitudes. Washington, DC: National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy; 2008. p. 40-83.
• Factors affecting Latina immigrants' perceptions of maternal health care: findings from a qualitative study.
  Gurman TA, Becker D. Factors affecting Latina immigrants' perceptions of maternal health care: findings from a qualitative study. Health Care Women Int 2008;29 (5):507-26.
• Predictors of appropriate use of interpreters: identifying professional development training needs for labor and delivery clinical staff serving Spanish-speaking patients.
  Gurman TA, Moran A. Predictors of appropriate use of interpreters: identifying professional development training needs for labor and delivery clinical staff serving Spanish-speaking patients. J Health Care Poor Underserved 2008;19 (4):1303-20. 19.